Gurman said it is “plausible” that at least the next 13-inch MacBook Air will be equipped with the as-yet-unannounced M3 chip, which will reportedly be manufactured based on TSMC’s latest 3nm process for improved performance. The current 13-inch model was released in July 2022 and is powered by the M2 chip, which is based on a 5nm process. Source: Gurman: New 13-Inch and 15-Inch MacBook Airs Likely to Launch by Summer - MacRumors

I would be really surprised to see the updated MacBook Air product line introduce the new M3 so soon. Why? The MacBook Pro is based on the M2. Even if people buy computers, not chips, it would send a weird signal to have an M3 product at the entry level while the Pro machines are using M2. The 3 nanometer process will probably help reduce heat dissipation, but the last time I checked, the M2 in the 13-inch MacBook Air doesn’t exhibit any problems, even when the machine is running at full processing power.

One possibility, though, is if the M3 chip really helps make a difference from an end-user perspective enough to entice users to upgrade. We’ll see soon enough. And I can’t wait to get my hands on the 15-inch version of the MacBook Air.

[@numericcitizen](https://micro.blog/numericcitizen) It's a good formal summary of the pros and cons of social networks, written by a textual robot capable of being unintentionally harassing itself...
So this is how the replies appear on micro.blog, a brilliant platform designed by [@manton](https://micro.blog/manton), both uncluttered and optimized for blogging, which seeks through a constrained design to avoid as best as possible the flaws mentioned by ChatGPT.

I couldn't agree more with this take too. In fact, I prefer this take to ChatGPT's.

“Social networks can be a great way to connect with friends and family, but they can also be toxic. Unfortunately, these networks can lead to cyberbullying, trolling, and other forms of online harassment. People can be cruel and insensitive in their comments, even if they don’t mean to be. Additionally, social networks can lead to feelings of envy and inadequacy, as users compare their lives to those they see on their timeline. It is important to remember to take a break from social media and step away whenever necessary to protect your mental health.” — ChapGPT

This text was used for the purpose of demonstrating the posting feature of Micro.blog. Please consider replying to this post so I can show how replies work. Thanks.

🎦 Smile, guys; you’re on camera! 😃 I’m getting myself ready to record th first video in the “Understanding Micro.blog” video series. This blog post on blog.numericcitizen.me will appear in the video while I’m giving a quick tour of a typical website hosted on Micro.blog.

Spent part of the morning trying to do some automation using Hazel and Shortcuts. What a time-consuming task. I’m wondering if I’m not wasting any future productivity gains here. 🤔🤨

It’s the week-end in a few hours, consider those suggestions by Shawn Blanc: A few alternative things you can do when you’re bored (instead of scrolling social media) Here are a few alternatives to what I call the “Just Checks”. – Scroll through your Day One timeline and read a previous journal entry or browse some old photos and memories. – Launch Day One and log how you’ve spent your time so far for the day. Continue reading →

As noted by MacRumors:

The second beta of iOS 16.4 that was introduced to developers today appears to have a limited number of new features, but it does have a major update for those who use Apple Books - it reintroduces an option for the page-turning animation. Source: iOS 16.4 Beta 2 Re-Adds Page Turning Animation to Apple Books - MacRumors

One quick question: who decided it was a good idea to remove such page-turning animation in the first place? What problem did it solve? Books are still a big part of our life, and this animation is a great reference to the experience of reading a book.

I couldn’t agree more with 9to5Mac here: There’s something special about the 2018 iPad Pro - 9to5Mac The 2018 iPad Pro deserves a prominent spot in the Apple hardware hall-of-fame. No other product from Apple has remained so functional for so long without appearing long in the tooth. The 11-inch iPad Pro, specifically, has held up extraordinarily well for a product from nearly five years ago. I used my iPad Pro quite often and for so many different use cases. Continue reading →

After Anybox earlier this week, now is the turn of TimeStory to make its debut on my list of apps under consideration. About TimeStory, from the application’s website: TimeStory is a Mac app for illustrating events on a timeline, designed to help you easily create plans and roadmaps, capture history, tell stories, and more. I spent quite some time today on a project at work using TimeStory. I’m blown away by the simplicity and the craftsmanship that went into this app. Continue reading →

👉 Updated my complete toolset website. ➕ Zavala ➕Anybox ➕Inoreader ➖ Raindrop.io

😅 Moving all my newsletter subscriptions to Inoreader (instead of Hey Mail) for a better reading and annotation experience. Unsubscribing to many along the way. That’s one of the many benefits of switching to Inoreader. Hey Mail isn’t that good for reading newsletters after all, when you compare it to other solutions (including Matter, Readwise Reader, etc.). Substack doesn’t make it easy to change the subscription email, BTW. 👨‍💻

Massive migration going on right now… to Anybox. I’m in love with this little app. Currently moving out my bookmarks from Craft. Next up will be Safari. Thankfully, Anybox can import Safari-exported bookmark files.

I’m always anxious when I use an app built and maintained by a single guy, as seems to be the case for Anybox.

I want to share a little follow-up to my previous post regarding Anybox. As much as I like what I see in this nifty little app, it must replace something else to make the cut (Raindrop.io?). It must help improve an existing portion of my workflow (putting my monthly newsletter together - possible initial use case). It must make a real difference, not only add a new stopgap.

Another day, another rabbit hole. This time, meet Anybox, a bookmark manager for macOS, iOS and iPadOS. I’ve been playing with it on macOS and I really like what I’m seeing. It’s a bit nerdy, but I do like it a lot. Everything I tried or wonder if it could do was met with a “ah” or “ooooh”. PopClip integration, easy integration with Things 3, data portability secured (lots of import & export formats), great user interface, Safari extension support. The list goes on and on.

Now, the only thing is to try to find a real use case for it. I’ve been using Craft for the most part for bookmarks collection, so my need for an app like Anybox is still unclear. Stay tuned on that one.

Is this another solution in search of a problem? 🤔

Got this for the Apple Studio Display and iPhone 13 Pro. With macOS Ventura Camera Continuity, it works much better than I thought. It works great with Microsoft Teams. Best way to add Center Stage to Microsoft Teams (using the Control Center settings while the camera is on). No latency. Surprising how low the battery power consumption is. It would have been nice if the iPhone mount could also recharge the iPhone, though.

For the first time today, I diligently tested Micro.blog’s bookmarking feature. I don’t know if this is a popular feature among MB users, but I wonder if I should find a place for MB bookmarks in my workflow. Let’s see a typical workflow. So, I start reading an article from my now favourite RSS reader: Inoreader. I decide to open the source website and use the bookmarklet to save the page into MB bookmarks. Continue reading →

Writing Shouldn’t Be Hard

We now live in a world of multimodal communications, and how we communicate is changing. The omnipresence of devices in our lives — smartphones to computers, means most of our conversations and communications happen through text. We have replaced so much of our face-to-face interaction with the written word. Teams, Slack and Discords, are part of our daily lives now. As the volume of text in our lives increases, we need tools that help facilitate and perhaps improve how we write and how fast we write.

Am I alone in having the feeling that people no longer read?

Apple pays $12.1 mln fine for alleged app market abuse in Russia - Antimonopoly Service

U.S. tech giant Apple has paid a 906 million rouble ($12.12 million) fine in a Russian antitrust case alleging abuse of its dominance in the mobile apps market, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Monday.

First, where is the money going once paid by Apple? The current situation in Ukraine mandates more scrutiny. Personally, I would have shut down the App Store altogether in this market. Plain and simple as well as give a middle finger instead of paying the fine. But that’s me.

Dear developers, be honest with us. In my usual morning rabbit hole digging, I stumbled on Flow, a Pomodoro app for the Mac. According to the website, Flow is free.

I click on the “Available on the App Store” link. Once in the App Store, I look at the app details.

Then, things start to look different. There is an “In-app purchases” tag. Scrolling down to the details, I get to see this.

Now, I go up and read the app description. 😠 The developer fooled me. I feel cheated when basic and core features are under the “Pro” plan (like a timer custom duration). It’s a stupid one-feature app, and the developer manages to put the core feature under the pro plan!! I skip the app and move on because I don’t feel the developer is honest in his approach. Yeah, I know it’s called “marketing”.

Will be spending the rest if the weekend trying to advance my (many) projects. One being to produce my next YouTube video about using Craft as a website publishing tool.