🇺🇦 It’s fascinating how the war in Ukraine makes me think about many video games. Let me explain. Looking at some Telegram channels feeding the results of attacks with anti-tank missiles or other means. You’ll find many short video clips with music and animation while a tank is destroyed. It makes things look like they aren’t real, only a game, which is far from the case for obvious reasons. Yet, there is the gamification of some aspects of what is filtering out of this ugly and devastating war. Continue reading →

I’m not writing my Friday Notes edition this week, and I feel guilty. I had a hectic week at work after returning from a one-week vacation. Writing weekly series comes with its challenges. 😔

If you are wondering what’s up with me, I’m on vacation for a week. I’m not only taking a break from work, my office, but also from blogging. Expect a return to normal programming next week. Written on my iPad, somewhere on a sandy beach in Mexico 😃😛 Continue reading →

This morning while reading the news, I suddenly remembered about Mikhail Gorbachev. He’s still alive, which I didn’t know. His birthday was March 2th. He’s 92. I vividly remember his presidency and what he brought to Russia and the world. One big and hard lesson we’re currently learning is that we cannot take anything for granted regarding democracy. Does he know what’s happening in Ukraine? What’s his take on all this shit? Continue reading →

🧐⁉️ It’s surprising to see European countries’ weak stance against Russia and the dire situation in Ukraine. I mean, world war II is not that far in history after all. Doesn’t Germany remember anything from fascism or Hitler? What about Austria? Their inaction speaks for themselves. I would have thought they would be more proactive in supporting Ukraine and trying to prevent another European war, if not another world war. What will it take to make them change their action cadence? Continue reading →

🤨 Question of the day: are TAGS a sign of bad or weak content indexing in any computer-based systems? TAGS should be inferred, no? #thinking #musing Discuss… Continue reading →

“(…) And we’re likely going to see skyrocketing prices if we did put a complete ban on oil.” — US treasury secretary Well, what is the price of thousands and thousands of people dying, tortured, raped? I can live with rising energy prices. For fuck sake, support the oil and coal embargo against Russia NOW! We cannot escape any impact of this war without some form of sacrifice. Continue reading →

📖 This week, I received my revenues report from Medium for last year (for taxes purposes). I made less than 500 CAN$. It reminded me that I was a much more active publisher last year than now. My last publication on Medium was on February 12th. This morning, I spent a few minutes on Medium. I can’t remember when was the last time I visited the homepage. I was curious about the web experience changes introduced since my last visit. Continue reading →

Two quick questions: how do you cope with what’s happening in Ukraine? Are you watching the news?

Thanks to MacRumors, as reported today, I didn’t know today was the fifth anniversary of a special meeting between Apple’s top brass and select journalists to talk about Apple’s plans with the pro users and their commitment to the Mac. At the time, we didn’t know how serious Apple’s upcoming pivot would be. In retrospective, Apple delivered and then some. It is simply a tour-de-force to flip the Mac product line upside down and bring power efficient, mighty and beautiful Mac designs. Continue reading →

“…the fate of the whole Eastern and Central Europe and the Black Sea region is being decided on the territory of Ukraine. Therefore, to protect the freedom of Ukraine and Ukrainians is to guarantee the security of Europe.”. Nothing more to add, your honour. Continue reading →

🇺🇦 What is it that Russia doesn’t like about life, love, freedom, everything that makes us humans? 😞 Continue reading →

This weekend I did some cleanup in my old papers and documents. I found an old bank account statement where I can see a withdraw transaction to help me pay for my Macintosh 128K in 1985: 3460.75 CAN$. 🤑 Ouch. I did some research to better document the time when I had a Macintosh SE while studying at the university and remembered about using Think Pascal, Prototyper and ResEdit to build a floppy disks indexer. Continue reading →

💥Today’s news about a possible attack by the Ukrainian army on Russia’s land is potentially game-changing in this war between Ukraine and Russia. A few thoughts. First, Russia doesn’t have the exclusive right to use “Special Operation” when referring to war-related actions. Second and more seriously, Who did this? If indeed it is Ukraine, was it to test Russia’s defence? If so, Russia again failed miserably from a military perspective at protecting its territory as, surprisingly, helicopters didn’t face any shots from the ground. Continue reading →

🇺🇦 For over a month, Ukrainians have been fighting to defend themselves against the invaders. This is a watershed moment in history, happening just before our eyes. Sadly, we can already see the routine of war being in place. Emphasis on the events during the news bulletin is decreasing already. We are so easily bored. We will move on to the next crisis unless there is a significant turn of events. Continue reading →

🇺🇦 Another edition of my free monthly Introspection newsletter is out NOW. Get it here! Talked about themes are Apple, photography, privacy protection and climate change. This month, though, to help build awareness, I have many war-related tidbits on each of these themes. 🇺🇦

🤨 As diplomatic talks progress, don’t be fooled by Russian words. The only viable solution is for them to leave what was known as “Ukraine before 2014”. Nothing less. We must keep pressure on Putin and our respective governments! Oh, and why do we feel so bad about recent Biden’s words about Putin? I mean, a lot of people wish for much more than simply “not staying in power.” Continue reading →

🧐 Thought of the day: the narrative about having to publish on a regular basis to build an audience is killing content quality. #musing #writing Continue reading →

💪🏻 Stalled or retreating troops. Low morale. Decreasing attacks. High casualties and losts. Retaken cities by Ukrainian troops. Odessa and Kyiv free with minimal damages. I’m not a military expert or a military pundit, but these signs point to a turning point. Let me hope for even brighter days ahead. 🙏🏻✌🏻 Continue reading →

It’s March 2022. Spring is finally here. Moreover, among us, Apple Silicon, first announced in June 2020 and massively available since November 2020. Furthermore, also available is Center Stage, a new feature introduced with the 2021 iPad Pro and now available on the MacBook Pro and more recently the Apple Studio display. Here’s the thing. Microsoft Teams, currently at version 1.5 still isn’t supporting Center Stage and worst, Apple Silicon. Continue reading →