9to5Mac reporting about WhatsApp usage in the US:

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

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

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

Sorry for the rant this morning.

  1. They used to have a community manager but he barely shows up in the community. ↩︎

I’m a bit sad 😔 that this post, “Dear Micro.blog - How Can I Help” didn’t get the expected traction. I don’t know why. Maybe it fell between the cracks of a busy Micro.blog timeline. But this morning, I’m trying something different by explicitly tagging my virtual friends cc @jean @manton

Made a tweak to this blog: using the Footer field of the Design section (on a Micro.blog feature), I added a footer to each individual post that adds links to my other websites and my Mastodon handle. It’s a mixture of HTML and CSS. I took advantage of MacGPT to learn what was needed. I know a bit about HTML but not enough about CSS. My “assistant” helped me, again.

Finished my work day in Microsoft Loop because one of my colleagues insisted on using it for a special project. Boy, this thing sucks. After many months of availability, Loop feels more like a proof of concept than a productivity tool. I guess Microsoft will iterate on it, but so far, as a Notion user, meh.👎🏻 Sorry for the rant.

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

Google announcement regarding egress fees:

Starting today, Google Cloud customers who wish to stop using Google Cloud and migrate their data to another cloud provider and/or on premises, can take advantage of free network data transfer to migrate their data out of Google Cloud. This applies to all customers globally. Source: Eliminating data transfer fees when migrating off Google Cloud | Google Cloud Blog

This is major. I often see clients forget to consider the exit costs of any hyper-scaler in the TCO calculation. Getting into the cloud isn’t cheap. And up until today, getting out of the cloud wasn’t either. Now, for those on GCP, it is. I expect the others (looking at you, AWS, and Azure) to follow, maybe not this year, but they will, either by their choice or they will be forced. This is an anti-competitive measure to charge for egress fees.

Someone at work sent me a text to get feedback. After reading it, I had this vague impression that ChatGPT was involved in the process. Out of curiosity, I openly asked the author if it was the case. And sure enough, the answer was yes. 8 out of 10 times, the outcome is the same when I ask that question. Gen AI usage is becoming pervasive in my world at work. Is it the same for you?

Scrolling through my LinkedIn timeline today. It always gives me weird feelings when I see people I work with announcing their retirement. These posts are reminders that, eventually, everyone will cross that gate. Me included. 😔

Monday. A new work week begins. To celebrate, I created a new category for my work-related posts (RSS feed). I plan to share more about my work life in 2024 and beyond. 👨🏻‍💻