I just realized the upcoming weekend is a long one. I should have enough free time to produce another podcast! And a YouTube video about my Craft super-template for research and writing.
Got an email this morning from Mailbrew about an issue (resolved since then) of logging into the service. So, there is life, apparently! They said they have a “team” working on the next features… 🤔 I would love to see this service thrive instead of being an abandonware. 🙏🏻
👉🏻 I’m ready to share my first digital product: a Craft template to support the process of research and writing on a specific subject. See the introduction post on Gumroad. Special introductory price: 5$ or about the price of a latte at Starbucks. Think about it! 🤣
I’m going to the office by bike today. 🚴🏻♂️ With this splendid weather1, probably the last such beautiful and warm day of this fall, I’m really looking forward to this half-hour ride downtown Montreal.
We’ve been in a very long streak of warm and sunny weather, something like 10 days of sunshine. ↩
Yesterday at work, I was directed to listen to a podcast hosted on Podbean. I remembered that in 2019 I was sharing my podcast episodes over there, too, in addition to Apple’s Podcasts directory1. I spent some time this morning to refresh my setup. Boy, this service is “dull” to use. I wonder if it really makes a difference to post my content there.
In 2019, I experimented with podcasting but in French. It wasn’t very successful. ↩
The “new” Microsoft Teams is now available on Mac. Gosh, that is not ready for prime time, at least on macOS Sonoma. Going back to the Classic version.
I made discoveries today while doing some much-needed cleanup in my home office. Here, this is what could be the first Apple dongle1. More to come soon… 👀
This box was an AppleTalk network junction box. The smaller beige piece was for connecting two AppleTalk cables. ↩
I’m still in my early phase with my iPhone 15 Pro Max 📸📱. Taking photos with this phone offers more possibilities, asking for more thoughts while shooting a scene. Am I the only one who wished Apple had created a profiling questionnaire during the iPhone setup, asking questions to determine our general experience level with photography? Depending on our answers, parameters would be set accordingly. ☝🏻
Another creative week is mostly completed, it’s time for a new edition of the Weekly Creative Summary, now available as a Craft shared document, later by email for my subscribers! Buckle up! 😊
Who remembers this? Countless moments were spent looking at this back in 1984 and 1985. It’s one of Apple’s best and most timeless designs, even if it’s beige1.
Taken out of a copy of an Apple Dealer Guide circa 1985. ↩
👉🏻 What an entertaining story by @basicappleguy about Apple’s controversial cases, with beautiful imagery, as always. I do have a case for one of my AitTag. 😳
Sometimes, a website doesn’t work well (or at all), and the problem is that my NextDNS client blocks some traffic. When that happens, I turn it off… and forget about it, only to find out a few days later that I forgot to reenable it. This makes me angry—all the time.
Thought of the day: read-later services or applications are a consequence of facing or having too much content available and a lack of time for consuming that content in a timely matter. ☝🏻
I just received my Nomad leather case for my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Best case I ever used on an iPhone. Better than Apple’s leather case. It complements the Peak Design one for use with my bike. Another great case, btw. Not cheap but well worth it. 👌🏻
hey, bloggers and writers on WordPress1, enable the Fediverse plugin and share your blog “handle” with the world so we can follow you right from here! Can’t wait!
I left WordPress.com a while back, but I’m happy to see them adopt Fediverse! ↩
I went to the Apple Store yesterday. Surprisingly, in the front of the store only has letters printed on the front windows. Pretty lame. I spent some time looking at other shades for the 15 Pro line. The natural titanium definitively reminds me of the iPhone 4 contour design, which I love very much. I’m still happy with my black iPhone 15 Pro Max, but…
Discovery of the day: I can use Audio Hijack with ScreenFlow to record the Mac audio from the Finch Pixel USB-C1,2 mic and the Mac screen. Why use Audio Hijack? Well, so that it can use the macOS Voice Isolation feature and output the results to the Mac audio, which the special audio driver of ScreenFlow, in turn, picks up. Without this, ScreenFlow 10.0.9, with direct voice isolation, creates distorted sound.
With the Lightning version, I had no issues with the iPhone 13 Pro, macOS Voice Isolation and Screenflow. The problems come from using USB (A or C) microphone devices. It’s a known issue, apparently—no fix in sight. ↩
I spent way too much time and money trying to fix the sound quality for my recordings. ↩
I’m getting an issue with Short.io where domain name cloaking is no longer available. It used to be just fine. Something has changed recently. To get it back, I have to subscribe to the personal plan costing 250$. Looking for alternatives. Cc @Mtt who uses the same setup as mine.
It’s Sunday, it’s the time of the week for another creative summary. Here’s another edition of my weekly creative summary directly from my Craft workspace. It’s the seventh edition already! 😅 The email version is coming up later today for my subscribers!
Apparently, Apple is working on a way to upgrade iOS on iPhone still in their box at the Apple Store. This would prevent issues where there is a bug in the final release of iOS that could hinder the upgrade experience of new buyers. I’m still wondering how the GM of iOS is installed at the factory and how long it takes to be installed. Is the USB-C port helping make the operation faster? 🤔
If Apple is indeed close to releasing the third-generation Apple Pencil with a magnetic pencil tip, I can see that coming with some new trick, enabled with iPadOS 17.1, probably to be launched before October 21st1. What else could this new pencil do? Include an electronic erasure on the other end of the pencil? 👀
The date was apparently leaked by a French government agency about the reduction of radiation from the iPhone 12, which Apple would indeed fix no later than October 21st. ↩
I have an issue with Short.io. I want to contact their support to find a solution to something that partially works, but no contact information is available in the /Support section. The /Blog section shows a small “Contact Us” button leading to a page not found error. There is no mail address either. They ask for $ 250 / year for a “Personal” subscription plan. How can I trust them if I cannot contact them for support?1🤔
The problem: not all links are leading to the destination page under the go.numericcitizen.me domain name. Why? This used to work for all links, but it’s no longer true. Why? Exhibit one: this link works. This one won’t.
Instead of 404 - Page Not Found, this should be 404 - Support Not Available 😔
Update: I got my answer after chatting with tech support through their chatbox on their website, which wasn’t initially showing because of content blocking in Safari. 🤦🏻♂️ All is fine now.
Their Twitter account is a ghost town; the last tweet was posted in 2021. ↩
My 2018 iPad Pro is starting to show its age. iPadOS 17 might be the last enjoyable version on this device. Stage Manager is disabled. No external monitors support. Great external monitor with my Mac mini, though. 🤔
Getting mentally ready for a business trip to Las Vegas next week. I’ll try to put my 15 Pro Max to the test with night photography🌃. It’s been three years since the last travel, thanks to COVID. Can’t wait to see this city where everything happening in Las Vegas stays there. It better be1.
Some Must-Needed Changes to My (Too Many) About Pages
Today, I’m removing my digital garden content. The most valuable parts were moved to my About Page, and the rest has been dropped. Both of these pages are created and maintained in Craft. I like the idea of Digital Gardens, but it’s not practical for me to maintain on top of this blog and my other websites. Again, it’s time to focus.
If you are like me, with macOS Sonoma, you like widgets on the Mac desktop. The Mac experience can become quite busy with many widgets. This is why, more than ever, I depend on HazeOver to reduce the distraction caused by widgets1,2.
I set it to 50%. Yes, I set the widgets to be in monochrome when the focus isn’t the desktop. ↩
I’m a subscriber of Inoreader, but I read the feeds using Reeder 90% of the time. I only wish that Reeder could update the engagement stats on Inoreader. Is that even possible from a RSS client perspective? I highly doubt it. You’ve got an opinion on this subject? Let me know.
I’m tempted to only bring my 2018 iPad Pro for this business trip to Las Vegas1. I’ll need it to take notes during sessions and do meetings with Teams. That should be enough. I try to travel light2.
And now is the time for another weekly creative summary. This is edition 2023-42, available as a shared document directly from Craft, later by email for the millions of subscribers!1
This week, because of this business trip to Las Vegas, I’m taking a “mild” break from my creative hobby. No more time tracking, no urge to look for the next opportunity to write and share. I am just putting myself in a different mood for this business trip to be successful and valuable. 😌
My 2018 12.9 iPad Pro is old. In technology years, it’s super old. However, it’s my favourite iPad and despite many new versions that Apple has since released, I have not been tempted to replace it.
My only issue with this particular iPad is unsurprisingly its battery life. Makes perfect sense. I have used this iPad every day literally for years. In recent months, I could tell it’s not lasting as long. It’s dying within 2 to 3 hours of moderate use. Source: Apple denied my iPad Pro battery replacement
My wife’s 2018 iPad Pro battery is around 84%. She booked a diagnostic session with an Apple Store technician a few months ago. Same thing: Apple didn’t accept to replace the battery unless it was under 80%. Some cynic people could say that Apple wants customers to be frustrated enough with battery life so they upgrade the whole iPad instead of replacing the battery. Personally, this could be an environmental stance, but the fact that it isn’t presented this way opens the door for all sorts of theories.
Today is a reminder that the internet is probably the worst place to have a debate. You would think that Mastodon or Bluesky or Thread are better than X, Y and Z? Nope. Same. Arguing the contrary is shortsighted. Even arguing in a text message conversation is not a good idea.
A recent addition to Mailbrew made me discover Brief.news1. So far, I like what I’m seeing. News briefs are generated with AI (with LLM models, I’m guessing). It’s a great use case of AI, right here. The combination with Mailbrew makes perfect sense, too.
It’s a free service for now. I wonder what is their business model? 🤔 ↩
Glass feels right at home in Capture One. Long adored as one of the best platforms for editing and managing a photography workflow, we’re thrilled to include publishing to Glass in Capture One. The final step in the creative process is sharing the work you’ve made — making that as easy and frictionless as possible is what we’re both all about. Source: Capture One x Glass — Glass
I like where Glass is going. The choice of Capture One as the first to take advantage of Glass’s APIs is telling and sending a message. How long before Publish to Glass support is added to Adobe Lightroom? Months? Years? Ever? How long before we get Fediverse support?
Surprised by this late-October Apple event (“Scary Fast”). Could this be about Mac gaming? Is this for the Apple Silicon M3? The timing is weird, in my opinion. What about the iMac with M2 and a new iMac Pro with M3? The latter wouldn’t make too much sense as Pros prefer more flexibility than an all-in-one Mac. But using the Mac happy face really points to a Mac-only event. And boy, do I like this animation that I’m including here for my own pleasure1.
I always found that Apple is not using the Mac happy face enough in their marketing. They could have tied this face to Siri too. ↩
So far, I have not felt excited about the upcoming “Scary Fast” event. Maybe tomorrow morning? I’m not thinking of upgrading my Macs. This could explain it.
I’m fed up of Google’s search capabilities and business model. Search results quality has gone downhill in recent years. I don’t like the visual design of Google’s online products in general, especially Google Search results formatting. What search engine are you using? Are you willing to pay for using one, if yes, which one? 🤔
You are listening to Thoughts and Tribulations of a Composite Creator.
This is episode number five, Sometime It’s Better to Say No.
This year, it’s the year of focusing on the right activity, on the right creative project.
When Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro in June, I was thinking about creating a new website which would collect all the information related to the headset.
I thought it was a great timing for starting this collection and organizing the information and tidbits that I would gather from the web, from YouTube, from articles, reviews, and things like that.
The reason I wanted to do that is to be able to build a collection that, over time, people would come over and get all the information they can have on the Apple Vision Pro.
I did a similar project, which I’m currently still updating, which is called the Apple Rumors Hub.
It takes not too much time to build, but I do have some activities that I need to constantly do in order to keep the information current on this website.
This is a website that is built using craft, and I would do the same thing for the Apple Vision Pro Hub, but I’ve been thinking about if this is worth my time, my effort, and if I would better be off to spend my time on more projects that are gaining more traction instead of working on that, because the Apple Rumors Hub is not getting a lot of visitors.
It’s very, very quiet, and I’m wondering if this would be the same with this Apple Vision Pro Hub website.
I decided recently, after much thinking, that it wasn’t worth the trouble to do this project, so the Apple Rumors Hub is going to stay, but the Apple Vision Pro website won’t come to life.
I’m pretty satisfied with this decision because I really want to manage how I’m spending time on my different projects.
This is a decision that has been long in the making, but now I’m here, and I wanted to share with you, if you are a creator, if you are a writer, or any type of creators, sometimes it’s better just to say no so you can focus on the right things for the right time.
Thanks for listening to this very short episode of this podcast.
I hope you enjoyed these thoughts, and I hope to see you for the next episode.
Thank you for listening, and see you guys for another one.
Glass is sending out emails to let us know that we can share and spread the word to our friends and family so they can join Glass too but at a reduced price. But, wait, we get nothing if they subscribe, really? Am I missing something or simply being needy?
Eventually, in a few weeks, I’ll have to decide if I go with the 256GB storage tier or the next level up: 512GB1. If I to future my purchase of the 15 Ultra, I’ll probably have to go with the latter.
I’ve been using 256GB for as long as I remember. ↩
I got an Ember coffee mug1 for my birthday, yesterday. The first thing the Ember app detected after pairing the mug with my iPhone was that an update to the mug’s firmware. It took 5 minutes to complete. Software is everywhere now guys. 😳
The mug keeps the coffee at the right temperature. Great and well-design coffee mug. ↩
Pixelfed is rolling out Stories. 😒🤦🏻♂️ I’m not a fan at all. I’m not sure that I want PixelFed to take that direction. I decided to unfollow anyone who shares one of these.1
I left Instagram because it wasn’t about photography anymore. ↩
I’m curious, is anyone using Apple’s Freeform? For what use case? Personally, I was curious about Freeform and experimented with it for a while, but then I stopped using it. I prefer using it on the iPad than on the Mac.
Apple is reportedly developing a low-cost MacBook series to compete with Chromebook models in the education sector that could be released as early as the second half of 2024, according to industry sources. Source: Apple mulls low-cost MacBook, say sources
Remember when people and tech pundits pressed Apple to create a Netbook? Apple responded with an 11-inch MacBook (2008) Air and an iPad (2010). I hope they skip trying to make a low-cost MacBook and keep improving on the current iPad story instead. That being said, I understand Chromebooks are giving Apple a hard time in education. 🥵
What a strange move by Apple. This website made by Apple promotes first-party apps for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc. Why? Why now? I would understand in the context of being forced to allow third-party App Stores. Apple reminding people about their apps while people are getting excited by side-loading and third-party App Stores would make sense. Is Apple up to something here? They usually plan for the long run. This could be the first baby step for a more open ecosystem.1 👀
Interestingly, you can launch each app with an Open button if you are visiting the website from your beloved iPhone, iPad or the Mac. ↩
While Elon Musk wants the Twitter brand to disappear from the earth’s surface, you can see the Twitter icon and references everywhere on the web. X is not taking over at all. Services or apps that depend on Twitter for logging in, news sites asking people to join them via social networks, apps offering a sharing action or whatever the needs are, most continue to use Twitter’s original branding. In support of those who refuse to let go the little bird, here’s my contribution1.
This week, Apple will release its latest iPhone models. I’m excited. It will be an exercise of balance between news consumption, analysis and writing. It’s the perfect mix for a stressful week. 😟 Learn why in this podcast episode.
Why I’m Excited for This Week’s Apple Announcements
I’m super excited about this year’s iPhone announcements. It’s probably because I’m getting one of them1. I try to skip one or two iterations. I went from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone 11 Pro, then to the iPhone 13 Pro, and now the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I’m looking forward to these improvements: the cameras2 and battery life3. Sure, the Dynamic Island will be cool. Oh, and USB-C, finally4!
Can’t wait for Sept 12th.
I’m getting the iPhone 15 Pro Max / 512 GB model. I’ll return my old 13 Pro to Apple for a credit. ↩
Could the telephoto lens make me forget about my Nikon? ↩
I’m really curious about this. The idea of having my personal instance of Pixelfed is tempting. I like the idea of having full control and not being at the mercy of some other admin, updating the codebase as I wish while being part of the Pixelfed federation1. It’s expected to be released on October 20th. I should start planning my domain name and username.2
Of course, other instance could decide to block mine, but that’s not going to happen, unless I’m being a bad actor in the federation. ↩
Does that mean Micro.blog would need to do something in order to cross post to my personal instance? ↩
My Excitement About the Upcoming iPhones Explained
Here are some more details about my excitement for the next iPhone1.
Besides the camera upgrades, here is a short list of things I’m looking forward to with the next iPhones.
I’m going to the Max. It’s the first Max model that I’m getting2.
I expect better battery life than the iPhone 14 Pro Max3. I want a real all-day battery life for when I travel abroad.
I never liked the current chrome finish of the Pro line (since the iPhone 12 Pro)4. I like the titanium finish of the Apple Watch. I can’t wait to see the tweaked version for the iPhone5.
I’m ambivalent about the rumoured action button. I’ll want to configure it for the camera capture, but I want to keep the mute button.
The always-on display… I’m not sure. My wife has an iPhone 14 Pro, she disabled the always-on display because of the battery drain. I’ll see with the Max.
I’m curious about the grey version, but I will go either with a deep blue6 or the darkest one7.
I love the Dynamic Island. My hope is to see wider adoption by developers.
Finally, USB-C. Finally. 95% of the time, I charge my iPhone with MagSafe. It’s too convenient. On rare occasions, it will be handy to grab any normal USB-C cable and plug it in. As for transfer speed, I’m not in any use cases for this8.
I’ll catch you on the other side of the Wonderlust event.
I’m curious about anything that is blue. I could wait until iPhones make their way to the Apple Store, but I won’t be able to last that long. I’m looking for videos in the hands-on area at Apple Park for a cue about the colors. ↩
These are my impressions of Apple’s latest product announcements.
The mother nature segment was funny, and I smiled quite often. It was a great way to communicate their progress toward better environmental protection and reduced carbon footprint. Video production quality was top-notch. Aren’t tech press people tired of going to Apple Park to watch a movie?
Many comments during the presentation about the desire by Apple to see people go into their stores to buy and activate the new iPhones1.
We got a short update about the upcoming Apple Vision Pro, which is still on track for early 2024. That was expected but felt a bit short.
Onto the Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch Series 9 is a mildly interesting update. The new finger gestures are cool but only for Series 9. Too bad. I’ll probably buy a few new bands later this fall. I’ll skip this year’s updates and wait for next year’s rumoured redesign.
Moving to the star of the show. The iPhone.
The iPhone remains the crown jewel of Apple. Everything else is peripheral. The design of the Pro line is absolutely gorgeous (rounded edges, great pro finishes). The A17 Pro (bye-bye Bionic) is a powerhouse CPU! I’ll go with the 15 Pro Max with 512 GB of storage. I’ll order the “USB-C to Lightning adaptor” to keep using my excellent Cavalier microphone (see my previous blog post about the issue).
The black finish is my choice with a blue FineWoven case2. Best of both worlds. Thanks to this video, which helped me confirm my decision3. Those wallpapers are gorgeous, too! This is the first time in a while that I love them so much. I’m overall happy with this year’s Pro finishes and tones. Very classy.
I’m a bit surprised by the battery life capacity to be the same as last year’s Pro models. I was expecting longer battery life with the A17, but I guess since we get more features… something has to give. I expect next year’s iPad Pro to use a derivative of the A17 Pro announced today.
About cameras. A 5x range for telephoto, not 6x4. I’m surprised it’s not 6x. But 120mm is great for travelling. Shooting with the phone and having the preview immediately available on the Mac, just like pros are expecting. Wow. Do images on the 15 Pro line have less over-processing / sharpening? I certainly hope so. And about those immersive spacial videos to be shot on the 15 Pro but visioned on the Apple Vision Pro, coming later this year. Consider me intrigued5. The camera app has a few tweaks, judging by some video segments, for the 2x mode, where you can select the focal length. Cool.
There is no monstrous price increase, which is good. Some price adjustments on the entry-level iPhone 15 Pro Max. The speed limit of the USB-C on the non-Pro line is ridiculous6. iCloud+ storage tier at 6TB is a surprise, still 5GB7 at the entry-level, though. I like the action button flexibility.
I’ll order my new phone this Friday. That is all for now.
Apparently, the vast majority of iPhone in the US aren’t bought in an Apple Store. Apple would like to improve that. ↩
I might change my mind, depending of videos from the hands-on area at Apple Park. ↩
My second choice would probably be the blue finish next in third position, the natural titanium color. ↩
Experimenting with reading my Micro.blog timeline in RSS mode with Reeder. It’s surprisingly very effective for catching up on the last 12 hours of posts. It is, in fact, more effective than reading past posts on the website.
“Get Ready for iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro” on Apple.com1, is this new, or was it available for the iPhone 14 launch last year? I find this to be a great way to limit frustration on the day the new iPhones will go on sale (tomorrow). 🤔
The new website feature enables anyone to build their iPhone order, including setting up the return of the older iPhone for a credit. In theory, on the day of availability, you’ll click “Buy”. ↩
An Update About My New Quest of Leaving Adobe Lightroom
Yesterday night, I spent nearly an hour reading articles and forum posts about the implications of closing my Adobe Photography subscription1. The implications and how to recover my photos differ for Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC. It’s not that hard, but it will be a tedious process if I want to keep some organization that the Lightroom catalog currently provides. I’ll put this project on my list of things to do in 2024. This will give me some time to plan for the migration2.
I subscribe to the photography plan which gives me 2TB of storage, which is currently used at 110GB. ↩
Ordered. I’ll wait before buying a case from Apple because I’m not sure about the new FineWoven texture and durability. Some YouTubers said the feeling to the touch is similar to suede and I’m not a fan. #iphone15pro #iphone15promax
Testing Apple's USB-C to Lightning Adaptor with iPad Pro
I wanted to follow up a previous post of mine about using my Lightning-based Lavalier microphone with a USB-C device, like my 2018 iPad Pro1. I ordered the USB-C to Lightning adaptor on the day of the Apple keynote. I got it this morning. If you are wondering if it works with Ferrite and Apple’s Voice Memos on my iPad Pro? No, it doesn’t.😔
A positive conclusion would have been a good sign on the prospect of making it work with the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max. Now, it’s not sure at all. ↩
This is how much forests burned so far this summer in Canada. ☹️ There are still close to a thousand fires still in action. This is freaking bad for so many reasons. First, we need forests to remove CO2. In a sense, removing trees diminishes the capacity of nature to limit climate change. We lose this capability. Second, all that burning created a lot of CO2. Third, it will take half a century to regain those lost forests.😔 It’s really hard to feel positive about our future.
After three years of availability, I experienced the first App Clips case today. I was close to a Dairy Queen-type so I was presented with an App Clips allowing ordering from my iPhone. There aren’t a lot of App Clips, apparently.
Some Thoughts About Apps Support of StandBy Mode and Interactive Widgets
Many apps are getting updates today and this week. Yes! 😃 But, so far, I have found some bugs in iOS 17 to display interactive widget content once they are added. They often stay blank with a white background. Rebooting doesn’t help. I don’t know if it is an iOS 17 bug or an issue with the app. 🤔 One design issue: if an app supports the StandBy mode1, it should also support the landscape orientation, not only the portrait orientation. Tapping a widget to launch the app and the app comes up in portrait mode. It’s bad. WaterMinder is such an example, and… Apple’s Stocks app! The latter is inexcusable. In general, StandBy mode seems a work-in-press, to be honest.2
this is how the StandBy mode is triggered on the iPhone. ↩
Playing with recently updated apps and their respective interactive widgets. They all come out to their default view. Rebooting the iPhone is mandatory to fix this issue. Adding another widget and again defaults to the blank screen.🤦🏻♂️ iOS 17.0.1, I guess, will help fix this.
It’s going to be a big phone. Got my Peak Design iPhone case yesterday😃. I like it. Great design1 and nice feeling to the touch.
I worry a bit about the effectiveness of the case buttons when pressed against the iPhone’s buttons. Lack of “travel” will diminish the pressing effect. ↩
Review of Reviews: Great Updates to Already Great iPhone but...
Today, I read many iPhone 15 Pro reviews and watched many YouTube videos too. For some reason, I get the feeling of a slight deception mood across many reviewers. Those are great upgrades, but since they are compared to last year’s iPhone, the improvements are dimmed as mostly minor. A mentioned the superiority of the iPhone in the video recording field, but in the photography field, it’s less clear. Sharpening seems a tad less aggressive with more natural tones. The 24MP resolution by default is a welcomed addition, and yet… it’s not a home run. Device physical tweaks are unanimously welcomed, though. Maybe tomorrow, my interpretation will be different. 🤷🏻♂️
I’ve been using Apple’s new AirPods features for the past week, and I’m sad to say that I don’t really understand either of them
I’m with Matt here. I fail to find the magic here. I’ve read Gruber’s take on the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C, and I’m afraid I don’t feel anything magical about Adaptive Audio. When activated, I hear too much from the surroundings; I prefer noise cancellation. Can we get adaptive noise cancellation instead? 🤔
I feel that Apple’s engineers couldn’t figure out which new audio profiles to include and couldn’t decide, and they suggested including both. Then, the marketing guys came in and named these profiles Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness. Boom. I’m half-joking here.
I’ll keep trying in the next few days to find the magic.
I opened the App Store this Monday to see how Apple would promote new app releases supporting iOS 17. Then I realized that I rarely open the App Store except to go and get app updates. When was the last time I went to browse the productivity category? When did I last browse the store for popular photography apps or new utilities? I can’t even remember when I last bought an app discovered in the App Store1. I wonder if this is only me or reflects a more general trend.🤔
I usually make my discoveries by external reference. ↩
My iPhone 15 Pro Max is still in “Preparing to ship” state. Delivery is scheduled for tomorrow. I’m guessing the device is waiting in a warehouse somewhere near Toronto or in Canada. 🙏🏻🤓
My expectations for the iPhone 15 Pro Max fit and finish and how it feels in my hands are very high. I’m looking for something similar to the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5 and iPhone 7 feelings… those never were matched by subsequent iPhones.
Inspired by a recent podcast episode where Martin Feld interviewed John Gruber, for this fourth podcast episode, I decided to talk about my early years as a blogger.
It took way too long to record, process and publish my latest podcast episode. I must tweak my workflow ASAP. It was supposed to be a “quick and easy thing”, but it isn’t. It is unsustainable. 😑 Why is everything so hard for me.. grrr. 😒
In the “Craptacular Is More Like It”article, this is @gruber@mastodon.social at its best. I read the original article earlier this week and concluded that Apple had difficult times ahead with its modem development. This morning, in my usual reading routine, I read the article from Mr. Gruber, and I think it succeeds in demonstrating this: the original article wasn’t any better than any ChatGPT-generated content.
Now I feel that I was deceived by the journalist who tried to fill me with unverified and barely possible facts tied together based on thin air. And you would think journalists can do better than AI-generated work? Not always. Thanks to Mr. Gruber for that one.
It feels great in hand, similar in fact to the weight of my iPhone 13 Pro (not the Max), which is great. The back is darker than my iPhone 11 Pro, and I love it. I’m quite happy with the darker black. It’s a bit darker than I thought. It’s definitively a finger magnet. It’s very soft to the touch. Rounded contours are really making a difference. The device feels more approachable. The screen is so nice. The setup process is superbly executed. An update to iOS was required before transferring the content from my iPhone 13 Pro. Yet, there were many apps which required reentering my credentials. Data transfer was estimated at one hour1. The data transfer took about 45 minutes. The Always On display is… always on. 😳 I don’t know if I’ll keep that option… on.
At that point, the WiFi logo disappeared and I started wondering if the data was going through 5G instead. That was curious. It’s not possible because my new phone didn’t have the SIM call installed yet. Or maybe it was going through Bluetooth or through a point-to-point WiFi connection? ↩
Well, now one of my Apple Watch1 won’t pair with my new iPhone since the migration was completed yesterday. It’s the one that I wasn’t wearing. Rebooting the watch doesn’t help. Rebooting the phone doesn’t help. Now what? 🤔
I’ve got two: a Series 6 for the night, a Series 8 for the day. ↩
Now it’s confirmed: my Finch Lavalier microphone1 doesn’t work with Apple’s USB-C to Lightning adaptor with the iPhone 15 Pro USB-C post. I repeat: it doesn’t work. It’s the first official and confirmed victim of the transition to USB-C. I’ll have to figure out a new solution for my podcast and YouTube video recording2. 😡
I had the chance to spend some time with Manton Reece and ask him a few questions about Montreal’s poutine, Apple’s power and the App Store, Twitter1 and the future of Micro.blog. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did doing it.😊
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I finally found THE use case for the Action Button: running a shortcut1 to 1) take a screen capture and 2) run the Apple Frame shortcut. It’s super handy. The camera already has a button on the screen that is easier to grab when I want to take a picture.
Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max with the telephoto lens, at 25x digital zoom. The best I could do with a lot of post-processing tweaks (tweaked the saturation, highlight, contrast, sharpening, noise reduction, etc.) 😅
The usefulness of ChatGPT for me is as a replacement for using Google when I have to learn something new (eg an API). Formerly, I would have Googled, and then visited a bunch of results, and learnt a little on each page until I had built up an answer for myself.
I see ChatGPT as a Google mashup. It takes those Google results, and mixes them up to give me a more direct answer to my question. Previously, my own brain would have to do that mashup.
I read in recent days that the Craft team is supposedly very interested and invested in AI for Craft. I’m not sure if this is good news. Notes and document-writing apps should focus on the core experience and capabilities to support the writing process. Today, I don’t see AI at the core for most people (yet). AI should be a complementary feature. There are so many things to be improves and fixed in Craft; I’m afraid they spend too much time on the AI stuff while neglecting the bugs and highly requested basic features, again.😔
I’ve recently been using Apple’s Freeform for different articles I’m working on. I’m really falling in love with this app. It’s a sleeper hit for me. Its apparent simplicity shouldn’t put you off. Freeform is capable of supporting the creation of rather sophisticated diagrams. I really feel Apple’s designers brought all their craftsmanship and attention to detail here. Everything feels in the right place.
The Mac is the last platform to get my trust for an upgrade of macOS. I do iPhone and iPad in a heartbeat, but the Mac, no. I wait a few weeks so that my must-have apps receive updates. I don’t want to ruin anything by upgrading to Sonoma so soon. I’ll probably wait until November.
💡Thought of the day: I don’t have a thing like a second brain 🧠 using a dedicated app. It’s a popular concept nowadays to build a second brain utilizing an app like Craft, Obsidian or anything else. I don’t believe in the idea of having a second brain. But let’s suppose I believed in this concept; I would argue that my second brain is inside my MacBook Air, spread in different apps, fulfilling a specific task in supporting this idea of the second brain. ☝🏻
My iPhone 15 Pro Max is not overheating. But I find those reports, as reported here, a bit worrying. Could Apple fix or mitigate these occurrences with a software update or a new configuration toggle in the Settings.app? Did you experience overheating issues?
So far, I have created four web apps on my Dock in Sonoma: Micro.blog1, Pixelfed2, Tinylytics, and Omnivore. I like this a lot3. For Omnivore, the web app provides a better experience than the “native” app, which is probably not really native4. What other apps could I set in my Dock now?🤔
For Micro.blog, it doesn’t make too much sense as there is a native Mac app already. ↩
It’s better than having a Safari tab for that. It’s fast and feels native. ↩
What happens when you run Micro.blog.app and the web app side by side? Here is a peek at Activity Monitor on the memory consumption tab. There’s the native app. Fine. But, for each web app, Sonoma seems to spin three other processes (Graphics, Networking, and some root process using the web app URL name). Fascinating. Native apps don’t consume as much memory.
Rewind is nice, but this is such a resource hog. Battery life is miserable since I run this thing on my MacBook Air. Is it worth it, just for a few possible queries a month?1
When adding widgets on macOS Sonoma, there should be a visual cue telling me which widgets are coming from the iPhone vs from installed apps on my Mac. This screenshot shows two Dayone instances, and Fitness Totals is on my iPhone.☝🏻
I’ve been working on my reading workflow for many months. I’m very close to publishing an article about it. While waiting for it, along the way, I created a comparison of the following read-later services:
Currently testing Safari profiles. I kind of like it so far. Still exploring. Currently devising work from personal life. I will probably create one for my YouTube video recording sessions too. Are you using Safari profiles? Are you using Safari at all, I might ask?
I have a folder named “Noto” in my iCloud Drive folder that keeps populating empty folders inside of it, on all my devices. Noto is a note-taking app that I tried in Feb. 2020. Today, I found out that I had more than 30K empty folders sitting there. I deleted the folders from my Mac mini, and it came back. Same with the MacBook Air. It came back. I visited all my devices to see if Noto was still installed. Nope. I reinstalled it on the iPad to see if it would populate something. Nope. I went on Files.app on the iPad to delete the root folder. Still re-appearing. On all my devices, I reinstalled Noto, to disable iCloud sync. I visited the iCloud storage section within Settings on the iPhone. The Noto folder isn’t there. But, on the iPad, it was there. I deleted the item from iCloud storage management. Yet, the folder keeps coming back. What a strange bug. Help.
Update: the issue went away after rebooting my M2 MacBook Air to fix an issue with Screenflow screen recording permission request. I went back to the iCloud Drive folder and sure enough, the Noto folder didn’t come back. I guess the issue is resolved.
I’m finally publishing the details surrounding my reading workflow. It’s been long in the making. More than a year. The reason? Because this workflow was full of moving parts. One example: is the read-later service. First, it was Pocket, then came Matter, Readwise, to finally settle on Omnivore. All the details are here on the Numeric Citizen I/O metablog. Feel free to comment or ask questions! 😊
Hi, this is Numeric Citizen, and you are listening to the thoughts and tribulations of a compulsive creator podcast.
This is episode number four.
Did you know?
In this fourth episode, I want to share with you a few personal stories.
And the desire for that comes from listening a podcast episode this week from the Really Focused Stories podcast from Martin Feld.
And in this episode, it was an interview with John Gruber.
Probably know who this guy is.
He is a blogger, a writer about Apple.
He’s been doing that for quite some time.
In the early 2000s, he started a blog about Apple and is a really well-known, well-respected guy.
He has a lot of access contacts in the Apple community and within Apple itself.
And I remember meeting the guy actually in, I think it was in 2010.
I met the guy in Montreal, Canada.
I was going to a conference about iOS development and the conference was named Singleton.
And he was there to give a speech, to give a talk.
And I remember sitting at a table before the talk and he came to me.
And he asked me if he could see my watch that I was wearing at the time.
And I was kind of surprised because it was well before the Apple watch.
So I think John is really into watches in general.
And so he came to me, asked me to see what watch I was wearing.
And so I showed him the watch and he took a small piece of paper, the same piece of papers he used when he’s doing the interview at the WWDC conference when there’s the Apple executive.
So he notes a lot of things.
And so he took a few notes about my watch and then he said, thank you.
And then he left and returned to his table.
So that was my only time I met the guy.
I like, I like the guy in general.
I don’t always agree with what he’s writing or what he’s saying.
I don’t like his website visual design.
I think it’s way overdue for a remake, but I respect the guy.
And I think the interview was really interesting.
And the reason for that is because John was talking about himself.
He gave a peek about the guy behind his writing, behind his blog.
And it was, I thought it was very interesting to know more about the guy.
And I felt like more connected to the author.
So we talk about how he started blogging after, first he was a big reader and then he started the blog as a kind of hobby.
And then it became very important in his life.
And eventually he became a full-time blogger.
He talks about how he is perceiving his work, what he thinks about his influence in the Apple community.
I think he underestimates his influence in general, but that’s okay.
And so he goes about his work as a writer.
He gives his thought about podcasting and how it is different than writing.
And so it’s very interesting.
I thought Gruber was surprisingly generous about himself.
And by listening to this podcast, I had this idea of sharing a few stories about me.
Did you know that between 2009 and 2013, I was an indie iOS developer?
I stopped doing the development of my two apps at the time in 2013, when Apple released iOS 7.
And if you remember, iOS 7 was a major shift in the user interface and the visual language in general.
And I had to remake all the visual element of my two apps.
And I thought it was way too much effort for the return on the time investment.
And so I stopped doing that in 2013.
It was before Swift and SwiftUI, and at the time you were building the user interface by using Interface Builder.
I think I made about $5,000 by selling my two apps.
It was a time where the app store was much less crowded.
So I think it was a bit easier to make some money.
And I learned quite a few things in doing those two apps.
I learned to use Object CPC, the Interface Builder.
How you make up the app, how you publish the app on the app store.
And so I learned a lot.
And it was a kind of a creative journey by itself.
And I had a blog.
I had a blog while I was developing my two apps.
It was on the Google’s Blogger platform, which was pretty ugly.
And I wrote a lot about my writing experience, my learning experience as an iOS developer.
It wasn’t very popular, but it was kind of satisfying that there was readers, regular readers coming to my website because I was sharing how to do specific things in iOS and Xcode and stuff like that.
So I like, and this is where I personally start to write and share my experience online with the world.
And, but I stopped in 2013 and between 2013 and 2015, I didn’t have any blog.
I remember closing my blogger account.
I don’t even remember if I saved my content, but I don’t think so.
Between 2013 and 15, two years, I didn’t have anything to share online.
I decided to reopen a blog in 2015 on WordPress.
And this is from there, I’m still writing.
And this is, I would say my second start or of my creative journey as an independent writer and author.
That’s the way it went for me in those days.
And I wish I had a blog before that, before doing iOS development.
I wish I had a blog in the early days, in the early 2000 years, or at the end of the nineties, it was such a big thing, but I didn’t know it was such a thing.
I do remember surfing on the web and using browser and do stuff, but I don’t remember thinking, Oh, I could open my own website and do a few things and share a few things, but I kind of missed this opportunity.
I do remember using iWeb, which was an app made by Apple.
It was part of the iWork software bundle that Apple made at the time.
I did have a few things shared online, but I don’t consider that to be a blog itself.
So, and eventually Apple killed iWeb and then I really stopped doing anything like that.
So yeah, anyways, I wish I had some, did something back in the days and write for many, many, many years, but here am I today.
And I’m doing this podcast and I’m sharing things on my blogs today.
And I’m very happy to do that.
I do spend a lot of energy into this creative journey and as an independent writer, and I like it a lot.
So yeah, that’s, I wanted to share this with you guys today.
This concludes the episode number four.
If you follow me on Microblog, Mastodon, or Blue Sky, don’t be shy and share your thoughts or comments.
Thanks for listening and please, in this challenging world, in constant crisis and state of emergency, take care until the next episode.
This is Numeric Citizen and you are listening to the thoughts and tribulations of a compulsive treater.
This is episode number three.
I’m excited but stressed.
I’ve been an Apple fan since the early 80s.
It all started when I was at high school and I was using an Apple 2 Plus and since then I’ve been an Apple fan, I’ve been following everything Apple did since then.
So I care very much about Apple, it takes a lot of my time in my life.
And this year I’m getting a new iPhone.
I’ll be upgrading from the iPhone 13 Pro to the 15 Pro Max.
This will be the first time I’m going to get the bigger one and eventually I’ll be writing an article about my experience of using the device and then I’ll share that.
It’s more like for the end of September or early October depending on the time I’ll spend on putting my thoughts and experience together.
But meanwhile, this week Apple is announcing these new models, the new iPhone 15 line and updated Apple Watch too.
And this is going to be a stressful week for someone like me because as you might know I’m a IT professional full-time so my hobby is not a full-time job.
So I need to find a way to strike a balance between professional life and my hobby and this is the core of the problem.
Because this week there’s a lot of news that will be shared online, there will be also many videos on YouTube where people will be sharing their impression of the Apple keynote about the latest iPhone and also they will be sharing their experience in the hands-on area at the Apple Park.
And this will be all very interesting to watch and to read and I’ll try to then have my own take of this, even write my thoughts and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on my blog eventually before maybe the end of the week or this coming weekend.
But I find it hard as a creator, as a writer to find the right amount of time to write those thoughts and to be relevant because I want to share something that is interesting to read, that has some thoughtful content but it takes time so I have to kind of strike a balance in that.
So yeah, that’s the main issue.
It will be a stressful week for sure but I’m very excited because I’m really looking forward for this newest iPhone generation.
I’m essentially upgrading to get a better battery life and also the updated camera subsystem and this is in this area where I want to share my thoughts about this new device and it will take time.
I won’t make a detailed comparison between the 13 Pro and the 15 Pro but I’ll certainly share my thoughts about the updated experience of the new devices in the upcoming weeks and I’ll be getting ready for that.
I’ll be creating my notes document in Craft so I can start to jot down my impression starting from this week and then I’ll eventually go on the Apple Store and see the device in person.
I’ll probably order the device the same day they go on sale so it should be on September 22.
So yeah, that’s the stress that I’m getting through this week but I’ll make it.
I’m sure that it will be worthwhile and yeah, so thank you.
This concludes the episode number three of this podcast.
Don’t be shy and share your thoughts or comments on microblog, mastodon and bluesky where this is cross-posted.
Thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.
Thanks for listening and please, in this challenging world, in constant crisis and state of emergency, take care until the next episode.
Thought of the day: if only we spent as much time on great rollouts (Apple) than we do on really bad ones (X)… oh wait, we do actually! Seriously, I’m tired of those comments about X…
Yesterday, we went to visit the botanical garden of Puerto De La Cruz forgetting to bring my big camera with me, only with my iPhone. At first, I was wary that I would miss photo opportunities, but in the end, that wasn’t the case. Judging by the initial view of my photos, the iPhone wonderfully met the challenge. This garden was definitively a place for macro-photography! BTW, if you ever visite Tenerife, it’s a great place to visit and it is damn cheap.
Tenerife, in many ways, reminds me of Hawaii. Vegetation, volcano, photography opportunities and the weather, all contribute to this feeling. I would say that it’s the European-style version of Hawaii.
And gone is Microsoft Cortana. What a weird name that was (Bard is not better in that respect). Some are suggesting Apple should do the same with Siri. I don’t think so because Apple has no apparent alternative to Siri, so they cannot just dump Siri because others are dumping their assistant. They do because they actively work on alternatives. Microsoft is clear in that respect and already shows what the alternatives are. Siri is a high-value brand name. Apple should build any next-generation AI-based tool to replace or complement the current back-end.
Musk reminds me of Trump when he says he wants to have a conversation with Tim Cook about the App Store’s 30% cut on whatever shit they allow to sell through X.com. Just like Trump walking to the room in Ukraine or Russia and solving the Ukraine war in a day. What a pair of clowns these guys can be.
Apple’s services help other Apple lines of products soften their respective crashes. COVID and work-from-home, learn-from-home was a boon for the iPad and Apple will suffer the post-COVID for quite some time. Knowing the longer-than-usual replacement cycle of the iPad, recovery is not for tomorrow. Great summary by Six Colors.
If all goes well today, I should be able to make it to a site with many abandoned buildings. this could be a great photo opportunity. This would be the first site outside Canada where I practice urban exploration (aka “urbex”). Feeling excited. 😀
It is with sadness that I’m spending the last few hours of my full day in Tenerife. It was a great nine days trip to a country that I knew nothing about. Over the course of my stay, I managed to complete the full circle of the island. The south shore is much warmer and more humid than the north shore. Tenerife is a Spain territory and it’s a good thing! I love Spain food so much!
I decided to expose my Micro.blog bookmarks, in the spirit of the “open blogger” movement (“I’m an open Blogger”), I think it’s a good thing to let other people know a portion of what I find interesting. The recently introduced tags for bookmarks is an indication that the premium feature continues to grow in functionality and usefulness. I’m happy with that. I didn’t play with the formatting, leaving the default one in place.
Spending the rest of the day at a hotel near the Newark airport. Hotels like this one are dull x 1000.😞 Our next flight is very early tomorrow morning, leaving no time to go to Manhattan for dinner, sadly.😒 UberEat for lunch tonight, Indian food, which we love a lot! 😊 Should be arriving home in the middle of Monday morning. A quick shower and hop go to work!
Rumors of an M3-based MacBook Air are already being shared… which I find surprising and troubling as I’m going to pick up my brand new M2 15-inch MacBook Air this Thursday. I know the drill… and yet… Sigh.
Sketch, the Mac vector app used by over a million people, recently invited me to adjudicate their most recent #SketchDesignChallenge. But not wanting to miss out on the fun (even though I can’t win because I am a judge… whatever…), I still booted up the app and created a widget of my own: Widget Radio. Source: Widget Radio — Basic Apple Guy
I follow Basic Apple Guy since his beginning. The quality of his work never ceases to impress me. He is so good that he was invited by the makers of Sketch! And boy did I like the iPod radio feature!
Just went through the security at Newark Airport’s new terminal A. Boy the scanners are so cool. The personal see our bags in 3D and can swipe the thing on a big screen! Impressive. Very efficient but technology has limits and that might explain why the guy wanted to open my bag for further inspection. 🤨😱🕵🏻
There is a lot to say about this new terminal A. Chairs with integrated cup holders, accessible charging ports (USB-A, USB-C, std power outlet), big information display panels with clear directions, easy to ear speakers, etc. I love this place! Remaining problem: too low temperature everywhere we go in the US. They are crazy to set temperature at 70-72F. It is fucking too cold!!! And not environmentally friendly.
Two used, two more to go. I accidentally dropped my Apple Pencil on the floor while getting my iPad in a security tray at the airport. Just like for toasts, they always fall on the wrong side. 😩
It took Adobe Lightroom on my iPad Pro all morning to upload all my 350 photos to Adobe’s cloud. That is SLOWWWW! How does semi-pro photographers (or even amateurs) endure this? My upload experience always has been consistently slow with Adobe’s products. Am I alone?
Earlier this summer, when Apple’s OSes were at Beta 3, I installed iPadOS 17 on my iPad to test the latest improvements and additions to a maligned OS. Maybe I was bored too. I started gathering my notes, thinking that it would be part of a mini review. Then I upgraded my iPhone because my experience with iPadOS 17 was good for a beta. Then I upgraded both of my Apple Watch (Series 4 and Series 8). Then my two Apple TVs. All is good, and generally speaking, these are all great improvements to what can be considered a set of mature OSes. I tried to put my observations together, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Besides having the general impression of getting a new Apple Watch, thanks to Apple, who dare to revisit many fundamental aspects of the UI and many micro-interactions with watchOS 10, for all other platforms, most of the changes are great and show that Apple is headed in the right direction. Your mileage may vary, and this is ok. The end.
Thought of the day: sometimes, what you decide not to do is as important as what you decide to do! For bloggers and writers, for me at least, writing is fundamental to my existence, publishing and sharing, a lot less. I have many unfinished pieces that probably will never be shared with the world. And that is ok.
Recently, while on a flight with United from Tenerife to Newark, I played with the infotainment screen in front of me. These infotainment systems really improved in recent years. Screens are bigger, speed is much faster, and interaction has improved quite a bit. Some of these systems look like iPad-in-the-seat, literally. It occurred to me that Apple while offering CarPlay, could try to find a way to create a version for flight infotainment systems. Let’s call it FlightPlay because Flighty is already used, and AirPlay, too!
I want each plane to offer a complete set of flight data, ready to be consumed by my iPad or iPhone while in flight via a local wifi network. The iPhone or the iPad would then turn into a special StandBy mode where data would be visually presented dynamically, allowing for great interactions with the user. Modern devices have so much powerful CPU, the interaction would be much more fluid and enjoyable. The data provided would be based on a standard model and would provide speed, altitude, current destination, path, atmosphere metrics (temp, headwind speed, etc.), and so much more. The airplane company could directly provide TV shows, music, etc., to our devices. The same would be for games. But Apple could also allow consumption of locally stored content from the device itself. I can imagine Apple’s designers working on a great graphical dashboard.
Is anybody at Apple reading this? What are you waiting for?
Decided to move PocketCast on my first iPhone homescreen so that I increase my podcasts listening. I under utilize this great app for which I’m a subscriber. I’m not sure it will move the needle.
Ok, can we agree that Apple’s Migration Assistant is magical? 🤯 After the new Mac got updated, it was required to match the version of the source Mac. It took about 45 minutes to transfer 375GB of data (with a peak speed of 650MB/s over Thunderbolt 4 cable), and boom. Of course, I had all those required permissions to be set again. But, wow, writing this on my brand new 15-inch MacBook Air this morning. It was my first experience with this process of getting a new Mac set up. I already feel at home on this machine.
I just enabled cross-posting from Micro.blog to my Pixelfed account. I’m not sure I’ll use it, simply because I don’t post that many photos here. I prefer to use a dedicated service for photography. But who knows, it might come in handy at some point. Thanks, @manton, for being so quick to add these features!
Running beta5 of Sonoma on my soon-to-be returned MacBook Air. I’m not so sure this thing is quite ready yet. I’ll wait a few more betas before installing Sonoma on my new MacBook Air.
Every single day, I read a new post by Pixelfed about upcoming features, additions or redesign. The list is too long to write here (and to build!). All apps are in beta. It’s a maturing platform / service for sure, but man, ship it already, stop the talk!
I don’t like these two “disconnected” visual elements: the menu bar from the dropdown menu. The highlighted portion of the menu bar and the menu itself. There, I said it. On a positive note: on recent MacBook Air like mine, I love the rounded screen corners.
I’m thinking of creating an email address like hello@numericcitizen.me using iCloud+. I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle, though. I’ll had to tweak the setup a bit for it to work with my current DNS settings at CloudFlare.
I decided to add a small collection of mini reviews that I read from time to time to my digital garden. The first two to make it to the collection: Matt Birchler’s comments about Ulysses and possible free and similar alternatives. The second is Manton’s comments on text editors for developers or other text manipulation.
Being locked out of an Apple ID account is probably one of the worst nightmares I could imagine. This story (Reddit link) makes me pause for a bit. If you spend some time reading the comments thread, it seems the original poster doesn’t tell the whole story. There are some grey zones here. Nonetheless, the possibility of losing complete access to my previously purchased and subscribed content is really something that I wouldn’t want. I would feel helpless.
I hope we’re nearing a future where you can realistically use an iPhone without an Apple ID at all — replacing all of Apple’s services, including the App Store, with independent alternatives.
Mike’s wishes are not going to be fulfilled anytime soon. Even with alternative authentication mechanisms and third-party stores, the prospect of losing access to previously purchased content is real. Somehow I think the government should step in and ask companies to provide secure content recovery means.
Say hello to hello@numericcitizen.me!. Finally decided to spend some time making my hello@numericcitizen.me work using the iCloud+ Custom Mail domain. Works great so far. Come and say hi!
I made many updates to my Complete Content Creator Toolset to reflect recent additions and removals. If you are curious about the apps and services that I’m using, this is the place to watch!
An Observation About the Photos From IPPAWARDS Winners of 2023
I forgot to linkpost to the IPPAWARDS winners of 2023. Lot’s of great photos. Really. Twenty photos come from the iPhone 12 series (which came out in 2020). Five from the iPhone 13 series and another five from the iPhone 7 (which came out in 2016). Only four from the iPhone 14 series. What can we conclude from this? It doesn’t matter which camera you’ve got. The best one is the one you’ve got with you at the right place and time. Period.
In case you didn’t know, the iPhone 15 is coming soon.
The situation with Trump and his extensive use of Twitter and how Twitter responded to the search warrant/court order confirms that leaving Twitter was one of my best decision in a long time. Twitter’s actions to protect Trump are disgusting (telling him that there is a search warrant targeting his use of the platform). I cannot, in good faith, be on such platforms.
I just went through the complete process of an Apple Trade-In for the return of my “old” 13-inch MacBook Air after getting my brand new 15-inch MacBook Air. I’m super impressed by the logistics behind all of it and how the user (me) is guided in the process. The final step was to cancel the AppleCare+ that I originally bought with my old device. Took a 5 min call from somewhere in Texas. The call was automatically initiated from a web form I filled out by selecting a few options. Got a confirmation email before the call and after stating the actual amount of the refund. All done. Great user experience. The next time will be for the replacement of my iPhone 13 Pro with the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro. 😃
Finding a well-designed, non-bulky, sturdy iPhone bike holder seems mission impossible. Searching this on Amazon is even harder, with all the paid sponsors/scammers filling all possible space. The one from Peak Design product seems great, but I will have to wait for the iPhone 15 Pro Max case to come out!
Happy 25th anniversary, iMac! As I started documenting in my series about remembering every Mac I ever owned, in 1998, I wasn’t invested in Apple’s ecosystem at all. I was a “PC” guy because of my job. Right before the iMac came out, I got rid of my Power Mac 7100 in 1996. I barely saw the iMac in stores or public spaces where a computer was made available for things like web surfing. What an iconic but somewhat weird-retro-style computer.
Isn’t the starting point of USB ports for the masses? Thanks, Apple.
Trying to post one or two or more of my pictures to Pixelfed every day so that I can move out of Smugmug by next year. It’s tedious, but it’s fun because I chose to add textual context to each image whenever possible. This wasn’t possible on Smugmug. 😅
Powerful hurricane Hilaryheaded toward the US southwest. Always impressive to see this from space. Less interesting is getting hit by it if you’re in this region.
Today marks the day I’m returning to the regular schedule for YouTube video production. Next videos in the pipeline: an update about the lack of meaningful updates to Craft in recent months and what this could possibly mean for Craft users. Then, working with Categories and Tags in Micro.blog. Busy week-end. 😅
A commentary video about Craft updates while waiting for the next wow moments for Craft. An update is supposedly coming out this week. My expectations are low.
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I’m back with a new video about Micro.blog. This time, I explore the use of Categories and Tags. I hope you find it useful to better make use of Micro.blog features. Enjoy. Comments welcome, here or on my YouTube channel. Next up, something about… podcasts 👀. Stay tuned. 😀
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There are effectively no success stories for Glass’s current business model. Small clones of Instagram and Twitter usually fail. To break out, there has to be something fundamentally different. For Micro.blog, the answer is simple: we are a social network but our business is blog hosting, a proven model. For Glass, the answer is less clear: they care deeply about photography, community, and design. I think the founders deserve a lot of credit for creating something beautiful. Is that enough?
My recent enthusiasm for Pixelfed comes down to being a good alternative to Instagram, open and not afflicted by a toxic business model. It might become a good alternative to Glass too if the latter doesn’t open up a little bit more to the modern world, post Meta-as-we-know-it.
As a subscriber to Pocket Cast, I would love to be able to use the iPad version on my Apple Silicon Mac. It’s currently not possible. Yes, there is a web version, but an app is much better. Overcast, a very popular alternative, is available for the Mac but is not native. But I’m ok with that; it’s better than nothing. How much effort does it require to make an iPad app available on the Mac without having to depend on Catalyst? 🤔
This week, I am getting an appointment for a screen replacement on my iPhone 13 Pro (under my paid AppleCare warranty). Three highly visible scratches are bugging me big time: the trade-in value is reduced by 485 CAN$ (at the worst timing possible: iPhone 15 Ultra is approaching😩), and I always focus on the scratches when looking at my iPhone screen. 🫣 AppleCare can be a good investment.
It was fun but a bit more challenging to record and share my first podcast episode yesterday. Editing in Ferrite is hard on the iPhone. It would be much better on the iPad or the Mac. For some reason, talking to a microphone feels less natural than recording myself on camera for a YouTube video. 🤷🏻♂️When I shared this thought with my wife yesterday, she responded: recording yourself on camera, then delete the video track! 😳🤯 I like her.
Tempted to install macOS Sonoma Beta 6 on my shiny new 15-inch MacBook Air… I like to be at the cutting edge of software releases… on iPhone, iPad, Watch and Apple TV, betas have been rock solid for me so far (the worst is the iPad). Any advice here besides “you’re mileage may vary”, “go ahead at your own risk”, etc.?
Craft Docs vs CleanShot: two different apps in different categories and two philosophies of asking for user feedback. Craft is closed, and opaque while CleanShot is outgoing and openly asks for “what we should work on next”. I’m a subscriber of CleanShot Cloud, and yes, I want a few improvements. If only Craft would change their mind…
I decided to stop cross-posting my photos from Glass to my Mastodon account as I feel this is not the right community/instance for my photos. I prefer to enable cross-posting from Glass to Pixelfed, which I forgot to enable. Now, all is good. 📷
“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.” — Ann Landers
Today, while reading this blog post, I found out that we could have a “popup” note inline in a blog post. I was curious and asked the author, who gladly responded with all the required information to do the same on my blog. A plugin is required, which I gladly installed in a snap1. This blog post is a test of that feature2. The day I learn something which in turn helps me improve one of my things, is a great day. 😊 I love this community so much! 🫶🏻
I glanced at photographers and photos on Glass this morning and realized that most photographers are men. Is it reflective of the photographers’ community in general? Photography is a men’s world?? I’d love to see more women because of their different sensibilities.
Working at the office today. Summer vacations are still ongoing hence so few people here. It’s always a reminder of the covid pandemic. This place used to be much more lively. Everything still feels different. 😒 We will never get back to pre-2020 world.
Am I alone who happens to get the iPhone keyboard displayed on the iPad instead of the full-size keyboard? My wife experienced the same thing many times. We don’t know how to make this thing revert to the normal size keyboard. Easy to make it disappear, but when it comes back, it’s still the small version. Very annoying to type on this.
The design of Dark Sky was so wonderful that I could understand the shape of the weather at a glance, even from a zoomed out view of the app.
Great analysis of the now-defunct Dark Sky weather app. I’m a bit late on that one. I don’t remember using Dark Sky because I think it wasn’t working in Canada. I’m not sure about this. Once Apple took over and brought the redesigned weather app with iOS 16, we could visually feel the Dark Sky’s influence on it. But Apple being Apple, they dropped a few things here and there and made a few things their own. I tend to use Carrot Weather more, but recently, I deep-dived into Apple’s Weather, and frankly, they did a good job. Yet, there was something unique in Dark Sky that I don’t feel in Apple’s offerings. Is it too close to the Yahoo Weather look & feel? Maybe.
Snell, Gruber, Birchler, and I all agree about the iPad’s limits. When we hit one of its limits, it becomes a reason to reconsider. When I started using the MacBook Air, it was when I accepted the simple fact that I would be more productive on the Mac than on the iPad. I love the iPad. This is the device I bring with me on travel, but I do know perfectly that some tasks will need to wait until I return home.
I always subscribe to my own content distribution channels for quality control purposes 1. I’m using Overcast, Pocket Cast and Apple Podcast to display my latest podcast episode. In these screenshots, I selected the info button to display the episode details. I’m a paid subscriber of Pocket Cast. I prefer the Pocket Cast display, but it has a caching issue as it doesn’t get the latest podcast artwork, but the other two do2. Bold text is missing on Apple Podcast for some reason. The overcast look is… mildly ugly.
This blog post looks like a mini-plug for my podcast. It is. ↩
The artwork display issue is also present on the web version of the Pocket Cast player. ↩
I updated my toolset website today1 with three additions under consideration: Digest2, Lazy3 and Heptabase4. The statuses of my current projects were also updated. Thanks for paying a visit.
Use the table of content at the top of the site to locate the right section. Convenient, heh? ↩
This morning, I updated my online About page1, taking some ideas from Brian Lovin’s website. The page was built entirely with Craft’s shared document and custom domain name2. I wonder if this is something that Micro.blog should expand on and be added to the premium subscription. Cc @manton
I probably have too many about page. Another one can be found on Linktr.ee. 🤦🏻♂️ ↩
I should probably do a new YouTube video explaining the process. ↩
In a world where we all struggle with how much we use our devices (let’s be real, we mean our phones), I think it’s kinda nice to have some places that just give up and tell us, “my dude, you’ve read it all, go do something else.” Source: Let the internet run out
I relate to this thought so much. Sometimes, enough is just… enough.
I played with Apple’s Maps Places feature, as shown in the following video. It’s nice, but it’s not exactly intuitive. There are many missing features, like setting a path between places and adding photos to a place within the guide, from the Photos.app for example to name a few. Also, it’s not clear if a shared guide gets updated if new places are added, or places are removed.
After so many years of blogging, I think I have finally settled on the styling of each blog post. 😅 I like to emphasize key words with bold, making it easier to detect what this post is all about. Next is the use of emojis to make things a bit less serious and more approachable.🙂 Next is the selective use of Micro.blog’s post title for longer and more significant posts.1 😜 More recently, I started using footnotes because they add another dimension to the reading experience and are displayed in a nice popup on the site.2
This blog post is such an example of using a title. ↩
Footnotes are far easier to create in Ulysses than in the web interface, tough. ↩
I’m really looking forward to the iPhone 15 Ultra👀. Coming from the iPhone 13 Pro, I skipped the 14 Pro1; I expect the camera improvements to be tangible. The telephoto lens could see the most significant improvements driving sales of the Ultra to new territories2. Using a periscope architecture, telephoto could jump from 3x to 6x or more. This could be the last thing that makes me sell my Nikon D7503. The softer and rounder edges and titanium finish might make this iPhone the best design of all time4. And, finally, USB-C will certainly simplify charging the damn thing! I wonder if I’ll still be able to use my Lightning Lavalier microphone using a Lightning-to-USB-C adaptor.🤔
It will be my first “Max” iPhone. Apparently, I’m on a stretch of going for the bigger screens5.
I skip a generation to limit my consumerism habits. It’s an environmental issue here. ↩
While writing my next edition of the Friday Notes newsletter (#107), I realized that writing has never been a one-stretch thing for me. It takes countless writing iterations before getting things done. In this episode, I share my anxieties 😰 about writing in general ✍🏻. Plus, a few words about my expectations for the upcoming Apple Event “Wonderlust”! 👀
Some of my Expectations for Apple’s Upcoming “Wonderlust” Event
This is going to be about the iPhone, mostly. The iPhone 15, to be more precise. Of course. Apple will probably talk a lot about the A17 because of its new 3nm manufacturing process, ensuring some battery power savings while bringing faster processing. This will be welcomed for an always-on display device since the iPhone 14 Pro performance in that respect is not as good as it used to be. Will the A17 be Bionic? Something else? I trust Apple’s marketing cracks about this.
The titanium finish on the Pro line, a first for the iPhone, but something the Apple Watch is already sporting, will get some attention too. Maybe more than the A17. I’m looking forward to it because I wouldn’t say I like the current finish on the iPhone 14 Pro1. I hate it, actually. Thanks to my iPhone case, it’s a non-issue. If the Apple invite is any indication of the upcoming titanium colour finish, I’m in love already!
But the star of the iPhone 15 show will be the Ultra with the periscope lens, bringing telephoto photography beyond the 3x optic possibilities for the first time. This is what I’m waiting for. I expect an Apple twist to it.
I expect some updates about the Apple Vision Pro2. Apple will probably talk3 about how excited developers are for the device and remind us about how it will change the world4. Something on the gaming front could be in the cards, too, thanks to the game porting toolkit introduced at the WWDC conference. Are Macs finally good at gaming? Is a software trick enough?
And then what else? The Apple Watch will get updates, but not the redesign we are starting to hear about for 2024. The Ultra 2 is probably not for me. But we will learn about it, for sure.
Macs? Crickets.
This is what I expect for the upcoming “Wonderlust” event.
I hate the finish of my iPhone 13 Pro for that matter, too. Too glossy. To “chromy”. ↩
I still think the “spacial computing” moniker should have been “spacial experience” instead. More approachable if you ask me. ↩
This morning 🌅, inspired by @maique and @gr36, I decided to create a weekly summary of my creative work and everything that surrounds or supports it. It’s really fun to put together and helps have an introspection about the things I do and use. The first edition is going out this coming Sunday, Sept 3th, directly on Numeric Citizen Space1. Just one day before my birthday! 😃🎂🧁
I will probably send it by email as a newsletter, too. So, if you prefer, subscribe now! ↩
I’m spending way too much time designing the layout of my upcoming weekly creative summary😅. I decided to post it on my Ghost-based and share the document directly from Craft. It will be fun to see how it goes. 👀
The Mac feels too much like a computer that has felt too overwhelming and the iPad is like the smartphone they have already been using.
At some point in the more or less distant future, the iPad form factor will take over. Just like cars took over trucks a long time ago. Just like most people use a smartphone as their main computer or as their only computer, the iPad will eventually be regarded as “a real computer”, the only computer, if people are willing to add something on top of their iPhone. One day.
The design is particularly conducive to viewing photos. The white space, the way the photos are rendered, and the styling of photo collections enhance the overall presentation. The vibe on Threads is the polar opposite. Even John Gruber, a long-time critic of Facebook, has been vocal in his appreciation of this new product from the same company. It’s surprising to see him overlooking the poor privacy-related track record of the Facebook family.
and
Still, Threads offers photos and photographers a second chance to find a home beyond a dying Instagram.
I deeply respect Mr. Malik😒, but there is zero chance that fancy web design will erase Meta’s business practices and business model. I refuse to consider Threads as an alternative to Instagram. It’s a matter of time before Threads becomes another Instagram-type platform. Just wait for it. Now, excuse me, I have some photos to post on Glass and Pixelfed. Thank you. 😜
Hi, this is Numeric Citizen and you are listening to the thoughts and tribulations of a compulsive creator podcast.
This is episode number two.
I am an iterative creator type of guy.
This week, I’m working on my next Friday Notes edition newsletter.
This is a newsletter that I started two years ago.
And it used to be a weekly newsletter, as the name implies.
And this is a newsletter that was inspired first by Monday Notes, which is a newsletter that used to be published by Jean-Louis Gasset, which is a former Apple employee and the founder of the Bee computer company back in the days.
And so I was inspired by this idea of creating a newsletter on a weekly basis.
And so instead of going the same way with the Monday Notes, I decided to go and set my schedule to be on the Friday Notes.
So I stopped, kind of reduced my publication pace because I couldn’t, I didn’t have enough inspiration and subjects to write about every week.
But I decided to keep it, to keep doing it.
And I’m number 100 in edition 107, but I’m doing it on a sporadic basis instead.
And the theme for this week’s edition was set a while ago, but the problem I have is I’m not the guy who is able to sit down at the computer and then write for an hour and get the thing done.
I’m more, I’m more in a piece by piece, a paragraph, one paragraph at a time type of guy.
And it’s, it’s really an iterative process.
Most of my writing results come from a iterative and somewhat endless process.
I wish I could write more easily, but it’s usually a set of disjoint ideas that eventually will form a coherent piece, but the time it takes for me to write a simple newsletter or an article on my blog, it’s way more than I think I should spend time on.
I’m not, I’m not sure if I am the only one who has this challenge, but it’s not, it’s not easy for me to sit down and I’m following a lot of bloggers who seem to write, like constantly writing all day, all night.
And, but I know they have a daytime job, but they can, they can put things out there so quickly that it’s, I’m kind of a feeling that, wow, what am I doing wrong for me to take so long to write a simple piece?
It usually starts in craft and ends up in Ulysses before being published.
And I’m always, I’m getting some help from Grammarly and ChatGPD, and also the macOS built-in dictionary and teaser feature.
Because of them, I think I can move faster a bit.
And I think my, my quality, my English quality is kind of a bit better.
As you know, maybe you don’t know, but I am a French Canadian.
So writing and thinking in English, for me, it’s not natural.
So I have to spend more time than maybe other bloggers or writers.
So yeah, that’s, that’s something that I’m stressing a lot about.
And when I’m, when I think I’m not good for commenting on time-sensitive events, like there is sometimes there’s the, the Apple events that happens a few times a year, and it takes me so long to put things together that by the time it gets published, all the attention moved elsewhere.
So I’m kind of always, I’m too late for the party each time.
So yeah, it’s, I wanted to share this with you guys, if you are listening.
And speaking of which, the Apple event for September of this year has been sent today, as I’m speaking earlier today.
And the Wanderlust name they gave to this, this year’s fall event, the invite has been sent.
I wasn’t invited.
I wonder why.
Maybe my English is not good enough.
I don’t know.
Yeah.
So I’m, I’m really looking forward for this event because first this year, I’m going to upgrade my two years old iPhone.
I have a iPhone 13 Pro and I will go with the Ultra this year.
If this is the name they decide to put on this iPhone, I’m going to the big phone.
It’s the first time I’ll be using the biggest phone.
And one of the reasons for that is to get the, the better telephoto lens and also a better battery life.
So yeah, I’m going to, I’m in for an upgrade this year.
I’m trying to skip a generation.
So yeah, that’s, that’s my year this year.
And I can’t wait for that to, to, to, to watch the, the event.
And also I’m expecting that we should get an updated version of the Apple Watch and the Ultra, the Series 9.
But I, I do expect to have an update on the Apple Vision Studio.
I think they will try to, to put a message that the developers are excited about this new platform.
So yeah, we should be getting an update about the Apple Vision and I can’t wait to see what they are going to talk about.
So yeah, this concludes the episode number two, already two episodes.
Don’t be shy and share your thoughts and comments on microblog, mastodon, or on blue sky, where this is cross-posted thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.
Thanks for listening and please, in this challenging world, in constant crisis and state of emergency, take care until the next episode.
Hey, this is Numeric Citizen and you are listening to Thoughts and Tribulation of a Compulsive Creator Podcast.
This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.
This is episode number one.
Now that this podcast is all set, is available on the Apple Podcasts platform, it’s time to get this thing started.
Today, this is Saturday, and I’ll probably spend some time at a coffee shop as the weather outside is not going to be great.
I think coffee shops are a best place for creative work.
And I’ll probably be working on the latest update about Craft, which adds the YouTube integration.
This is a highly requested feature, and I’ll be working to create a new video for my YouTube channel about this integration.
And I think it’s probably going to be a game changer for many reasons that I’ll explain in my video.
This week, I went to the Apple store to get my iPhone screen replaced.
And the reason for that is that because there is three scratches on the surface of the screen.
And since I’m going to use the trade-in program to get the new iPhone 15 Pro Ultra, or whatever the name they give to this upcoming iPhone 15 Pro, the credit we get when we return a phone that is in good shape without any problems is about $780 Canadian.
And the reason for replacing the screen is that if you say that there is a scratch on your phone when you insert the small survey when we configured the trade-in, the value of the trade-in goes down to $290 Canadian.
So you lose a lot of value because of this.
So I took an appointment with the Apple store support guys, and the outcome of this visit was that the screen was not required to be replaced.
And the reason for that is that they consider the scratches to be only cosmetic damage.
And so there is nothing to worry about.
And then I should, when I come back, I’m sorry, and then I should set the value of the iPhone condition to be just okay, since it’s not a crack in the iPhone screen.
So I should be good to go with the full value of the credit.
So I’ll have to take his words for it, because this is what I’m planning to do.
So I came out of the Apple store without a new iPhone screen.
And the other problem is, because since I’m using the iOS 17 beta, the process of replacing the iPhone requires to run a post replacement diagnostic on the phone.
And it’s currently not supported to do that on a phone running a public beta.
So I didn’t want to revert my phone to iOS 16.
So that’s why in the end, I decided to keep the iPhone screen like this.
So if you are planning to use the credit or the iPhone trading program, when you buy a new iPhone, don’t be shy.
And if there is just a few scratches on the screen, just mark it as being okay, and Apple should take it as is without questions.
So this means that I’m going to, I’m getting ready to get this iPhone 15 Pro, the bigger one, this year.
It’s the first time I’m going to use the Max edition.
I’m currently using the iPhone 13, and that’s why I wanted to get my screen replaced.
So that’s it.
This concludes the episode one of this short podcast.
Don’t be shy and share your thoughts and comments on microblog, mastodon, and bluesky, where this is cross-posted, thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.
And thanks for listening.
In this challenging world, in constant crisis and state of emergency, please do me a favor and take care until the next episode.
Hi, this is Numeric Citizen, and you are listening to the Thoughts and Tribulation from a Compulsive Creator podcast.
This is episode number zero.
Yep, this is episode zero.
First pilot episode was terrible, but I’m working hard to improve things.
It sounded terrible because of the room configuration, my microphone setup on the iPhone, and also I think it was obvious that I was reading something.
So I think it wasn’t very good, and it wasn’t where I thought it should be.
So now I made some change to the configuration.
Now I’m recording on the Mac with ScreenFlow.
I’m using the same microphone, but this time I enabled the voice isolation feature of macOS, so it should be better.
And since I’m recording in ScreenFlow, the post-processing should be faster, but I’ll have to use a utility called Permute, which will allow me to convert the audio file from MP4 to an MP3 file, and then I’ll have to use a website called TagMP3, where I can set the ID3 meta tags required for a podcast file.
I think my experience with my first post on microblog is a success.
It’s easy to create a new blog post and attach the audio file and then set the title, which is important here to have a title to a specific episode.
And I think microblog is very simple, straightforward, and the RSS feed is taken care of.
The thing that I find a bit strange, though, is that the podcast RSS feed contains everything that you post on microblog.
I know that because I subscribe to my own feed in Reader, and I was surprised to find that the content of the feed is way more than I thought it would be.
I thought it would be only the post with an audio file.
The other thing that I am currently having a problem with is Podcast Connect, which seems to be stuck at processing the podcast details.
I’m not sure why.
I’ll let it go for a few days and see where it goes.
I hope this second try will be much better, with much better sound.
This concludes this episode number zero, and don’t be shy and share your thoughts or comments on microblog, Mastodon, and BlueSky, where this is cross-posted automatically thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.
Again, thanks for listening, and please, in this challenging and constantly in crisis world where a state of emergency is omnipresent, take care.
Hi, this is Numeric Citizen, and you are listening to a pilot episode of the upcoming podcast Thoughts and Tribulation from a Compulsive Creator.
This episode, this is episode number minus one, where I’m testing the podcast hosting feature of the excellent blog hosting service, Microblog.
This podcast is one of my many creative projects.
You might know that I’m a blogger here on Microblog, but elsewhere too, I probably have way too many websites, and I also share photos on two photo sharing platforms, Glass, and I started sharing photos more recently on Pixel Fed, which I like a lot.
This episode aims to test the publishing process to Microblog and how it goes out in a podcast player like PocketCast.
Depending on the outcome following the publication of this pilot episode, I’ll make adjustments and try another one, which should be episode number zero.
I expect to make this podcast available on Apple’s platform sooner than later, and I expect each episode to be no more than five minutes in length.
For those who are curious, recording is done using Ferrite, the excellent audio recording app for the iPhone and the iPad.
I’m recording that on my iPhone 13 Pro with a Lavalier microphone.
I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing it correctly, though.
Most of what you’ll be listening to in the future shouldn’t be scripted, but if it is scripted, I’ll be using cue cards built with IE Presenter from the makers of the excellent text editor, IE Writer, and I intend to keep post-editing to a minimum to keep the burden of podcast production at the minimum level.
Now, a few questions.
How many podcasts can Hearth sustain?
Why create another one?
Who cares?
Well, I don’t need to find an answer to this question.
I’ll do it anyway.
I’m not expecting to publish on a regular basis, only when I feel something is worth sharing about my everlasting creative journey using apps, services, and different devices, and when the audio format is the best for the content I want to share.
I think Podcast Medium is suitable for sharing some in-the-moment thoughts, and I feel it fits perfectly my microblog’s mission.
I think it could be a great complement to my blogs, too.
It’s not my first experience with podcasting.
I did have one in French a while ago, but it didn’t take off.
It required way too many takes and took way too much post-processing editing.
I had enough after only 15 episodes.
You can no longer find those episodes on the web.
That’s pretty much it for this pilot episode.
Don’t be shy and share your thoughts or comments on microblog, Mastodon, and BlueSky, where this is cross-posted thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.
Thanks for listening to the whole episode.
Either you’re just curious, or even better, you care about what I’m doing here in cyberspace.
Please, in this world constantly in crisis and in a state of emergency, take care until the next episode.
2023-10-11 ∞
2023-10-17 ∞
2023-10-18 ∞
2023-10-31 ∞ 
