Has anyone started using Collections on micro.blog and can give me a use case?
I think I’m being dense but I just can’t see it.
Of course One New Change is always on the shooting list whenever I’m in the city.
Manton Reece pondering about free trials whist at the coffee shop:
At the coffee shop this morning I asked the barista to make my latte before I paid for it so I could try it first. Wait, no. Because demos and trials are an important complement to things that need thought and time and money, like a $40 app. But does $5 software need a trial? What about if it’s $1?
In discussions around software, it’s easy to draw comparisons to physical products like coffee, but these analogies often fail to capture the unique nature of digital tools. While I understand the reasoning behind such comparisons, they don’t hold up under scrutiny—particularly when discussing something as nuanced as software trials.
Take coffee, for example. It’s a physical, tangible product. When you order a coffee, you know what you’re getting, even if the quality or flavour varies slightly. You won’t ask for a coffee and end up with something entirely unexpected, like a cup of vinegar. There’s a general understanding of the outcome, and the decision-making process is relatively straightforward.
Software, however, is entirely different. Its value and functionality are often abstract until experienced first-hand. Even with detailed descriptions, videos, and user reviews, it’s nearly impossible to fully grasp what a platform offers without direct interaction. This is especially true for platforms that serve specific use cases or offer unique capabilities that might not be immediately clear to new users.
This is where trials come into their own. A trial provides potential users with a hands-on experience, letting them explore the platform and see how it fits into their workflow. For established platforms like WordPress, Ghost or Todoist, extensive documentation and community resources can complement the trial experience, but for platforms with less widespread adoption, trials are even more critical. They bridge the gap between curiosity and commitment, allowing users to make an informed decision.
Imagine arriving at a software platform’s website with very little information on, which is the case with micro.blog, without a clear understanding of what the service offers, it’s challenging to assess its value. A trial in this context isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. It removes barriers, eliminates guesswork, and allows potential users to discover the platform’s strengths for themselves.
By offering a trial, software platforms create an invitation to explore, reducing friction and encouraging a broader audience to engage. For some services, this approach has proven invaluable in growing a loyal user base and showcasing the platform’s potential in ways that static explanations simply cannot achieve.
I love shooting at Bank
Edited a few old photos and can’t remember if I posted them or not
Merry Crisis
A few from Winter Wonderland. Too busy to take many shots though
Happy Christmas Eve Eve everyone.
Very sad day today. I said goodbye to all my Fujifilm gear in on go. 🥲
I guess I need to update my bio now!!!
I want to podcast again
The Watchful Intelligence of Tim Cook 🔒
My fundamental belief is, if you’re looking at your phone more than you’re looking in somebody’s eyes, that’s a problem.
Love this quote.
In case you missed it.
I’m running the Manchester Marathon to raise funds for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity. I’d love it if you could donate and fund the exceptional care to children and families who need it most.
👋 Hello everyone 👋
I’m running the Manchester Marathon to raise funds for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity. I’d love it if you could sponsor me and fund the exceptional care to children and families who need it most.
🔗
News publishers can choose between the standard YouTube embedded player or a version designed specifically for them, which gives greater control over the ads experience, but removes YouTube branding and links back to YouTube. This version provides publishers greater control over the ads running on their videos, but YouTube doesn’t have visibility into which ads are served.
Am I the only person that things this makes perfect sense to both YouTube and the publisher?
Finished reading: Killing Floor by Lee Child 📚
Don’t worry, this isn’t the usual post about AI and it stealing everyone’s content. That’s true, of course, but this post is a bit different — although still AI-adjacent.
As is customary around this time of year, I start to think about my goals for the following year and, more importantly, the tools I am going to use to get to them. I usually start with digital things because my analogue choices are far easier and much more enjoyable. The first thing on my list is typically my note-taking and writing app.
After going around the houses more than a few times, it all boils down to two really — iA Writer and Ulysses. I always end up sticking with the tried and true on Ulysses, but there are a few features that I really like on iA Writer. The developers really think about what their app needs to do, but also how its usage affects the web as a whole. The best reflection of their shared thinking is arguably one of the best features I have seen for a long time, Authorship.
Born of a desire to see version control like changes, Authorship saves the state of your document, and then anything you pasted in is shown as dimmed. Keeping tabs on what you actually wrote and what has been appropriated is beneficial when researching topics and ensures you reference all of your work correctly. However, it goes much deeper than this when viewed in a world full of Ai.
It also remembers what ChatGPT wrote for you, and now with the launch of writing tools on Apple devices, what Apple Intelligence changed during a proofread. Why this doesn’t exist at an OS level I am not sure, but this has proved invaluable for me already, and means, of course, I am experimenting again — at least to see how good (or not) Apple Intelligence is.
I love the fact that the iA Writer developers have thought to develop a feature that should exist everywhere. I often wanted to see changes editors made to my writing before publishing but couldn’t be bothered to compare it in depth. That is how you become a better writer. Perhaps this information should be transferable to the webpage on publish?
I’m happy for readers to see what I wrote and what the super-intelligent spell check updated for me. I might launch it as a comedy B-side. With this said, I do feel that there’s some responsibility for those that post to the internet and particularly bloggers to ensure what they are posting is their own work. Removing all the arguments that LLMs stole all of our work, it still rests on our shoulders to ensure the web we all know and love remains genuine.
I would love to find a way we could ensure that the people we follow, and possibly even support, have full authorship. It might be words, or photos or increasingly video that AI muscles into, and I would rather not live in a world where we are not sure if you created what you post or not. We place a lot of trust in the things we consume online and with entertainment being provided increasingly by sole creators it would be nice to know it was all their own work.
On a recent Vergecast, Nilay and David were chatting about the very real idea that the current state of streaming services is just cable TV all over again. Of course, they are correct, but they also kept coming back to the idea that the only services that make a serious amount of money are those that convince people to make the content for free. The best example of this is YouTube, and I just don’t see it that way.
I understand some people do. My son used to watch a huge amount of gaming content and toy reviews when he was younger. People I follow online seem to really value YouTube Premium to remove ads from one of their most used services. Yet I balk at the £12.99 per month cost because I don’t see any value outside of finding information on how to do things.
Don’t get me wrong, when a new phone comes out, or there’s an interesting camera I want to take a look at, YouTube is where I head to find video reviews. However, I think most of that is because web searching is so broken that it’s the only place I can reliably find what I am looking for. To me YouTube is transactional. I want to watch a few reviews of a new gadget, and that’s the place to find them all in one place. Outside of that, YouTube is a resource on the same level as Wikipedia.
I visit it often when something breaks in the house. The vacuum has yet another toy stuck in it, and I need to know how to take it apart. Or my heater is leaking, and I need to know if I can undo this screw or not. I can’t imagine YouTube being the place I go to watch something in the evening instead of Netflix — but clearly lots of people do.
Many years ago I tried, but I spent even more time trying to find something to watch than I would do in the Netflix never-ending carousel. Do people really sift through all the garbage to find something worth watching? What is there that’s worth my time? Certainly not Mr Beast or Fortnite streamers.
Finished reading: Make a Living Designing Logos by Ian Paget 📚
manuelmoreale.com in Topic blockers
one thing I’d love to have—and I know that’s something basically impossible to build—is a topic blocker. I’d happily pay money for a tool that allows me to completely hide certain topics from the web. Because I’m so goddamn tired of stumbling on content about American politics
Amen! I find it so tiring and something that is only going to get worse. I don’t want to allow it to chase me away from social media, but I might let it
I’m looking for a designer to work with me on a branding, redesign and logo project.
Anyone out there that has some expertise in this area or can you recommend someone who has?
Can’t decide to stick it out with micro.blog and hope things improve or move away again (for good).
We work offices and the awesome @georgeprobably@social.lol fuelled design brilliance, deep conversations and problem solving.
The best feeling in my online life is when I have inspiration for a post and I open a fresh sheet in Ulysses. Just then, right before I start typing my garbled English onto the sheet and ruin the whole thing, that is an electric feeling that anything could happen.
Maybe I write a really great post, everyone loves it and I get loads of comments and replies. Writers I love begin posting link posts to it, and this fantastic post is referenced all over the web. Massive publications invite me to write op-ed’s for them and send me big cheques in the post.
Or maybe no one reads it. It gets buried in the constant stream of other blog posts being written. Drowned out by all the noise from influencers and stupid vertical videos of people dancing about. Perhaps it contains a stupid typo and I offend someone, meaning I lose my job and become homeless. My wife leaves me due to the embarrassment of writing ‘form’ instead of ‘from’, and now my kids hate me.
Perhaps I won’t bother. It was a stupid idea in the first place anyway.
Manton Reece in Wrapstodon
account growth
I never thought Mastodon would have any feature that uses these words. How considerately and slowly they deliberated over boost with comments seems a long way away from a feature like this.
Decided recently to give up on leaning any back end at all and will lean in to front end work.
It is what I enjoy most and what I want to do going forward. Perhaps full stack would have lead to more work / more pay but I’d spend time doing things I don’t enjoy and that’s more important to me.
After more than 40 years (yes, I am old) I am well aware of needing massive barriers in the way of my bad habits. I have very little self-control when it comes to dopamine boosting things, and my phone is the worst.
I realise how pathetic that is. Over the years, I’ve given advice which is regurgitated from that which I receive (often unrequested) multiple times. To simply stop. Much like an addict l, because that is what I am of sorts, I’ve tried too hard too quickly and slowly returned to ‘normal’.
This is a personality weakness that unfortunately I just can’t overcome. Hence, why I need to babysit myself and treat myself like an idiot. A title that I well deserve because I can’t put the shinny thing with bright flashing colours down and live in the world.
So in steps Screen Time. Yes, that truly pathetic attempt and virtue signalling that Apple introduced with iOS12 six years ago. It’s slow, it uses unnecessary battery life at times, and it’s easy to get around. Let me tell you though — it works.
Typically, the criticism with Screen Time is that it is too easy to bypass. That instead Apple should have built some kind of phone jail to keep people like me out in times of weakness. Instead, I think it strikes the right balance. By putting a simple screen in between me taping the icon and opening the app ensures I think about if I do want to open the app. Something the popular Opal app charges a fortune for.
It puts just enough friction between me and something that won’t benefit my future self, and still being able to use the app if I need to. I have set downtime for the times I want to switch off and also limits to some apps for each day. Babysitting myself works really well, because my monkey mind just can’t stay away.
In the US suicide rates among men under 30 have risen by 40 percent since 2010 and are four times higher than among young women.
Male suicide accounts for as many deaths as breast cancer.
~ if you need help or just don’t feel yourself, please please please reach out.
Nick Heer in Google’s iOS App Inserts Its Own Links Into Webpages
For Google to believe it has the right to inject itself into third-party websites is pure arrogance, yet it is nothing new for the company.
The only upside is I doubt many people use this app.
Of course I bought an Ultra 2 because of the issues I’m having with my OG and I’m actually amazed at how much better it is. Quicker, more responsive and fixed my battery issues.
Also the Milanese loop is so comfortable I feel like I can wear my Apple Watch anywhere now.
I’ve been testing the beta version of Craft for a few weeks and I must say its an impressive upgrade, but there are too many little annoyances still for me to jump in.
It’s almost there though.
A perfect summation of modern day marketing.
Weirdness all round
After finishing a huge project, in a crazy short timescale, for our biggest client (aka the triple whammy). I get to spend today doing one of my favourite things. Drawing and designing.
The Apple Store is down 🫣
I’ve been moaning about my Apple Watch Ultra OG for a few weeks now and the battery life continues to get worse. Just discovered I have gone from 89% Battery health to 86% battery health in a month and can barely scrape through a day.
There is 100% something not right with Watch OS
Matt Birchler in The “Bluesky feels like early Twitter!” vibe
In my opinion, Mastodon has leveled out to be a great place to talk with nerdy people (aka my core demographic!), Threads has turned into an engagement bait hell that I don’t enjoy browsing much at all right now, and Bluesky still has that “first week of school” energy.
Yep, I think that’s about right 👌
🔗
X’s former top advertisers including Comcast, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lionsgate Entertainment, have resumed ad spending on the platform this year, albeit at much lower rates than before.
I guess if you want to try and avoid new tariffs on your products you have to appease the incoming presidents lap dog.
Dan Moran in Macworld🔒:
Apple can not only afford to be more judicious about how and where it deploys AI, but it also doesn’t have to be as aggressive about selling it to end users
I think Dan hasn’t been paying close enough attention to their advertising. It’s too much, to the point of ridiculousness. It doesn’t tell a tale of a company that hasn’t made an “existential bet-the-company” placement on AI.
I still can’t really find a use for the action button. I’ve tried lots of fancy shortcuts and things, but I just forget it’s there.
Any ideas?
Of course I now have two iPads.
Finished reading: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 📚
There’s an old adage: today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper. For anyone outside the UK, it essentially means that news—and the attention it garners—moves on fast. Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to products, influencers, and technology. That said, some topics tend to be very cyclical (note-taking apps on micro.blog, anyone?), and fortunately, the discussion about Substack has cycled back to the forefront.
Before Anil Dash’s excellent post a few days ago, I was disappointed to see how many people had either returned to Substack or started using it anew. If you’ve forgotten, there was a strong movement to abandon Substack only 11 months ago—a movement I supported by deleting my subscriptions, waiting for my favourite newsletters to move away due to Substack’s “Nazi problem”.
This isn’t up for debate. There’s no argument over whether there was an issue—there was, and there still is. This video from Decoder should be motivation enough to pack your stuff up and leave a platform that won’t remove content expressing racism as blatantly as Nilay puts it to their CEO. Like I said, there’s no debate here. Unless you’re John Gruber because, “If I never see it, I don’t care.”
It’s Not WordPress
Another argument I’ve heard is that it doesn’t matter because Substack is “just a hosting company.” Admittedly, it was a pretty great one—until all of this started. Free hosting for your newsletter, blog, and podcast—where’s the catch?
Well, here it is, folks. The fact is, Substack is not just a host for your content like WordPress, Ghost, or micro.blog. It uses your content to pitch others on their platform, recommends other publications alongside yours, and pushes its users toward its Twitter clone, Notes, which allows people to post some truly terrible things.
As Anil points out, Substack has now become a noun. When people say things like “subscribe to my Substack” (which they really shouldn’t), you can’t use the passive “just a hosting company” excuse. WordPress may host your website, and its CEO might go a bit crazy and start a feud with another billionaire, but that doesn’t directly impact your blog. However, when Substack uses your content to legitimise some of the worst society has to offer, it’s not just me being annoyed—you should be annoyed too.
Forgetting
Yet here we are, months later. Substack still exists. High-profile people don’t care and continue to open new accounts instead of searching for better options. And the world keeps spinning. It’s remarkable how quickly people forget. Even when something as serious as this happens, it only takes a few weeks to blow over. Perhaps I expect too much as someone who consumes a large volume of publications.
I have no issue with where you choose to host your content—that’s entirely up to you as a writer. However, much like the people still buying Teslas or still posting on X, know that people will be judging you. Most importantly, post somewhere you can own your content. Please.
Could Apple Notes just support Markdown please.
That would be great.
There is nothing I enjoy more than an insightful discussion on notebooks, and hearing Sam Altman on the How I Write Podcast was a fascinating listen. I made a few notes whilst walking the dog this morning, but before I got a chance to go over them, this excellent rebuttal from Liz Lopatto at The Verge made me laugh out loud.
My favourite quote from the post sums up my thoughts:
I do not rip pages out of my notebook regularly because I am not deranged
This part really made me wonder what on earth is going on in the world. Sam describes ripping pages out of his spiral notebook (this being one of the reason he uses a spiral version) and throwing them on the floor for his cleaner to pick up.
Not putting them in the bin himself, he’s too busy for that. He just throws them on the floor and relies on his housekeeper to pick them up whenever they are around. The whole podcast / video is well worth watching, but this part in particular is really revealing about the personality of the man in charge of Open Ai.
As Liz writes:
This is a man who has not carefully considered his tools and expects someone else to pick up after him. That does explain a lot about OpenAI, doesn’t it?
As saside note, spiral notebooks are not my thing, neither is the pen he writes with, but there’s no getting around the fact that writing in a notebook is the best!
Adam Mosseri on Threads:
We are rebalancing ranking to prioritize content from people you follow, which will mean less recommended content from accounts you don’t follow and more posts from the accounts you do starting today
I like the way that Meta can start to implement the things users have been asking for just in time to see a lot of their user base leave. The best part is, I would presume, the users that really benefit from these updates don’t really want to use a Meta platform anyway 👋
Cross posting appears to be broken again 🙄
Has the Tapestry app from Tapbots not launched yet? I seem to remember loads of people using it.
Cross posting from my blog to BlueSky
👋
The Dent in Echo chamber? You’re damn right!
When I’m chilling in a coffee shop, writing a blog post about echo chambers, I don’t move to the table next to me to listen closer to the muppets there talking about how children shouldn’t be immunised against deadly viruses because Bob down the pub told them about mind controlling nano bots.
A perfect analogy. People act like I have to see all this toxic crap online. Or imply I’m weak because I might get ‘triggered’.
But I just want a nice place to hang out and that shouldn’t be an issue.
I am a complete Arc convert!
I can get rid of weird colour schemes on the web…at last!
Nick Heer in Adam Mosseri Says Threads Will Now Show You More of the Stuff You Have Said You Are Interested in Seeing
These are the people who see social media as a place for furthering their brand. They are not interesting. The only way they are able to grow their audience is by treating a recommendations algorithm as a problem to be solved.
These are people that completely miss the point of social media. These are people that have ruined it for the rest of us. These are people that I don’t want to see in my feed.
The discover timeline is always mostly photos.
Time for a rebrand to micro.photo?
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The company plans to introduce the revamped LLM Siri next year and launch it by spring 2026
Companies talk so much about products that don’t exist. Apple say “coming later this year” more than I ever expected. And don’t even get me started on Orion
manuelmoreale.com in An appreciation of the “mark all as read” button
I only open my RSS reader when I want to read something and I have some time to spend reading … just like that, I’m done with my timeline. Isn’t that amazing?
This is why they pretend RSS is dead, because it’s a trick they don’t want you to know.
M.G. Siegler in I’ve Been Here for Years
A lot of what I have written over the two decades – thousands of posts – remains online, but a lot also doesn’t.
I have a lot of words out there from a decade of writing. Some places have closed down, but some are still up but have changed the name next to the words I wrote. Which is inexcusable to be honest.
Finished reading: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman 📚
Finished reading: ⭐️⭐️ The Terminal List by Jack Carr 📚
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Unfortunately, it went on to be yet another one-and-done Apple accessory that was discontinued with the iPhone 15.
Did not realise this was discontinued and it’s weird they didn’t launch an updated version.
With the improvements to the Bluesky posting and following people from there I think it’s time for a micro.blog app that handles all of these social things better.
I wish I could develop something from my rudimentary Figma mockups. Maybe I should I’ll just learn swift and try.
To waste my time in new and interesting ways number 4767
I set up a Bluesky server for myself. 😂
After listening to Hark Fork this week I logged back in to check out Threads and stopped my profile deletion.
Good lord how does anyone look at that place for more than 2 minute. The level of thirst is completely off the charts.
Needless to say its set to delete again 😂
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On this day, one year ago, Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI — an event known internally as “The Blip.”
Wait. That was A YEAR ago!!
Matt Birchler in I’ll eat an AirPod if I get this prediction wrong
I would challenge anyone who thinks Apple’s LLM features will be more “mainstream” then ChatGPT “before the end of the year”
I also don’t think people realise how mainstream use of ChatGPT is.
Garbage Day in Bluesky’s the new Twitter probably
a moment at some point in the future where enough people who grew up on a text-based web have died off and taken with them any memory of enjoying reading and writing posts online.
A little over dramatic, sure, but I don’t think it’s far fetched to expect a future where reading is ‘boring’ and therefore bothering to write online becomes less and less popular.
Cory Dransfeldt loving the fact that Social media’s broken:
Find your space and don’t feel obligated to participate in any of it.
Like Cory, I have my website (I check in on the social bits of micro.blog sometimes although I wish I could turn it off) I have too many books to read, and I have a nice place to sit and read them.
In spite of of all the really great people I have met online I just can’t be bothered with the discourse any more. There is very little point in me spreading my words anywhere outside my own website (and activitypub things attached) so I don’t bother.
I cant thank the ‘world’s dullest edge lord’ enough for breaking Twitter. For infecting the world with his horribleness in the pursuit of his self indulgent version of free speech. I am forever put off being online because social media is broken, and it’s the best thing for us all.
I have no BlueSky, No Threads, and I’ll have none of whatever else is cool these days. Just me. At Greg Morris do co dot UK, and that, my friends is awesome.
Paul in Khoi Vinh on How His Blog Amplified His Work and Career
Content and writing are not the same thing, at least the way that we’ve come to define them in contemporary society. Content is inherently transactional; its goal is to drive towards some kind of conversion, some kind of exchange of value.
There is a stark difference in writing to engage and writing to influence.
I think he might want to play ball
I’m presuming a stand alone Gemini app is needed to be able to plug into Apple intellence.
My Boox Palma was under my pillow all day after reading last nighnight. Got it out and the screen is shattered!
No damage or other issues. Unfortunately seems like I’m not the only one 😩
Shall I read one of the hundreds of books I already have?
Nope. I’ll buy two more instead.
Finished reading: Hell Yeah or No by Derek Sivers 📚
I don’t even know how this got to be a book. Pages and pages of words that say next to nothing, please don’t waste your time.
Ali Abdaal in the video How To Reset Your Dopamine:
nudging your balance away from instant gratification things that just let you experience joy and reward in the present moment more towards slower things that actually can help improve your life in the long term
Not only is the level of your exposure to instantly gratifying things ruining the rest of your life, when you choose to do it is more important than you think.
As I have already written about, doing hard things is so critical in your life that it can’t be understated. This is even more critical when you first wake and want to meet the rest of the day with the best approach. You don’t need to get up and run a marathon or smash the gym, but “earning your breakfast” will make a dramatic difference to your waistline and your mental clarity that you will kick yourself you don’t start it earlier in life.
For the last few months I have been waking, sorting my things out and going straight out to walk the dog. This arguably isn’t enough for most people, it’s such a small change that I think everyone can do it.
N.b. This video mentions the new trend of ‘rotting’ and I am now even more confused with the world than ever.
Anyone else with an Apple Watch Ultra OG tell me if their battery life just completely shot now.
I used to be able to run a marathon streaming the whole time. Now I can’t even get through two days with 89% battery health.
Been on a journey around the web deleting accounts for the last few days.
No more Threads, BSky and Glass. As well as loads of other hangers on.
I honestly don’t think I can be online for another 4 years of this crap.
Seriously going to reassess things going forward.
Federico Viticci in his iPad Mini review where he talks about it being a ‘third place’:
I’ve been thinking about the idea of a third place lately as it relates to the tech products we use and the different roles they aim to serve… The iPad Mini is the ideal third place device for things I would rather not do on my iPhone or iPad Pro.
Having completely missed all the iPad Mini reviews, I saw one in-store at the weekend and remembered it existed.
I was a fan of the iPad Mini (6) when it was launched and used it for quite some time. However, once the novelty wore off, I quickly returned to using my Pro Max iPhone because it accomplished most of the tasks I used the iPad Mini for, eliminating the need for an additional device. If I could hazard a guess, I think that’s where the mini version falls for most people.
It gives you something bigger and lighter than a phone for media consumption, yet isn’t big enough to get bogged down in all the things you might expect a regular tablet to do for you. Stuck in a strange purgatory that is both useful and not quite useful enough at the same time. With the solution usually being “I’ll just use my phone”.
On picking up the display device from its stand, I immediately remembered why it holds this special place. A really nice device that offers a lot but fails to deliver a large enough use case, but — as Federico expertly put above — perhaps that’s the point?
Getting Away From It All
I am constantly fed up with my work life bleeding into everything else I do. I’ve written about it affecting my enjoyment of using my MacBook outside of work, and the same thing happens with my phone. It’s littered with Teams and email apps that allow me to do things on the go, but also act to pull me back in out of work hours.
Same too with my iPad Pro. It is predominantly a work device. One used to draw and design, so it’s out of the question to begin to read and write on it in my spare time. There’s just too many things to distract me away, and we all know I lack the self-control to avoid them!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely crazy for me to spend £500 on an iPad to use for such small tasks as would to create a ’third place’ but I entirely understand the logic. For many people, this place is gaming, but mine is my Boox Palma. A device I am often equally ridiculed for buying as I would be with an iPad Mini. However, it gives me a place to catch up with the waiting queue of RSS feeds and my favourite thing of all to do, read books.
Any third place you choose is one of happiness and contentment, no work allowed!
Abagio For Strings still gives me goosebumps decades after first hearing it.
Since my early days of being online, I have been fairly easily influenced into making a tech purchase. It only required a few people talking about a new phone, or a picture of a Pepsi can from Kurt Colbeck, to make me go out and buy a new Android phone. This was the days when phones were fun after all, and there was always a new one to lust after.
It wasn’t just phones, I could decide to move my blog after one post by Matt Birchler and numerous other things. These feeling exist today, and I would expect them to exist in some form or another in all of us. It’s a ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ psychological effect fueled by social comparison.
Even after that purchase, or often when I see a completing purchase online, I feel the need to justify it to myself and that often involves publishing something. A review of sorts. Or something titled “Why I did x”. Something along those lines made me feel better about what I did, and that’s more than a little sad.
These posts were not for anyone else, unless there are more people out there looking to justify their purchases, they were for me and my weird brain. Unfortunately, these feelings still exist today.
I have been moments away from typing out why I purchased AirPods Max over the weekend. Wanting to explain to people that I went to a shop and tried out loads of different options. Sony’s and Bose and even brands I had never heard of, yet chose the AirPods Max because they were the most comfortable and nicest looking. When, in fact, this post is pointless. It achieves nothing more than a long-winded way of shouting to the world “I’m smart, honest”.
Removing the fact that no-one cares about my peculiar purchasing decisions. I also do not need to justify these things to myself, nor anyone else. Sure, buying the AirPods Max in 2024 is a bit of a joke, so perhaps you get some enjoyment from me spending money on things you think are stupid. And in the end I got my post, trying to make myself feel better, so why even bother at all!
Chris Wilson writing about his happiness being an unprofessional blogger:
About 10 years ago, I wanted to be a professional blogger. Now I’m happy to be an unprofessional blogger. Well, most of the time at least.
I, too, tried this thing called making money on the internet. At the time it was usually referred to as becoming a writer because a ‘blogger’ was a somewhat pejorative term that writers looked down their nose at. Yet, in the circles I tried to push myself in to, we were all nothing more than bloggers.
This distain still exists in many corners of every day life. There are numerous books published each year by people that are ‘bloggers’ but by publishing a book they can now refer to themselves as a writer — but I digress.
Over the last 12 years of writing online, the most significant change has been the level of income being made. A couple of years in I could maintain a bang average blog, publish a few times a week and receive a couple of hundreds pounds in ad venue back again. More than enough to pay for hosting, invest in some tech to write a bout and have a little extra. If you had a good blog, or wrote for bigger websites, you could easily make a good wage.
As much as I hate online ads, they supported people to do the thing that they enjoyed as a profession — but that ability is now extremely rare. Bloggers are the ones that tell you this doesn’t matter. That they do it for themselves, not for the income. Writers, on the other hand, won’t bother if the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Being a blogger means that writing online, even when your posts are scruffy and error-prone, is something you do for the enjoyment of it, and that’s the best place to be.
Gaming people.
I’m after a handheld machine, like the Steam Deck, that can play EA FC well. Preferably without having to hack the hell out of it.
Any ideas?
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Free access to ChatGPT–4o requests resets every 24 hours, and when the limited number of requests are used up, Siri will switch to a more cost effective version of ChatGPT. The free plan limits creation with DALL-E 3 to two images per day.
Wait. People thought this was going to be free?
I had a dream last night that I started tweeting on Twitter again. For some reason I got loads of followers again and gave up my day job to just tweet all day.
Alex Heath from The Verge spoke to Mark Zuckerberg after Meta connect and there are numerous takeaways from it. I recommend you to give it a listen if you are at all interested in technology, or even if you just use Meta platforms. The episode is pretty concise to a few key areas, and posting to Facebook and Instagram is a large part of it.
Below, I pulled out a few telling quotes on what Zuck plans for the future of his services. The ones I found most interesting are the ones talking about Meta AI use on Facebook and Instagram and their aims to show slop in your feed—which I wrote about recently.
I think that they’re
[AI]going to have their own profiles. They’re going to be creating content. People will be able to follow them if they want. You’ll be able to comment on their stuff. They may be able to comment on your stuff if you’re connected with them.
Essentially, what Mark is describing is a bunch of bots designed to keep you on their platform. Much more than simply creating slop for your feed, Meta AI will create fake ‘people’ that leave you comments and try to keep you engaged. It’s clear from responses that Meta are invested in showing you “content that’s generated by an AI system that might be something that you’re interested in”. But they will be identifiable as AI, so there’s that.
When pressed on why users would want this, Zuck gave nothing answers that brushed the question aside.
The sociology that I’ve seen on this is that most people have way fewer friends physically than they would like to have. People cherish the human connections that they have, and the more we can do to make that feel more real and give you more reasons to connect
On training their AI on users' posts to Meta services, Zuck outlined that he does not value anything posted online. Despite users providing the company with their whole revenue stream, from advert views and the actual content that keeps people engaged, he thinks it’s all fair game.
When you put something out in the world, to what degree do you still get to control it and own it and license it?
I am no copywriter expert, and I am sure that their terms and conditions allow them to train their AI on anything on their platforms. I try to keep my bias against Meta to a minimum, although that’s sometimes impossible, so I am generally harsh on a company pretending to be helpful. However, I do agree with him here with posting things online, especially to things posted to their networks.
I think individual creators or publishers tend to overestimate the value of their specific content in the grand scheme of this.
With that said, I did expect at least a bit of gratitude here. There’s a admittedly minimal movement, trying to ensure the users who are populating networks with their data and content are paid for doing so. Clearly Meta are not one of them, despite launching creator programs, they do not value the things you post very highly.
We pay for content when it’s valuable to people. We’re just not going to pay for content when it’s not valuable to people.
This interview only helped fuel by belief that despite the new image of Zuck, and the hope that by Threads being a bit more open than Facebook or Instagram it signaled a new direction for Meta — the company is still just out for itself. I guess you can’t bemoan a multi-billion dollar company from being focused on making money, we live in a capitalist society based on growth after all, but in the grand scheme of things it’s disappointing.
On one level I understand it. There are only so many people you can get onto Meta platforms. Billions of users are logging on every day, and they are clearly at or very near saturation point. Younger users are shying away from traditional social media, and Facebook in particular, so taking more of existing users time is the only option. The launch of Threads, an app that Zuck sees as being a billion user app, will help in the short term to boost ad impressions, but only whilst the move to AI slop in your feed is ramped up.
I can’t see this going any other way but very wrong for users.
It has suddenly occurred to me that the ‘new’ AirPods Max that I bought don’t even have the latest chip in them.
So can’t even do adaptive noise cancelling, or recognise gestures.
8 hours work on a Sunday is just how I roll now.
And by roll, I mean end up being divorced.
🔗 Please publish and share more - Jeff Triplett’s Micro.blog
Our posts are done when you say they are. You do not have to fret about sticking to landing and having a perfect conclusion. Your posts, like this post, are done after we stop writing.
“If you find yourself lost in the woods, fuck it, build a house…I was lost, but now I live here! – MITCH HEDBERG”
Excerpt From Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman
sciencedirect.com in Smartphone use undermines enjoyment of face-to-face social interactions
Using a field experiment and experience sampling, we found the first evidence that phone use may undermine the enjoyment people derive from real world social interactions.
And in other news, Water is wet
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I think were going to add a whole new category of content which is AI generated or AI summarized content, or existing content pulled together by AI in some way
And that was the end of social media dear friends…
I’m such an Apple fan boy that I bought AirPods Max USB-C 😂
Does anyone have any experience mapping customer journeys and can point me to any tools or advice?
“We have all come from a ball position but only some of us remember to return there on a regular basis: Leonardo da Vinci, Studies of the Foetus in the Womb, c. 1510–13”
Excerpt From A Therapeutic Journey, Alain de Botton
Jason Snell in 16GB for everyone: MacBook Air joins the RAM upgrade party
With this move, there’s not a single new Mac being sold directly by Apple with less than 16GB of RAM.
micro.blog really needs some Threading logic.
Why so noisy 🤫
Exploring solutions for collaborative work is more complex than it should be. Simply because the org uses Office365 instead of Google Workspace eliminates more than half the market.
Notion would be perfect but alas. The search continues.
Message sent with lasers
A long walk with the goodest of boys. 🐶
Dull, cold day. And then I was chased off my racists (don’t ask)
Stephen Marche in AI Is a Language Microwave
The writing that matters, the writing that we are going to have to start teaching, is grilled-cheese writing—the kind that only humans can create: writing with less performance and more originality, less technical facility and more insight, less applied control and more individual splurge, less perfection and more care.
Signed all the paperwork for my son to join a local pro football team.
Following in the footsteps of his very proud dad ❤️
Om Malik in The Problem with Podcasts
It’s not just podcasts—streaming nowadays is no better than television. Netflix, the company that invented binge-watching, now releases episodes once a week, like old-school TV. Independent blogs and newsletters are less personal and more like old media.
Things don’t stay disrupted very long, but people never learn.
Any ideas on this one fellow micro.blog people?
Got this really helpful error a few days ago and have no idea where to start.
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence - Hitchens Razor
I’d love to feel at least half human any time soon please.
🤒🦠
Rands in Your Writing
15% probably should’ve never been published.
More like 95% for me
I really wish micro.blog was easier to develop for. The best solution would be able to do these all locally and then push changes, going backwards and forwards end through a web interface on a test blog is too time consuming. I always give up after a while.
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Meta’s X rival Threads is rolling out a new “activity status” feature that will let you see when someone on the social network is online.
What users want: less engagement bait
What they got: a way for people to be creepy
I don’t think Threads have any intention of building a nice place to be.
Random fact that I learnt today: Despite some apes being able to learn hundreds of signs and communicate very well, they never ask questions.
Suggested that the ability to ask questions is probably one of the central cognitive element that distinguishes human and animal cognitive abilities
when nobody wakes you up in the morning, and when nobody waits for you at night, and when you can do whatever you want. what do you call it, freedom or loneliness? - Charles Bukowski
There are a few podcast episodes that I want to take highlight of when I listen, but not enough to make a £70 subscription to Snipd worth it.
Are there any free / cheaper alternatives?
Nick Heer in Tesla Robotaxi, Robovan, and Robot
Public transit, which is available today, is the very definition of democratized transportation, especially if it has been carefully considered for the needs of people with disabilities. It is inexpensive, requires less space per person than any car, and has a beneficial feedback loop of safety and usage.
I’m a sucker for some nice urban art
I love that my son is really active, but I spend far too much of my time waiting in my car.
He is already working towards his brown belt in Kickboxing, so is training and sparing multiple times a week. Now he’s been picked up by a local pro football team to join their academy!
Gremlin Red Shoe in Blog monetization rush is so annoying
We need to take blogging back to its original indie web form and meaning. Join Bear, Neocity or make your own personal website about the stuff you like.
Or indeed micro.blog.
Not everything needs to be monetised or growth hacked. Just blog. Read other blogs. And then blog about their posts too.
I never used to believe the planned obsolescence stuff that people moaned about. But since the new watchOS launched my Apple Watch Ultra battery is terrible.
It wasn’t even this bad during the betas.
MereCivilian in One week on Threads
I was amazed by how quickly I became addicted to opening Threads as my go-to activity when I’m feeling bored. This social media app boasts a modern and sleek design that is truly refreshing. Its clean layout was definitely a pleasant sight to behold.
Honestly. Same. I’m surprised how addictive it can be by showing me relevant, and engagement baiting, posts.
Finished reading: Lone Wolf by Gregg Hurwitz 📚
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Both of us together have followed Silicon Valley’s innovation engine for more than 50 years. We’ve seen a lot. But one observation stands out: The best ideas — the ones that launch meaningful companies - need to seem crazy and stupid at first.
As Arthur C. Clarke once said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. We need more bonkers tech that brings back that feeling of awe.
Manton Reece - Microblogging, a fable
The point is not to replace Twitter, but to have a space that is rooted in the open web, with just the right balance between blogging at your own domain name and being social with others.
You may know, I have left here twice now, but due to other frustrations. However every time I do, I realise what a fantastic service it is.
Some may not see the point, and that’s ok. Micro.blog has its faults, it has too high bar to entry for some, but it offers me a gateway to the web and ease of posting that I really value.
I am not in the best of minds at the moment. Work and life stress is getting a little too much and I was feeling overwhelmed.
However I grabbed Meditations, went and sat in quiet for an hour and sure enough the book answered me.
you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
Hello all!
Could I ask a favour. If you’ve enjoyed my posts, used my Shortcuts, like my photos, or just think I’m an OK person. Please consider buying me a coffee.
No pressure, just putting it out there. ❤️
What are your thoughts on just designing for Dark Mode?
I usually do everything on my blog for both, but I much prefer the dark mode and just switching everything to dark would be much easier to update.
Can be a contentious question for some.
I spent the morning working because… well my task list is ridiculous.
However I spent this afternoon looking at Capacities and how it might help with workload and also personal notes. Looks promising and it has been fun to just mess around with a new service for a bit.
I’m looking for a tv show / film tracking app. Something like Letterboxed but hopefully more modern.
My biggest thing I’d like is an API or RSS feed to share to my blog.
Hello photography. It’s been a while.
Disconnect in Mark Zuckerberg’s rebrand is a master class in distraction
because they came at the same moment Meta was unveiling a flashy tech demo and in the broader context of Zuckerberg’s personal rebrand, the news cycle quickly moved on and placed its focus on what Zuckerberg wanted the focus to be on
Wonder why everyone is going on about a product that is essentially vaper?
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159 people took the offer, 8.4% of the company
That doesn’t read like a good thing…
Andy in Never go full Space Karen
A few months ago I waxed lyrical about services now under Automattic, like Day One and Pocketcasts being in good hands. As Mr Super Mario himself would say (probably): What a mistaka to maka!
😂
I’m enjoying the photo styles on iPhone 16 more than I ever expected. I’ve gravitated to shooting more in black and white, and find the need to edit getting less and less.
One massive benefit of wearing an Apple Watch for years is I can tell lots of things about my body beforee they happen.
My HRV and RHR took a turn for the worst a few days ago so I started to rest up. I’m now in the early stages of what I think is COVID bit feel well rested and ready to fight it!
Casey Newton in Platformer at Meta Connect:
It went all but unmentioned on stage, but Meta says it is beginning to test content “imagined for you” by Meta AI on Facebook and Instagram. Meta will use your likeness and interests to generate photos and videos with AI, and you’ll be able to swipe to generate additional related posts.
This information has gone largely unreported, or at least kept under the radar, as most publications rave over a product that doesn’t and will never be launched—Orion.
In their never-ending pursuit of more engagement, Meta will begin showing AI slop in your Facebook and Instagram feed. That’s right, instead of actually showing you the reason you use social media — the people you follow — Meta have run out of engagement bait posts from strangers and are now going to just make everything up.
The truth that Meta now realise is that no-one wants to post anymore. The family and friends you once logged into Meta products to see what they are up to are not interested. The people you may have met on those platforms and began following because their post were good, have also been driven away by Meta. The only people left are posting simply to farm your attention for their gain. Be it dopamine hits or downright grifts.
Even though we’ve long suspected otherwise, Meta still claim that their mission is to “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together” but now they are stating loud and clear they are only interested in users attention.
If they truly wanted to connect people, they would build a social platform that encourages sharing. That promotes posts from the people you follow into your timeline and fosters communication. Meta would be focused on ensuring the things you post get to the people you want them to and foster a safe space for users to flourish. Instead, it does the opposite.
They promote garbage and harmful content to all users. Hiding posts from the people you choose to follow in exchange for those from ‘creators’ made to farm attention. Building algorithms that showcase the worst the platform has to offer in the desperate attempt to show more ads next to them.
Sure, Meta’s chief product officer claims that “AI-generated art in certain verticals is really compelling” but the reality is found in their words. They stated that generative AI ads have an 11 percent higher click-through rate and 7.6 percent higher conversion rate — and this dear reader is the reason the company can never be trusted to do right by its users.
As Marks shirt from Connect proudly claimed it’s Zuck or nothing. He can try to hide the reality in ancient Latin, or meaningless company statements about connecting people. The reality is they only care about advertising revenue, and it has always been about the company before anything else.
me: I did a half marathon yesterday
everyone: which one did you do
me: ….the one around my town???
It’s as if you have to do an event for it to count.
I feel like it’s become autumn overnight
Had a look at the Ultra 2 in black in the Apple Store. Althoughh it’s nice there are already scratches showing silver underneath on a couple of their demo units. 😬
Spending our day off looking for Christmas presents
Implying that Meta changed their whole company direction due to the Vision Pro is….. bold.
It’s happening!
Finished reading: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport 📚
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Actually, there is no such thing as a real picture. As soon as you have sensors to capture something, you reproduce [what you’re seeing], and it doesn’t mean anything. There is no real picture. You can try to define a real picture by saying, ‘I took that picture’, but if you used AI to optimize the zoom, the autofocus, the scene — is it real? Or is it all filters? There is no real picture, full stop.
I’m sorry. What gibberish is this?
Not interested in commenting on the MKBHD app but it gives me major Backdrops vibes….which I think is where some MKBHD wallpapers used to be 🤔
I am fully expecting (if they don’t exist already) a flood of content related to “these are the Photographic Styles settings you should be using”.
The video will consist of a bunch of over edited photos with someone telling you that you too can get this look by buying their course or something.
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took the new iPhone 16 Pro on safari (not the browser)
👏👏👏
I really want a go on these, but I’m too big 😢
Our first (perhaps of many) visit to Yo! Sushi. I’m very stuffed, and also now very poor!
Man Threads is literally Twitter now. So toxic and full of “no you’re wrong” replies and engagement baiting.
I don’t think I’ll keep my account much longer.
Marty Swant of Digiday has seen the Perplexity pitch deck for building an advertising business:
According to a copy of the pitch deck obtained by Digiday, the plan is to integrate ads within users’ queries and answers
When the idea of using an LLM as a search engine started floating around, this is where I expected we would end up. Not because I am some kind of expert, but if you can be sure on anything online, it’s that it eventually ends up with adverts.
Sure Perplexity may be the first one to make this move, but as Google replaces everything with Gemini — expect the same result. Further poisoning of results based on who pays the most money.
There are a few examples given in the pitch deck that feel like simple banner ads alongside results, but the below really hits home.
Another option is to have “branded explanatory text” that appears above sponsored and organic related questions.
When search results were a list of links with sponsored content, and some SEO slop, at least you felt part of the conversation. As much as the company pointed you to its favorite links, you could click a few and ‘test’ the results you were shown.
The whole concept of a search engine starts to break down when the only result from an LLM-based search engine is explainer text, provided by the brand that pays the most money. Please, could this AI bubble burst already before we break the web entirely.
Treats and boats
It was our good friend’s little boys birthday day today, sadly he passed away very young but we thought about him a lot.
Charlie Warzel writing about his toilet theory of the internet:
I have precious little time to hook a reader with whatever I’m trying to get them to read—but also that my imagined audience of undistracted, fully engaged readers is an idealized one.
It says a lot that someone as great at writing as Charlie makes statements like this. How on earth do people like myself, that suck at this, stand a chance?
The truth is, there’s not a lot we can do about it. There’s a tendency to point at others and say “they can’t concentrate anymore” when the epidemic is whining ourselves too.
I’ve had to work really hard to get my attention span back after years of letting it be stolen from me and I can’t be the only one. However, this gave me a new appreciation of where both my writing and my designs need to go.
When everyone out there is screaming for attention, it’s nearly impossible to be noticed, but there will be people out there paying attention. Keep on doing the things you enjoy.
Here’s our view of what a photograph is. The way we like to think of it is that it’s a personal celebration of something that really, actually happened,” Apple’s Vice President of Camera Software Engineering Jon McCormack
Can you stop flattening my images then, pretty please. 🙏
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I think the camera control should’ve been lower on the right side, you sorta have to stretch just a little more than is comfortable for the gestures
I was surprised how high it is on the side, feels a little uncomfortable but no doubt it will become natural
🔗 iPhone 16 Pro Camera Review: Kenya — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
I kind of miss the days of discovering radically new iPhone hardware every couple of years, but I suppose that had to change eventually.
I think pro photographers and filmmakers will really appreciate the upgrades in the last couple of years, but the general user might not notice a difference.
Megapixels Aren’t All Equal But the iPhone’s Camera is Still Impressive
This is an interesting read
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it seems they’re going to demand Apple offer third-party peripheral makers and software developers the same access to system-level software that Apple’s own first-party peripherals and software have
Seems like a great idea to me
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Industry-wide, data centers demanded upward of 350 TWh of power in 2024, according to a Bloomberg analysis, up substantially from about 100 TWh in 2012.
3.5x power usage increase in 12 years 😲
Matt Birchler on the 99% of people lie:
People have a terrible habit of assuming “everyone” does something, when that’s simply not the case.
Everyone thinks that their perception of the world is correct. It’s only when you begin to realise that the way you look at things is nothing more than your perspective that it becomes infinitely more valuable.
The best thinkers can see things from other angles and come to open conclusions with the confidence to both defend their position and be open to new ideas.
People that feel the need to defend Apple from my mild, completely subjective, takes, are my favourite kind of people.
Thank you to the Apple gods for this toggle.
Completely subjective but my local Apple Store is half empty. No queue outside, no hustle and bustle of every other launch.
Can’t say I am surprised though.
I woke up this morning and chose chaos
This post is a wild ride!
On the iPhone 16 Pro’s cameras — aows
I said it a year ago, and I still think Apple made a mistake with the 120mm lens. The current lineup of 13mm, 24mm, and 120mm leaves a huge gap between the main and telephoto lenses, missing out on key and very useful focal lengths for everyday situations. I’d rather see a 75mm lens on a 48MP sensor, with the ability to reach 120mm using the fancy cropping the main sensor has.
This is what I expected to see on the Pro Max this year. Alas, they’ve kept it back to roll out the revolution next time.
Is there any new hotness in screen recording apps of iOS?
Seem some really goo ones lately and they cant all be put into frames in Premier Pro!
All Apple had to do was put a 48mp sensor, or actually care about, the zoom lens and I’d be interested.
Readwise needs the ability to block keywords.
The Glowtime hot takes are coming at me thick and fast!
Managed to catch the iPhone part of the announcement. Absolutely nothing worth upgrading from 15Pro. Going to be a cheap September for a change
Perfect write up that covers many of my feelings whilst reading Grubers post
Let’s just say it: there is no new iPhone. Every September, Apple rolls out the red carpet, the tech world holds its breath, and yet here we are, staring at what feels like the same device dressed in slightly different clothing. Sure, the branding is slick, the presentations are polished, and the new models are undoubtedly beautiful—but where’s the excitement? Where’s the innovation? Perhaps another button?
I remember when getting a new iPhone felt like stepping into the future. Each launch brought with it a sense of wonder, of discovery, of something genuinely new. But now? We’re left squinting at spec sheets, trying to figure out what’s actually different. A slightly better camera? A marginally faster processor? A new colour option? It feels like we’ve seen it all before because, well, we have.
The truth is, the iPhone has become a victim of its success. Apple has run out of real ideas and is simply pandering to share prices. Caught in a cycle of incremental upgrades. Every year, a new model that’s a little better, a little faster, a little shinier. These are not the leaps we once saw, they’re baby steps. And while those steps are nice, they’re not enough to make anything like a new iPhone.
These so-called “innovations” often feel like they’re being held back purposefully, just so Apple can have something to sell us next year. The camera could be better, but it’s good enough for now. The battery could last longer, but we’ll save that for the next model. It’s a strategy that’s great for Apple’s bottom line, but not so great for those of us who remember when each new iPhone truly felt like a worthwhile expenditure.
Don’t get me wrong—the iPhone is still one of the best smartphones out there, and I will no doubt end up buying one. But if you’re looking for something new, something that’s going to make you sit up and take notice, you won’t find it here. The iPhone has settled into a comfortable groove, and maybe that’s fine. But I miss the days when a new iPhone felt like a revolution, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed.
There is no new iPhone announced today. Just the same iPhone with as little done to it as possible to maximise profits.
Currently reading: Filterworld by Kyle Chayka 📚
Finished reading: Jony Ive by Leander Kahney 📚
When purchasing the iPhone 15 Pro, I was completely convinced this small upgrade to the device was going to prove immensely useful. Switching the mute switch for an Action Button seemed like a genius move, as I just put my device on silent anyway and never take it out. Now I had something useful to help me do things on my phone — oh how wrong I was!
Let’s start by prefacing this with the fact that I know some people find the action button really useful. I have seen some people have wonderful setups and took to it straight away. I’ve even seen people use it, normal people, out in the wild! So I am well aware that your usage may vary, but please bear in mind this is my blog, so this is about me.
I was convinced, though. That’s not some kind of rise to keep you reading. Yet here I am a day from the next iPhone announcement, possibly with yet more buttons, having hardly ever used the action one. There doesn’t seem to be many reasons for this outside of muscle memory and forgetting it’s there, but I’ve heard similar stories from other people, too. The lack of use boils down to a general opinion that it is in the wrong place and needs to have more use cases.
I’d like to use it more. I have tried, but ultimately, I simply forget it is there. Perhaps if it was on the right-hand side as many people suggest, it might have reminded me a little more. My brain associates the upper-left side as the barren land of the silent switch that served me not other purpose than a fidget toy. I use my phone left-handed and turn it left when taking photos, so even using it as a camera button is uncomfortable.
This revolution seems to be something users are excited to see on the regular iPhone 16 models, so let’s see if adoption improves. However, I am of the mind that it will just lead to even more people forgetting it is there and being dropped in a few generations.
Doing some research for my app development and need some opinions on haptic feedback. I know from experience it can drastically improve the feel of using it, but it can be over done.
So my question is, when you would expect / want the app to give you feedback. Swiping screens? Dragging an object?
Every so often I get itchy feet. A yearning for something different in my tech life, and I begin to question why I use Apple products. It doesn’t help there are so many interesting Android devices being launched, and that I feel more than a little squeezed by Apple — but what actually is keeping me using Apple products?
Apple Watch
This is my most used device. I love it, always have, and it would be one of the hardest things to give up if I switched to Android. There are two main reasons for this, both of these can be done on Android Wear watches. The first of which is obviously notifications, any new phone I have gets put in silent mode and is never taken out of it. I also love a silent alarm that taps me on the wrist but doesn’t wake my whole household.
Health and fitness is critical to me, both for keeping fit and also monitoring my health issues. The Apple Watch gets lots of stick in running circles, and loads of people will tell you to get a Garmin. However, my Ultra was with me every step of the way for training and running a marathon, including streaming podcasts and tracking all my runs, and I couldn’t ask for anything better. It looks great, feels great, and I have zero need to upgrade to a new one.
Family Quirks
All of us in Team Morris have Apple devices. My wife and son have iPhones and my daughter has her beloved iPad. We share location data, smart home devices and photo libraries that are easier if we are all locked into Apple. This was the biggest reason we got my son an iPhone last year, upgrading from a cheep Android phone which was his first device.
MacBook Pro
Let me be completely frank, there is absolutely no way I would give up working on a Mac. I’ve done it for years now, I have all my workflows down, and Apple would have to stop making computers entirely for me to give it up.
I have nothing bad to say about Windows, I haven’t used it bar Remote Desktop since Windows 8, but my preference for macOS runs much deeper and there is zero need for me to switch. This doesn’t stop me using a non Apple phone though, apart from a slightly worse workflow for transferring files, working with clearer shots and sending messages from my desktop.
Non Issues
The usual thing people point to with switching is iMessage. Which is completely non issue for me, I would simply use WhatsApp. I like being able to send messages from my desktop, but it’s not a dealbreaker.
I am also completely ok with not have an iPhone in a hardware sense. When I first switched it was for a vastly superior camera and there are now numerous Android handsets that have a shooter of at least compatible quality (if not better).
There are only two apps that I use that are not cross-platform. Ulysses, which I tend to use more on my iPad and Mac, and Matter. Neither of which are dealbreakers for switching. Couple with the fact I don’t actually take many photos on my phone anymore, means that both of these are a non issue for me.
I’m still here
If it was cost-effective to try out a full package of Android devices (phone, watch, and accessories) I’d be up for trying it out — but they don’t exist. The Pixel launch offer with heavy discounts on accompanying watch and buds is the closest I have come, but I’d still have to sell up to try it, and this is here I think most people fall down.
It’s too expensive and too much of a learning curve to give up all of these things. The risk doesn’t seem to match the reward anymore, so I’m stuck. There’s nothing wrong with this but something to be aware of.
There was never an official way to adjust the volume of other devices.
The app could observe the volume state as long as it was active, and the app played silent audio to get around this.
But yeah grumble grumble Europe grumble
Finished reading: The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz 📚
Ben Werdmuller writing about Threads trading trust for growth:
If X has fake news, Threads is assumed to have fake views: engagement by any means necessary.
I did not know that Meta were incentivising engagement bait, but it now seems obvious. Despite my initial thoughts on liking Threads as a social network, I absolutely cannot stand to use it now. I had to write a post yesterday due to a few missed replies to my cross posted blog posts, stating as much.
Don’t get me wrong, the thirsty posts have always been there and from the very start people were insistent that you had to “train the algorithm”. Swipe away what you didn’t like and make sure you made a clear indication of what you didn’t like. Well, I am here to tell you, my friends, it makes absolutely no difference. Meta have turned the clout chasing idiots up to 422 instead of 10, and I can’t take it any more.
Turns out the constant stream of easily searchable questions, or incorrect hot takes in which the original poster never replies are funded by Meta themselves. That’s right, in an attempt to boost the platform, they are paying select accounts up to £5000 to post this crap.
Should users just choose to log out for a bit because of the constant barrage of open-ended questions with 500 replies, you can’t even get away from it on Instagram. I am inundated with “someone started a Thread” or I get red bubbles encouraging me to log in and read all the replies. Only to be treated by these useless things.
What am I supposed to do with that information exactly? Jump up and down with glee? Try harder for that hit of dopamine? No thanks, I am out.
Two throw away images I took playing around with exposure priority settings. They came out pretty good
For many years, I’ve had an issue with professional reviewers and the number of devices they cover. The smartphone market is ever-growing with what seems like hundreds of devices each year, leaving the period between first use and review desperately short for many people who can and does present issues.
Admittedly, high-profile reviewers know exactly what they are looking for and are so used to testing devices they can conveniently give consumers a good overview of the device with limited usage. However, this often leads to very staged reviews that cover very basic things. There are only so many videos you can watch that tell you what the battery life is like, how it feels to swipe around, and then show you a few camera test shots. You simply can’t get a good idea of a the new device can do in real life usage in the desperately short periods that exist now.
As a result of this, I started to rely on smaller creators, or people I followed on social media, to give me some real-world data. There is no shortage of excellent writers and videographers making their filing known. Reviewing their devices and giving their opinions. Of course, you then need to think about bias and also build in a period of positivity that dominates the first few days or weeks. It’s exciting having a new device in your hands, and understandably this means that the rose-tinted glasses are firmly fixed in place.
This post isn’t really about phone reviews though, it is to point out that honeymoon periods exist for more than just your latest love interest. New things take time to show real
usefulness and as anyone who has met someone who turned out to be too good to be true, sometimes time is the best indicator of issues. Matt Birchler summed this up in his unusually sassy post, ’I’ve heard this story before’. Writing about new productivity methods, he said, “Making changes to how you work can often feel invigorating at the start, but cracks develop over time.”
He’s wrong about pen and paper (I love it), but he’s dead right about the tendency to sing about something without giving it the proper evaluation period. Which is completely understandable. When you think you’ve found something, particularly something you think can make a difference to others, it’s exciting to preach. I am very guilty of this, writing blog posts about new systems that only last a few weeks more. These days, I tend to move things much less and mess around with systems only when they need it.
The friction of new habits takes time to work itself out. The excitement wains and motivation and energy defaults to the simplest path. It doesn’t matter if you have a new partner, a new productivity system or a new gadget, review periods take time to work out and that’s OK.
I wrote this note on my phone when first considering buying a Boox Palma. I wasn’t convinced that replacing my social media action with reading was necessarily the best option, but in the sort term, I can’t see any other way. Like a smoker that needs to find something to do with their hands, I to need to find something to occupy myself instead of doom-scrolling. So I jumped in, but this question still exists.
Of course, I did my research before buying. Read loads of articles and watched far too many YouTube videos on the Book Palma. Luckily, this is the new hotness and content isn’t difficult to find — just this week members of The Verge team were talking about it on The Vergecast and MKBHD made a video on it. The Boox Palma is a device I have been eyeing for a while since friend of the blog Kevin Wammer posted about his, and Craigmod began gushing. This sounds like some kind of weird justification for purchasing such a weird device, and in some ways it is — but I wanted it before it was cool, OK!
Due to this research, YouTube thinks I am some kind of e-Ink obsessive, which is annoying, but at times interesting. Devices like the Hisense A9 and the BigMe HiBreak infiltrated my feed. Think Boox Palma, but with worse software and a SIM card slot. Reviews are mixed on all of these pink phones, but they all feature b-roll of someone reading on their phone with activities going in the background. This was sold as something great, it’s a Kindle in your pocket everywhere you go, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I am missing the point.
Granted, reading won’t be working to distract me as much as social media is. It won’t be hacking my brain to ruin my attention span and possibly, my mental health. So it’s better. Reading is one of my favourite things to do, but if I will be reading instead of being present in the world, that can’t be as good as I think it is. Can it? Given the choice, wouldn’t it be better to simply learn to be bored a bit more?
I’d like to say I have some evidence to back this up. However, my attempts to see if I am replacing one distraction with another remain unanswered. There is some subjective information out there that reading is much better, but much of this is removal of doom-scrolling, not the activity itself. Adding my own personal take, one that is much too early to hold much weight, I would agree that having a device like this instead of my phone is nearly all benefit.
I say nearly because it takes some understanding of its limits to mould it to your use. I took some time to think about how I wanted to limit the ability of my Boox Palma before buying, and several conversations with Kevin. However, that hard work at the start has led to reading more, visiting social media less and general feeling much more balanced. Long may it continue.
Blackfriars Bridge
Habib writing about their version of social media brain
Instead of scanning my surroundings for something relatable to turn into a social media post, I pay attention to blog posts and articles I read on the web. I’m constantly looking for anything of relevance that triggers and sparks my thinking into jotting down whatever thoughts I may have to add to the conversation.
I know exactly what Habib is writing about here. I no longer break my world down into 280 characters sized bites as I did when I used Twitter — but I do often squeeze it into blog posts.
The great thing is, blog posts can be anything from a few words to thousands of them. Which gives me much of freedom to think about the things I want to say rather than attempting to paint a vivid picture of the complex work in a bite side chunk.
Thinking is one of my very favourite things to do, and if it is accompanied by a notebook or a blank Apple Note, then I enjoy it even more. What you see on my blog is the output of thinking and as Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Having a blog and thinking about the world in which to publish to it is something everyone should have.
Manuel Moreale thinking about the differences between hobbies and side projects:
A hobby is something one does for themselves. This blog is a hobby. I write on it because I find it enjoyable and the primary user is myself. And since it’s a hobby, money is not taken into consideration because I’m expected to pay for my hobbies.
Agree with this completely, I don’t expect to get anything back from writing, and I do it for myself much more than I do it for other people. Sure, I love people reading and responding to the things I publish, but it’s my hobby, so I’m not focused on it. Like running or cycling is to some people, they may progress into races and competitions, it’s still something you enjoy doing for free.
Where most people start to worry is when it creeps towards the territory of marking money. They start to worry about losing that money, and the pressure of publishing starts to build. Been there, done that, and it almost ruined my hobby.
A side project is a bit different. The way I see it, the users of a side project don’t necessarily overlap with the creator. That’s for example the case of People and Blogs. P&B is not a hobby but a side project. The goal is to make something not for myself, but for others.
I tend to pick up and put down side projects, most of which revolve around my blog. Due to not achieving what I set my goals to be, and this is often the difference between the two things for me.
For instance, I view my podcast, YouTube, and the now folded newsletter very much as side projects. They didn’t achieve the traction I wanted, so I have no problem stopping doing them (although my podcast will return soon).
My very early impressions of the Boox Palma after using it for a couple of days are positive.
I’m not blown away by it, I think it’s a bit expensive for what it is, but I can see why people love it and how it would fit into my life. I can only describe it as if an iPod had a baby with a Kindle.
Tate Modern August, 2024
Love every ‘Long Way’ series so looking forward to watching this new one.
I’ve conceded to the hype and bought a Boox Palma.
This post pulls on a similar thread to the one where I discussed posting slop. Both point to my ultimate frustration with social media: its addictive nature and the cultural impact it has on society, all for very little gain. Prompted by conversations I’ve had with social media managers, I felt the need to express my thoughts in a written post.
These conversations have been immensely frustrating, but I wonder if that’s because I’ve moved past caring about the things that seem to preoccupy others. There’s no preaching here; I’m not on some higher level — I’m just too old. Yet, when someone says, “If we do x, that will get loads of views,” I can’t help but cringe.
But it’s not just the words of social media managers that frustrate me. To be fair, I recognise the irony here. Even as I criticise this mindset, I’m not immune to it. When I reflect on my own creative journey, particularly with photography, I’m reminded of my early days as a blogger. Back then, I was similarly obsessed with metrics, constantly checking my visitor numbers as if they were the only indicator of success.
Listen, I understand that the overall aim of everything online is attention. It doesn’t matter what metric it is measured by — views, clicks, likes, total user minutes — it all boils down to eyeballs on your content. The only issue is that none of these things matter. Views only matter if they’re tied to something concrete, like ads or sales. Otherwise, they’re just empty metrics. To what end do views matter unless you’re showing adverts or selling something in them? Without that, they’re simply numbers we’re told to care about, supposedly as a proxy for people caring about your work.
That’s true in part when you’re talking about feature films and TV shows, to a point. In every other context, these views are merely mindless entertainment for people trying to distract themselves from the world. You can be the best social media manager in the world and produce loads of views for my company, but if it doesn’t lead to real-world impact, what’s the point? “Branding,” they say, which gets an even bigger groan from me before I switch off from their pitch entirely.
It’s worth acknowledging that many people argue these metrics — views, likes, and clicks — are crucial because they drive brand awareness. In a world where attention is currency, having more eyeballs on your content seems like a valuable asset. After all, increased visibility can lead to greater recognition, more followers, and potentially, more business opportunities.
However, this argument falls apart when you consider what these metrics truly represent. Views and likes are fleeting, often driven by algorithms rather than genuine interest or engagement. Brand awareness may increase, but it’s superficial if it doesn’t translate into meaningful actions — like a customer buying a product, subscribing to a service, or supporting your work in a tangible way. Chasing metrics for their own sake leads to a hollow pursuit, where numbers replace genuine connection with an audience that truly values your work.
Ultimately, the real measure of success isn’t in the number of followers or views you accumulate, but in the depth of engagement and the lasting impact of your work. This is something I’ve come to understand over time, yet it’s a lesson I find myself relearning with each new creative pursuit. Metrics may give the illusion of progress, but without substance, they’re just distractions from what truly matters.
Reflecting on this, I realise that my frustration isn’t just with social media managers or metrics, but with a mindset, I’ve wrestled with for years. This isn’t the first time I’ve been caught in the trap of chasing numbers. When I started blogging, I was equally obsessed with metrics — constantly checking visitor counts as if they were the ultimate measure of success. Now, with photography, I find myself repeating that same pattern.
Here I am 12 or so years later doing the same thing with my photos. I’m trying to push them into as many places as I can for no real gain. I’m not marketing or selling anything, so there’s really no point in my efforts. Yet, I feel as if I have to post to several places, many of which I hate visiting, just for “reach.” I search for likes as an ego boost, so I don’t feel as if my toils have been in vain.
The real metric is indeed people liking my photos, but not on Instagram with a double-tap. It’s about buying prints and putting them on their walls, selling them through online services, or being commissioned to take specific shots. They say that you only need 1,000 true fans to ‘make it,’ but that doesn’t mean followers on social media. That means true fans — people who engage with and support your work. It doesn’t mean watching your TikToks.
Currently reading: Jony Ive by Leander Kahney 📚
Finished reading: Private London by James Patterson 📚
I remain convinced that the only thing The Verge is mad at with Pixel phones is that ‘normal people’ can alter images now. At times it feels like the stamping of feet because they spent time learning Photoshop and now everyone can do it.
I am getting really frustrated with hosting again.
Just be nice to get ‘features’ working.
Time to log off for a bit I think
Seth Godin writing about the need to be clear in concise in your writing, even if you don’t consider yourself a writer:
Nobody asks you to design a bridge, write a sonnet or do open heart surgery. We leave these essential tasks to trained professionals. But many job descriptions carry the unstated addendum, “and write.” Write memos, proposals, and even instruction manuals.
One of the overriding things that I experience in my everyday life is the idea that everyone can write, or no one can write. They seem like conflicting ideas however they both fit together and get to the same point.
The non-writer is one that outputs words into whatever medium they are completing. Be it a memo, email, business plan or even a simple sign. They don’t worry about what they output because they are “not a writer” and don’t view these things as important.
The person who thinks everyone can write does the same because they do not understand the importance of written communication. They dismiss the importance of clear and concise writing and overestimate their own skills.
That isn’t to say I am any kind of expert in this field, but I have written enough words over more than a decade to give every single word the consideration it needs. I am also comfortable knowing where my skills end. Either that or I do as Seth suggest, place my words into an LLM and ask it to be clear and concise on my behalf.
Matt Birchler is an expert on payments, so when he writes about them, you listen:
I can’t see the future, and I don’t work directly in card issuance, but this is my very strong instinct. They want to win the payment volume game, and you don’t do that by restricting where your card can be used, you win that by being able to tell your customers, “you can use our card ANYWHERE!”
I quoted Matt’s post last time he wrote about opening Apple Wallet up to other payment providers and I still stand by my comments. I think the frustration will be when every reward or membership offering wants you inside their app.
Matt’s comment also reminds me of the frustrations I have every time I try to use an Android phone. I bank with Barclays, and whilst they now support Apple Pay, their card is not available everywhere. To use my card on a Samsung phone I must change the default to Google Wallet, which is a frustrating mess that only half works. In fact, it took them an absolute age to even do that, instead choosing to develop their own app with a permanent notification on the Lock Screen!
I’m hoping the times are gone, but not all banks seem to be made the same in my experience of ones outside the US. I’m hoping that most are so used to using Wallet now they just stick with that, as Matt points out the fees are negligible.
Cole blogging about writing on their iPhone:
Using my iPhone to write blog posts feels more casual and personable. It’s like drafting a note to a friend or texting them about the latest happenings.
I am often down on smartphones. If I had a real choice, I wouldn’t have one, yet it is by far the best computer I have. Like Cole above, I use mine for writing the majority of my blog posts, and catching up on my favourite things on the web. It is my creative computer.
Writing on my iPhone doesn’t feel the same as sitting down and writing at my desk — that feels like I am working. Whereas typing out some thoughts in between life events feels like I am texting to a friend, which in many ways I am — all of you.
Silhouettes in London
Matt Birchler writing about his feeling from incident the Apple “cult”:
I do wonder if the Apple enthusiast crowd as we know is in permanent decline. You don’t need Daring Fireball, Panic, ATP, Birchtree, or anyone else like us to be massively financially successful (just look at Microsoft and Samsung), but I do find it a bit sad to see Apple stroll down the road to being a totally heartless mega corp like the rest
I’m starting to feel this too. I’m uncomfortable how Apple is increasingly focusing on income, despite being one of the riches on the planet, instead of its users.
I am beginning to feel squeezed for every penny, increasing prices of phones, services, and everything they can. Limiting features to the US and generally behaving like a petulant child when they have to comply with laws that protect users.
I have long grown tired of the Apple apologists that try and to explain away every decision apple makes, yet many of them are even quiet at the company Apple has become. Every time new Pixel phones come around I toy with the idea of using something different, I ultimately won’t due to my love of the Mac and Apple Watch, but mainly because I don’t trust Google either!
Had some hands-on time with the Pixel 9 pro this morning, and I have to say I’m really impressed. It feels very much like using an android powered iPhone.
My biggest problem is I don’t trust Google. They kill things, change things, and there always seems to be an issue somewhere along the way.
This is a test post from a new app
When you are dead, you don’t know that you are dead. The pain is only felt by others. It is the same when you are stupid - Ricky Gervais.
Of all the questions I have around the new AI on the block, Friend, I must admit that this one is the least of my worries. Like the rabbit that went before it, this gadget promises to address problems that are of a questionable existence. I understand that’s marketing 101 — overstate a concern and sell people a fix. However, they intend to do this by faking a conversation with a ‘friend’ and with it burn through resources that don’t fit their income stream.
There’s no question that these types of devices are going to start popping up all over the place. AI is the new buzzword to cram into every single service you have, and lately the new trend is making physical things. Despite many companies not really knowing what to do with it and still cramming it in. Whilst never making any money anyway.
We’ve long known that the balance sheets of darling valley companies like Open AI are massively in the red. Meta, Google, and Apple are also spending Billions trying to catch the craze and still can’t make a useful enough product to turn a profit, so why exactly are all these start-ups joining in, you might wonder? I suspect for nothing more than cashing in on the latest investment craze into AI businesses.
Rabbit was the first company to offer what on the surface appears a great deal for customers, but underneath promises to be an untenable business position. Their Rabbit R1 is available for a one-off fee of £199, with no monthly subscription. Which gives the company zero income to pay for continued usage of their cloud AI infrastructure ‘Rabbit OS’. A weird decision given that almost every instruction needs off device processing — with mixed results.
Friend clearly feel flush with cash, given they paid $1.8million just for their domain name, however their reported $2.5million (at a valuation of $50million) investment from some Silicon Valley heavyweights won’t last long. Their basic white version of their pendant retails at just $99. A price that will barely pay for a few months of server time for the recordings taken on the constantly listening device. Listen, I get that people are lonely, but let’s be clear on this part, this device is constantly listening and sending your data to their servers. This isn’t a Siri or Alexa dormant way, in a proactive Black Mirror inducing nightmare way—even if the company claims not to be storing any of the recordings.
Unless there is a drastic change to Ai processing needs, companies selling these devices are only going one way. To burn through investment cash and then ask their users for money. There simply isn’t another way to fund this. AI companies are loosing a tone of money and many people are starting to think that they are fighting a loosing battle. My worry is that users who buy these devices in good faith will be left holding the baby, or a device that no longer works.
MGX posting on their blog about the benefits of work that fits into your time frame:
An asynchronous work model, for example, empowers individuals to tackle complex problems on their own schedules based on critical thinking rather than constantly reacting to requests in real time.
If you are a knowledge or creative worker, and perhaps if you’re not, you will know the struggle of fitting your work into deadlines based on a regular 9-5 job.
The culture in many places still expects you to be at work during this time, switched on and being a good company person. When many of the tasks asked of you simply don’t fit into this mindset. The reason working from home works so well is that it is at least half a step in the right direction of letting workers control their lives, but it’s time for companies to go further.
I am immensely great full that my company lets me work when suits, granted mostly in the day, but to a beat that suits the rhythm of my life — namely earlier in the morning and later at night. By removing the pressure to deliver too quickly means more creative room to deliver better work.
Vidit Bhargave, developer of Look Up, writing about what is expected of a modern app:
Not only is the iPhone app not the center of a user’s interaction on the phone. It’s increasingly becoming one of the many parts of an ecosystem where apps are expected to scale both in terms of interface and functionality starting from something as small as an Apple Watch and going all the way up to an unbounded experience like Vision Pro.
This is a fascinating post about the ways in which a good developer must think nowadays, and this is just iOS focused! You can’t just produce an app, ship it for the iPhone and think you are done — users, and OS makers, demand more from the applications they download and expect more from their paid services.
If you think about all the paces you expect to be able to interact with this piece of software you downloaded, one that in many instances you didn’t pay any for, you begin to realise how hard making a success of things can be.
As a user, I now expect to be able to use the app on my phone and tablet as a bare minimum. When in reality this expectation also includes the Apple Watch, perhaps the mac and even a VR. If I am a power user, I might also demand Shortcuts support, Siri integration and even a fancy API if the app calls for it.
There are widgets to think about, live activities and in the near future, Apple Intelligence integration. Great apps don’t just exist as a square on your Home Screen, they extend into numerous areas and through different interaction methods. We expect them to be available everywhere we are, and still moan because the developer wants to make an income from their work. Worth bearing in mind next time an app you love asks you for a contribution.
Matt Birchler, once again writing about macOS allowing touch interaction:
I contend that pretty much the entire “I wish the iPad did more” narrative is built on a wide and undying desire for macOS to get touch input and more flexible and portable hardware. Think about it, if I could walk into an Apple Store today and get a MacBook Touch with a hyper-portable form factor, an M4 processor, and a beautiful OLED screen, would I then also complain about the limitations of iPadOS? No, of course not!
There is no doubt that the Mac line up is crying out for some more flexible hardware to make it more interesting to more people. I wrote a few days ago that I wish there was more experimentation done with sliming down the hardware and pushing the limits of the form factor into more areas — notably an ultraportable version.
To bring some subjective experience in here, our sales team used to all use iPads and the entire reason I was ‘that iPad guy’ for a while was because of this. However, we as a company have outgrown iPadOS and hit the limitation of Shortcuts reliability. As such, they’ve all switched to Lenovo Laptops to be able to mark up documents still, but also get more desktop like features. Had there been touch Macs available, these would have been number one on the purchase list.
Read into that what you will, but I am sure more users than you think want a richer computer market with macOS. Would users regather buy a macOS device with, as Matt highlights, a “hyper-portable form factor, an M4 processor, and a beautiful OLED screen” than an iPad? I am not sure all would, but whilst Apple has been willing in the past to cannibalise their products, a la iPhone and iPod, modern Apple is a very different beast.
Apple knows that some users would, and that is precisely why Apple holds these two markets as far apart from each other as they can. For them, they rather you buy both devices, at the risk of loosing some sales to those that choose one over the other. I have never bought an iPad, be it a pro or otherwise, because it is powerful nor because of its screen. I buy one because it is portable, flexible and fits into how I want to use it.
There are some people who use an iPad because of its strengths, and even if a mythical macOS device existed, they would not stray away. However, there are far more people that expect more from their device than an iPad can provide.
Matteo Wong writing another great summary of the data surrounding AI failure to return on investment:
Jim Covello, Goldman Sachs’s head of global equity research, told me, “If we’re going to justify a trillion or more dollars of investment, AI needs to solve complex problems and enable us to do things we haven’t been able to do before.”
I am starting to think that big tech companies are just a long line of bubbles. Create a buzz around something (blockchain, NFT, Ai, whatever )get loads of investment and wait for the pop.
Don’t worry though because they can just pivot and stuff the next big thing into their apps and raise another round of investment.
Jarrod Blundy writing in You (And I) Can Do Hard Things
Doing the hard thing isn’t always fun. It’s often not the thing you want to do. There may be many reasons for you not to do the hard thing. But there’s almost always a good reason that you should do the hard thing. And I hope you remember that you can.
A few months ago I read The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, and it introduced the concept of misogi. An ancient Japanese practice of doing really, really hard things. There perhaps should be another really in there because this hard thing should push you to your limits and have at most a 50/50 chance of being achievable.
In doing so you are said to reach a state of sumikiri — complete clarity of body and mind. This all seems a bit out there, I admit, but by doing really hard things you achieve the mythical ‘flow state’. One that Csikszentmihalyi describes as “making life more rich, intense and meaningful”. Indeed, as covered in the book, people are physically harder, mentally tougher and on sounder footing spiritually when they experience discomfort.
So yes, you can do hard things, and you should do hard things — and you will be better off for it.
📚 This is a very good problem to have, but I have too many books to read.
Jared Henderson in a recent ParkNotes video on Commonplace Books (cleaned up by me):
I think that people found it refreshing to just be like oh I could just do this in a notebook and there’s not like a system .. basically just a repository where I just write things down and I think there’s something about the Simplicity of the idea and then the fact that it’s not digital not on your computer it’s not on a screen .. I think that people just got sick of doing stuff on screens all the time
I know in my head that taking note digitally makes the most sense if you want to maximise the return on investment. If you would like to put everything into a hyper — organised, detail — orientated database, that’s cool and everything, but the appeal of having a notebook is the opposite.
The messiness and disorganisation is the point for me. The simplicity of scribbling (seriously, my handwriting is terrible) into a book every so often is the best feature. It is the key to enjoying the things I do and removing as much of the extraneous things as possible.
My superpower is thinking too much about the things I do and the choices I make. I used to think this was a hindrance because it sometimes stoped me acting quickly and getting things done faster than should. Or spending too much time worrying about things that didn’t need so much dwelling on. However, I do believe that you should be questioning yourself more than any other person could because it will give you strength in your convictions.
During my working life, I have come across many individuals that constantly question others. Both from a position of authority, and not. They require no other reason to question things and rubbish the ideas than the simple fact it did not come from themselves. You can segregate those people from those that have legitimate concerns by simply testing them on their decisions. Those that have logically made their decisions can back up their worries with sound judgement, and not simply “I think”.
This kind of mental questioning should happen in yourself when decisions arise. You should examine every angle, come up with ways it could fall down, and alternative solutions. Ensuring the motivation and the execution are sound, and at this point you will be able to defeated your position, if only to yourself. Giving you the confidence to continue on the path you have chosen, until you come across new information or evidence to the contrary.
There is a limit, of course. By constantly testing everything around you, it sometimes feels as if you are building the anxiety in your brain for no good reason. There are life choices and decisions that don’t need to be tested to extremes, merely weighed up with the information you have instantly available. Done so in a time frame that gives the required space it needs and no more.
Questioning yourself isn’t a sign of weakness, it builds resilience. When you evaluate your choices and motivations critically, you become more adaptable to change and better prepared for challenges. By regularly questioning your actions and beliefs, you can find areas to improve and understand yourself better. Embrace this superpower, balance it with practicality, and you’ll make better decisions and navigate life’s complexities more confidently.
Colin Friedersdorf writing in The Atlantic about why they Why I Hate Instagram Now
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, still says its mission is giving people “the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” As it thwarts my efforts to see all the photos posted by people I know and chose to follow, I call bullshit. Injecting Reels in my feed, then refusing to let me abolish those diversions, hasn’t just put my loved ones in competition with viral nonsense––it has repeatedly subverted my attempts to ensure that my loved ones win.
This is what drives me insane about modern social media because it’s not even just Instagram. In the constant search for engagement, they serve you entertainment before the things that you actually want to see. You know, posts from the people you follow.
Whenever pressed on this, Instagram gets all hand wavy, and they roll out their practiced spiel about video engagement being up blah blah blah. It clearly works for the things they wish to measure (presumably advert impressions and attention) but not for anyone I ever talk to about these issues. There still isn’t a place for us photographers to go, and that still makes me sad.
Is the @macstories@mastodon.macstories.net Apple frames shortcut broken for anyone else.
Tells me to set a parameter for each action and I’m confused.
Kev Quirk writing in Three Years With My M1 MacBook Air
Question is, will I upgrade? Well, no. Not any time soon anyway. The M1 Air still does everything I need it to extremely well. So why upgrade? Why drop another £1,000 or so on the latest version of the Air? Because it looks a little nicer? Because it comes in blue? Because the chipset is 2 increments better? Nah, I’ll stick with this workhorse until it dies.
I’m not sure if it is them M1 chip, but around this time my motivation to upgrade so often seems to have disappeared. It was such a revolution in power and efficiency that the following iterations do not receive anywhere near the attention—which is great.
I’d love to see Apple do something more with their laptop and push the design forward. Perhaps a really thin and light device for ultra portability because to be honest, the battery life of MacBooks is a little insane now!
I write a lot on my iPhone. If I can estimate, I would say at least 70% of my blog posts are published from it. This is largely due to having it with me all the time, and it being comfortable to type on after years of practice. However, I think there is something said for having one app open, without all the toolbars and other things to go with it, that helps me get from idea to publishable post quicker.
As I was deep in thought and wondering why I publish so much from my phone, and why that has been replaced by my iPad. I discovered I had already touched on this point in 2022 in my post The quiet and calm of iOS.
As I type out this post back at home on my Mac, I realise how much calmer iOS is when you expect nothing of it. I wasn’t looking for a do it all machine, I was looking for it do to a few simple tasks, and do them well.
Sure, this iPad can multitask like a champ and have windows floating all over the place just as my MacBook can, but I don’t want that any more. I want something I can use for writing my blog posts, editing photos and catching up with my favourite blog feeds. Don’t get me wrong, I much prefer getting things done on my Mac, but with all that complexity comes the added distraction of work emails and the mess of files on my home screen waiting to be completed.
Whereas as my iPad has none of those things. It could, but I’ve set it up to work in the way that I want. In part due to the fact I am easily distractible and can’t be trusted, but mainly because I want one window (or at most two to refer to something) at a time. I have even set up screen time to block social media sites and other things that I am likely to fall off into. No work emails, no reminders pings, just the things I enjoy doing and that’s the perfect ‘computer’.
That not to say your iPad can’t do much more, and you’re thinking how stupid I am for not having Stage Manager float windows all over my screen, so I can edit videos and listen to background music. I think it’s remarkable that a tablet, albeit a ridiculously expensive one, can be all of these things to different people — but mine is just a full window machine, thank you very much.
I’m all for the advancement of technology, and you know I love computers. But there are still places where the experience is better without them. It keeps things simple, if less convenient on the surface.
Completely agree. Although I don’t miss a pocket full of small change when I leave a bar.
Zach Seward being clear that AI is not like you and me:
Aristotle, who had a few things to say about human nature, once declared, “The greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor,” but academics studying the personification of tech have long observed that metaphor can just as easily command us. Metaphors shape how we think about a new technology, how we feel about it, what we expect of it, and ultimately, how we use it.
I highlighted a lot of this article to save for leather musing, but it got me thinking about things immediately. I’d recommend reading the entire post if you are even remotely interested in AI as it’s pretty eye-opening, well written and diligently researched.
The decisions made by the creators of technology and particularly AI dictate a lot of the things we think about it. What’s more is most people will not even be aware of the effects of portraying your product as if it were a person. The fact is, we give AI much more slack than we would with other things because it is portrayed with a friendly, eager to help tone and that’s by design.
LLMS don’t just spurt back walls of text, they portray the answers in conversational styles, leading to increased levels of trust. Because you can’t be mad at something that apologises for being wrong so provocatively. Spurring in us a forgiving nature as if they were our friend. Artificial Intelligence doesn’t get things spectacularly wrong after all, they simply “hallucinate”.
As Zack puts it brilliantly, “AI isn’t doing shit. It is not thinking, let alone plotting. It has no aspirations. It isn’t even an it so much as a wide-ranging set of methods for pattern recognition”. Imagine if you looked up a topic in an encyclopaedia, only for it to be entirely wrong and reference things that don’t exist, you wouldn’t tolerate it. Yet Search GPT is already getting things wrong, and that’s OK because it is portrayed as being just like us. Well, it’s not.
I don’t rember the old magic keyboard being so back heavy.
Feels like it’s going to tip over when used on your lap.
I could stay here forever
Karissa Bell for Engadget:
Zuckerberg then launched into a lengthy rant about his frustrations with “closed” ecosystems like Apple’s App Store. None of that is particularly new, as the Meta founder has been feuding with Apple for years. But then Zuckerberg, who is usually quite controlled in his public appearances, revealed just how frustrated he is, telling Huang that his reaction to being told “no” is “fuck that.”
I’m conflicted when Zuckerberg says anything that I agree with. On the one hand, it is great news for the web. Zuckerberg hates closed platforms and is working to open up Threads to the open web, yet I can’t shake the thought that most of this is simple theatre.
Of course, Zuck hates Apple’s closed system…because he wants access to all the date from users. It’s not his good nature that leads him to open up Threads, it is the fact that it helps with all the things that Facebook is criticised for. He can simply point to the fact that users are free to move, and then continue to do what he wants on ‘his’ platform.
But there’s this little part of me that wants to believe. That after years of “oh we didn’t mean to do that” when they break things, Meta is becoming a good-natured company.
Perhaps not all of us, but for many people who are interested in tech, and particularly bloggers, the allure of being able to use a tablet to get things done is a strong one. I’ve been there, realised that I can’t make it do what I want, yet always have one hanging around. Here I am, once again, writing on an iPad Pro—and these words are nothing more than to justify my expenditure!
There was only a minimal time I didn’t have an iPad at all. Despite it leaving quite dramatically, soon returning in the form of a 2018 iPad Pro that I had until recently. It was often my creative computer, but one that came in and out of my life whilst expecting nothing in return. I’ve bought and sold ‘better’ iPads alongside this one, but expected too much from them. Whereas my 2018 version was worth more to me than anyone else, and suck around when all others failed.
Unfortunately, it finally gave up the ghost, so I began looking around for a replacement. To be honest, I wanted another 2018 version but, whilst being very cheap, they run the risk of dying the same as my old one. I should have taken Mere Civilian’s advice and picked up a M2 version, but there was something about the new M4’s that appealed to me. Not because of the power, but because of the nice screen and slimmed down weight.
So, I am sitting here, typing this out on an 11” m4, with an Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. I got it very lightly used, after trying a 13” version first that didn’t fit my workflow, and traded in numerous bits of tech that were no longer needed. There are trade off here. The keyboard is a little too small, the size isn’t as good for drawing as the larger version, but it fits better into my life being more portable.
I don’t for one second think that many people should buy these new iPads unless you get a good deal. They are expensive and are in many ways complete overkill, but I’m enjoying having an iPad back in my life after even just a few weeks away.
Nottingham, June 2024
Finished reading: Private by James Patterson 📚
The people of London
Waiting for the Apple Store to open
Matt Birchler writing about Math Notes in iPadOS 18:
…while I can academically understand why they’re so impressive and that some people will get massive use out of them, they aren’t valuable to me, so they don’t move the needle at all in terms of me being able to close up some of the friction points I have with using an iPad for all the things I’d love to do with any iPad.
I’ve missed so much in the last few months, especially around the new iPad and iPadOS features. In my continued search for a new one, I am going back and reading old reviews. This bit from Matt stuck out for me, and being able to see the usefulness of features to other people is such a transferable skill to have.
There’s a tendency to rubbish anything you don’t immediately see as useful. I once had an interaction on Reddit that thankfully I can’t remember it word for word; however, they were claiming that updates to the Sony A7vi to include a screenreader and other accessibility features are pointless. They couldn’t see that other people might make use of features that they didn’t need (and also put on show their ableist attitude).
This happens with almost everything, we all have a tendency to rubbish features and think we could all do a better job, when the reality is we probably couldn’t. Except when it comes to managing the England football team.
Need to upgrade my aging iPad so I’m catching up on all the iPad OS 18 updates and new iPad reviews. This entirely consists of binge watching @ChrisLawley@mastodon.social
I’d love a new one but don’t think I can justify the price.
Silicon Valley’s ‘Audacity Crisis’
audacity can quickly turn into a liability when builders become untethered from reality, or when their hubris leads them to believe that it is their right to impose their values on the rest of us, in return for building God.
I know my followers are very varied so thought I’d post that I am looking for a Project Manager to join our team. If you’re interested feel free to reach out with any questions or an informal chat.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been producing slop. Not because I want to. Merely because everyone tells me I must in order to succeed on the internet.
Content slop is a strange term, but it describes the mass-produced, often AI-generated, surface-level content that constitutes a large portion of the internet now. It has three characteristics, but I stick to Ryan Broderick’s first outlining feature, which states that “to the user, the viewer, the customer, it feels worthless.”
Anything made purely for internet points and offering no value whatsoever is slop. It constitutes a massive portion of YouTube, streaming apps, social media platforms, and unfortunately, a large portion of the web now. So why have I been creating it, you might ask? Well, because I wanted some of those sweet dopamine hits everyone craves, of course. While working to increase the level of my Instagram account after deleting it a couple of years ago, it’s tough going, and every bit of advice on how to grow your account suggests you publish reels. So I began hating myself and producing slop.
I couldn’t do it to myself for very long. Barely a few weeks of publishing meme-like reels led to thousands of views and loads of likes, which for some would be a considerable win. Yet, the metric I wanted to push, my follower count, barely moved. Views are worthless unless they lead to something: buying your product, visiting your links, or perhaps following your account. The percentage of people who take such actions is so minute that the old tricks do not work any more.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram only serve those who produce entertainment. They exist for no other reason than to serve you slop interlaced with adverts and keep you watching. They are self-serving companies that care about the creators only as much as they need to. Not only that, but they have a way of convincing us that they care about creators when, in fact, the only metric that matters is slop production. As long as you produce slop that can be served to other people, they can keep making money.
Granted, my slop experiment wasn’t done to the best of my abilities; my slop was particularly poor slop. Mosseri, head of Instagram, stated himself that you’re not entitled to exposure and reach; you just need to produce different slop. Had I offered a bit more value to people, perhaps they would have followed me for more slop production, but I doubt it. I realised rapidly that modern social algorithms have removed the need to follow anyone to see the slop that resonates with you. So there’s no point in bothering after all.
John Gruber joining two unconnected things together and predictably developing from it a pro apple stance (via Birchtree):
But the argument against RCS is strong and simple: it doesn’t support end-to-end encryption. The only new messaging platforms that should gain any traction are those that not only support E2EE, but that require it. Messaging and audio/video calls should only work through E2EE. That’s true for iMessage and FaceTime.
I try not to read, nor comment on, Daring Fireball things any more because the take from them is so clouded in pro-Apple rhetoric that it’s often difficult to see the wood for the trees. However, after Matts post about the article, I decided to read it for myself and boy what a weird take.
RCS is merely a step forward for SMS and MMS, it never promised encryption, and I have my doubts that any carrier would support it even if it did. Apple presently sticks to routing RCS through carrier defaults. Google offers encryption over RCS by turning them into Google Messages, meaning “your chat conversations automatically upgrade to end-to-end encryption”. I am sure that Apple could offer something similar, but considering their RCS implementation is essentially an FU to the EU, they chose not to.
However, we are going off-topic a little. Whilst I agree with John’s opinion that any new implementation of messaging should be e2e encrypted, he completely skirts around the fact that Apple could offer this because it doesn’t fit into his narrative. Instead, he suggests sending all of your messaging through a third-party close system — mentioning WhatsApp specifically. Taking such a positive stance on privacy and then suggesting the use of Meta products is more than a little strange.
Christopher Lawley got to talk to Jenny Chen and Ty Jordan about iPad note-taking and specifically math notes.
Whilst it is predictably a very reserved, PR focused chat, Chris always manages to demonstrate his excitement for iPad features and does an excellent job of walking through the features with them. The video is worth watching if you’re interested in the iPad or Apple at all, it almost gets me interested in the iPad again… almost.
I didn’t need anything for Prime Day.
Yet I’ve just installed a solar charger, new doorbell and two new flood lights.
Blame my wife this time!
Finished reading: The Golden Library by Scott Mariani 📚
Found an old Chevy parked up on our morning walk
Wait…wait ..wait.
Samsung made a rip of squared Galaxy Watch Ultra.
But put a round screen on it…. 😂
I spent ages trying to get hold of the 27mm f2.8 Fuji lens.
It’s never in stock new anywhere so bit the bullet and ordered a used one from Wex.
Of course two days later new ones are in stock!
Ready to play some bowls?
Pushed an update to Status Log plugin for micro.blog
This now uses back end data handling to get the statuses and has no on page scripting, which is a win for the speed of your blog!
If you like this plugin or others I have made, consider supporting me.
A few more from London
I am a little concerned on the amount of AI being posted as photography by accounts that I follow.
Some of this is only obvious when you know where it was taken, and it has been manipulated or had the image extended.
However some images are obviously AI generated and people don’t seem to care.
Manuel Moreale ponders what he would pay for if you had to pay per scroll:
think about what the web would look like if it was some sort of pay-per-scroll platform. Not a place where virtually everything is free but a place where everything has to be purchased in order to be consumed.
This is quite an old post, one that pops up from time to time in my saved quotes. It always makes me pause. I remember it for a few days, and then I promptly slip back into my old ways.
Users like things free. They love free. But what if they began to frame things as if they are paying (which, of course, they are - with time and attention)? Both users and developers know we wouldn’t pay for the mediocre content we see online; hence, everything has infinite scroll now. Even the short pause of loading a new page of content would provide enough breathing room to recognise how terrible this is.
Yet here we are. Scrolling. Forever.
After my post the other day about struggling with what’s going on in my life, I’ve been thinking a lot more about blogging. My mind is still a long way from framing the world in blog posts again, but I’ve realised how important my blog is to me. When the going gets tough and there are challenges to cope with, I always reach for my blog as a refuge.
Writing is a well-known method for coping with life’s difficulties, even if you don’t publish what you write. However, there’s something uniquely special about having a blog—one that people read and interact with. The support that can form around it is incredible. I received several kind replies wishing me well, and more than one person took the time to send me an email with words of encouragement. While this isn’t my primary motivation for writing, it’s heartwarming to receive such support.
My blog has been a constant presence in my life in various forms for more than a decade. It’s always there for me to rely on. Over the weekend, while sitting in the hospital for hours on end, I began reading other people’s posts and publishing my own. There’s no need for social media boredom relief when your blogging workflow takes over. It also helps when there are plenty of things to write about, as it keeps my mind engaged and productive.
During the first few days of managing everything on my own, I felt overwhelmed. Yet, my mind instinctively started to draft a blog post. Moments later, it was written and published. This spontaneous act of writing helped me process my feelings and organise my thoughts. It’s amazing how important my blog has become to me—it’s not just a platform for sharing my experiences but also a therapeutic tool that helps me navigate life’s challenges.
Blogging has provided me with an outlet for my emotions and a way to connect with others who may be going through similar experiences. It’s a space where I can be honest about my struggles and triumphs, and receive support from a community of readers. This sense of connection and understanding is invaluable. My blog is much more than just a hobby; it’s a vital part of my life. I’m grateful to have my blog as a constant companion and source of support.
Get the shot
I don’t mind admitting it, but at the moment I am really struggling. My life is not easy at the best of times, coping with a child that needs extra care, but now my wife has been taken down by gastroenteritis, and I don’t know how single parents cope.
Of course, this isn’t the first time this has happened. My wife seems to catch every issue that’s floating around due to working in education, including COVID before any vaccines and treatments were available. However, it is the first time I have really felt like I am on a treadmill. There’s always something that needs doing!
Balancing all the house chores, kids’ stuff, and working full time means that I am severely sleep-deprived and lacking the ability to grab some peace and quiet for more than a few minutes. I honestly don’t know how single parents do all the things they do. After months of using decaffeinated coffee, I’ve had to reach for the hard stuff simply to stop myself from falling asleep.
I have hope that my wife will start to feel better soon, although that light at the end of the tunnel does not seem to have been switched on yet. We split the work needed to keep our home running pretty evenly anyway, but this is a struggle.
Jason Kratz my earlier post on Instagram and photography:
The implication is that somehow it was wrong for them to transition from snapshots of family events, etc. to being more artful in taking photographs to put online. Let’s be clear: there is nothing wrong with this!
Absolutely, there is nothing wrong with this. Perhaps my point came across wrong.
I am a street photographer first and foremost and my camera roll is filled with all sorts of random photos. My point was more that people worry to much about getting the right shot than enjoying and capturing the moment. Over posing and worrying about getting the perfect shot to share on Instagram, rather than snapping moments.
I blame @MereCivilian but Pixel Folds seemed to have come down loads in price and I’m very tempted to pick one up
An interesting post in the Totally Recommend newsletter on the degradation of their camera roll:
Ten years ago, my photos weren’t as crisp as they are now, but they did the job of capturing personal stories and connections….these photos are filled with the faces of my friends and family from seemingly unremarkable but unforgettable times together.
Over time, my photos begin to transform. The “stupid but sweet” snapshots start to give way to something different. There is a new focus, an attempt to present an aesthetic, an idea, an editorial “look.”
This is something I have seen in the camera rolls of many of my friends. They no longer capture and post snapshots of their lives; instead, their Instagram feeds resemble those of low-key influencers. Everything is polished and perfect (well, as perfect as they can make it) with image upon image of nothingness.
Smiling faces and silly captures have been replaced with landscapes of places they visited simply to take photos. Perhaps there’s the occasional shot of a person from behind, pretending to watch something, yet no images of the thing itself.
Photos are meant to be memory prompts—captures of moments you want to remember or snapshots of enjoyable times. Those blurry, grainy candid photos you barely managed to grab as you fumbled for your camera are utterly perfect. The moment is spoiled because your phone is in front of your face the whole time, not so much.
Staying connected
In an effort to motivate myself to write more regularly, I’ve decided to consolidate my small updates into one post each week. This may last only a week or it may stick—I’ve started and abandoned so many creative projects that it’s hard to say. But I can try.
Photography
My increased focus on photography has led to a decline in my writing. While my shots may not be anything extraordinary, I find the practice enjoyable and meditative.
I’ve previously written about my difficulty in pursuing more than one creative activity at a time, and I still don’t know why that is. I now see the world through the lens of a camera, capturing moments in time. Previously, I viewed it as material for blog posts. I feel most at home wandering around, looking for interesting scenes, seeing the world from a different perspective, and focusing solely on capturing it, without the distraction of life’s other stresses.
London Calling
Due to my love of street photography, I’ve been visiting London frequently. Living in a rural area makes it challenging to pursue urban photography, but fortunately, it doesn’t take long to get to the city.
If I lived there, I’d probably grow tired of it, but for now, I find the contrast in lifestyles between London and my home fascinating. The hustle and bustle are refreshing, and the city is perfect for street photography.
Fixing Things
We’ve been in our current house for almost six years now, and the newly built features are starting to show their age all at once. This past week, I had to replace our washing machine, strip down and repair the dishwasher, and now the boiler is making strange noises.
Thankfully, I can handle most repairs and at least diagnose issues, if not fix them myself (with the exception of gas and heating systems, for obvious reasons). But it’s still frustrating. It feels like everything decided to break simultaneously, testing my patience and my bank balance. I hope nothing else breaks in the near future!
Some more sun and deep shadows from London
rabbit data breach: all r1 responses ever given can be downloaded
If you have one of these consider placing it firmly in the bin.
It’s an overshot location but this one came out great
Maybe I should stop shooting shadows 🤔
I enjoy making things that most people wont notice.
This is a test post, to test something, that I need to test.
“That’s really what’s going to be the thing that decides if you’re successful or not. And it’s kind of all about if you really want to play that game or not.”
l, most definitely, do not.
My brain has too many ideas floating around in it to go to bed. So instead I’m writing a micro.blog plugin and editing photos.
Should really be sleeping
I just really liked this guys suit!
Didn’t get into the London Marathon this year.
I am already entered into Manchester, but I am tempted to do Brighton too.
Two marathons in three weeks?? Possible??
Having some really weird issues with my blog, hoping removing the domain and resetting all the DNS will resolve it.
Why don’t things ‘just work’
Finished reading: Alex Cross Must Die by James Patterson 📚
Hats, hats, hats
You can’t go to Cambridge and not take photos of bikes.
I think I’ve spoken about this before. But I’m so motivated to be taking photos at the moment, that I can’t even consider writing a blog post.
I think my brain can only pursue one creative thing at a time.
A few shadows caught between the cloudy spells in London
Couldn’t resist capturing a shot of these two. Pure happiness sat in the sun on Brick Lane. ❤️
Reflections
Brick Lane is all about the people you meet on your journey
Re-editing old thrown out photos and found a good one.
Finished reading: Cross Down by James Patterson 📚
Hi @manton I’m having some issues with podcast hosting and listening in apps. Apple have come back to me with a few issues that are hosting related.
Can I forward this to you?
Today was supposed to be a subdued day after our long walk yesterday, but my life just doesn’t work like that. After reading part of the excellent book Find Your Frame by Craig Whitehead, I felt inspired. When I woke up and saw the sun shining early in the morning, I decided to go out instead. Lately, the weather has been terrible here for May and June, but the forecast looked good.
I chose a familiar place since I am heading to London this week, so Nottingham streets are my favorite. During this visit, I tried to shoot much slower than I normally would. I found a shot and waited for the right moment to capture it. Some of the photos I took in my short couple of hours I really like.
In Find Your Frame, Craig encourages you to discover what you want to shoot and experiment with different styles. I can’t stay away from light and shadows, though.
Today was definitely shadow day in Nottingham
A walk around Newark and the people we saw on the way
This must be the period for spontaneity because after last weekends trip to Nottingham, today we just decided to head to the seaside for a couple of hours after work.
When I say the lift was rubbish, you better believe it. Someone needs to tell the world that it’s almost June because there was about 20mins sunshine all day.
However the place was packed with people enjoying themselves so you can’t complain, just join in.
Grabbed a few shots on my XT5 but nothing special.
🔗
we’re now shifting towards the model where devs are instead “AI” wranglers. The web dev of the future will be an underpaid generalist who pokes at chatbot output until it runs without error, pokes at a copilot until it generates tests that pass with some coverage, and ships code that nobody understand and can’t be fixed if something goes wrong.
This is one of the things I fear. That the web will break and no one will know how to fix it.
instead of reading a story that was, at least, in theory, written to be read and enjoyed by human beings, wouldn’t it be much easier to click on a link that takes you to paywalled story, pay the money to access it, and then click on a button called “summarize” to read three bullet points a machine generated for you?
Meanwhile the decision to ad AI summaries behind a paywall is bonkers
This agreement recognizes the value of our work and intellectual property, while opening it up to new audiences and better informing the public.
I disagree. It’s a realisation that their work will be taken anyway if they do not make these deals.
🍦 Left behind
Finished reading: Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd 📚
We found a wheelchair accessible swing on a park near us and it was one of best experiences of my life. Seeing Lucie fully included with the rest of the children was beautiful.
I need to up my editing game I think but I am fairly happy with how the shots themselves look. All images - here
I did something that I never do. Got up early and went to shoot some street photos. There was already a long day lined up but I had a creative itch that I hadn’t been able to scratch for a while, and it needed satisfying.
It was a really enjoyable 2 hours in Nottingham in the only two hours sunshine they might have. I can really feel my motivation to shoot street photography coming back and my eye for a good shot improving.
After the rain, he’s off
I can’t be the only one that gets a creative itch they cant scratch because it’s raining, so you wander around the house with your camera.
The Chosen One 🌱
Interpreting neural nets by that principle involves a technique called dictionary learning, which allows you to associate a combination of neurons that, when fired in unison, evoke a specific concept, referred to as a feature.
Amazing research going into effectively MRI scanning an LLM ‘brain’
I posted a Reel to Instagram.
I feel dirty.
Several Swans a’swimming
Few random shots from Melton Mowbray, UK.
Street photography isn’t all about massive cities.
How the tech industry soured on employee activism
only the part of yourself that gets work done should come to the office. Those who bring in anything else may be promptly shown the door.
They built huge office campuses so you don’t have to go home, and instead stay and work. Now companies want you to stop sharing opinions.
Perhaps they only want to ‘change the world’ when it makes them money.
Decided to head to Lincoln for some time shooting. A new camera always does this to me for a while but I haven’t been dedicating enough time to going out and just seeing what I can find.
Lincoln is always bustling with life and despite living there for a long time I don’t go back often enough.
All shot with a Fuji Film XT-5 and the kit 16-80mm f/4 and I must say I enjoyed the experience.
Editing old photos.
This was three years ago in Norfolk
Decided to set up an account on Blue Sky seeing as all replies will come through to my blog, and I can avoid having to ‘check in’ al the time.
Spent a bit of time rewatching micro camp and learning about the new comments options in depth.
It took some scripting, but I decided to show / hide the comments box with a button and leave the comments behind a summery toggle.
Very grateful for a kind mention is this excellent post on @PaulAlvarez@mastodon.social Conflicting Interests.
I’ve got a thing for pylons in nature
This is actually amazing 🤯
@snazzyq • Apple’s attention to detail is INSANE. You can’t watch this and not smile. • Threads
No idea what this thing is, but it was hungry for nectar!
Edit: it’s a greater bee fly
Decided against getting the Leica Q2 as it was “well used” but now eyeing an X100VI.
I shouldn’t have started looking at cameras!
I’ve been searching for Leica Q2’s all day - now would be a very good time for people to sign up and support my work or otherwise get in touch with a very large donation 😉
Lost your ball?
The first Peter McKinnon video I have watched in a while summed up a very modern photography problem perfectly:
just go shoot a sunrise for no other reason than to absolutely fucking enjoy it. In the questions of what will you do with the photos? After. Who cares nothing, do absolutely nothing. If anything, it’s just one for the books.
It doesn’t have to be a sunrise of course, but just go shoot. Who cares what you get from it, what you do with it. Forget the likes you think you need, the stress of worrying what happened to Instagram and where you are going to post your photos. Just go shoot.
Remember why you picked up the camera in the first place.
As I move my working life towards planning, proposing, and delivering on major projects, I’ve realized what a pain it can be. From the outside looking in, those three steps look easy, but to do them properly, you first need to outline exactly what the result shouldn’t achieve.
You read that right. More than anything else, the first step is to think about the worst possible solution you could deliver. This solution technically achieves the goal correctly but with all the wrong metrics. Andrew Wilkinson outlines this well in his post about The Power of Anti-Goals:
The idea that problems are often best solved when they are reversed. That it’s often easier to think about what you don’t want than what you do.
He’s absolutely correct. It’s much easier to think about the worst way and then work backward to ensure you move in a better direction. A great example in Andrew’s post is considering what they didn’t want their positions in their company to be when building the company. They did not want to spend too much time away from their family nor be too busy and stressed and as such put checks and balances in place to achieve that goal.
Once you are aware of what you absolutely do not want to deliver, you tend to steer well clear of the pitfalls and issues that can plague a poorly thought-through project and deliver a better solution. At this point, it’s also important to ensure that you measure the project against company and personal values. No one wants to deliver a product they are ashamed of nor work on something they would rather not.
Ensuring your planning and project lives up to what you expect from it at this early stage makes for a much better experience all around. There are fancy words for these kinds of things, of course. Here’s a recent post discussing what and how Multi-Scale Planning is and in true Sweet Setup style, how to do it in Obsidian:
Multi-Scale planning is a way to make sure that your vision and your values get translated into your everyday actions.
I think, now more than ever, it is important to deliver work that not only fits your expected level of quality but also fulfills your values as a person. That’s not going to be relevant for some projects; however, this important step enables you to ensure you do not deliver work you later regret. To use the words of Mike Monteiro in Ruined by Design: “Effect of what you put into the fabric of society should always be a key consideration in your work.”
So by bringing to mind what you do not want to deliver as an end product, you can be certain that the plans you now begin to put into place will deliver an end result you can be proud of.
It was, as Thanos says, inevitable. I am so shockingly boring that I couldn’t stop working even for one day off. There was little point in tidying up after myself and trying to hide the fact that I can’t do other things. So, when all the family returned from their normal day at work and school, of course the question came.
The answer is a simple one, but a little bit painful to admit: I have nothing else in my life to do. I do have things to do, but not anything that I really want to do, and nothing to excite me for the few hours that were free. The truth is I am so exceptionally sad that there is very little else in my life to entertain me. I have tried for years to focus my mind elsewhere when these periods occur, but I inevitably find myself working.
To try and explain why is far too complicated a topic, one that may one day be recited on a therapist’s couch, but I theorize many reasons intertwined in my psyche. One of which is the relationship between myself and my technology. All of which are used for both personal and work tasks. As soon as I sat down to write my blog post earlier, I knew that I would end up checking my email, planning for my return tomorrow, and more than likely completing some simple things to check off my list.
Thankfully, I did get out for a little while today, walked my dog in the woods where we both enjoyed the sunshine. As well as doing some exercise, and finished watching Fallout. 1 Unfortunately, I always feel that there is something lacking to do. Many people I know spend these sorts of spare hours playing games or binge-watching TV, and I don’t think I can switch my brain off for long enough. All I have are books to read and blog posts to write, and there’s only so much of that you can do.
And so, I worked, on my day off.
-
It’s ok. I’ve never played any of the games so I can’t speak for its accuracy, but the storyline was entertaining. ↩︎
A walk in the woods
For the first time in recent memory, I booked a day off from work today with absolutely nothing planned. My company leave is usually taken up by family holidays, hospital appointments, and other things that occupy my time, but today I am free to do whatever I please, which of course means absolutely nothing.
Not that I don’t have anything to do; I have lots of things that could occupy my time, but I am incapable of deciding what to do. How do you decide which one of the million things to do that you have put off for a day like this? Just like my ‘someday’ task list, these things that I put off until I have the time to do them are often things I don’t really want to do. If they were, I would have set aside time for them anyway.
As such, my day will be filled with nothingness, and that’s exactly how I like it. Walking my dog, enjoying the sun that is gracing the UK at the moment, and writing some blog posts. I feel a little bit like I have bunked off school, and instead of finding the nirvana that I expected, I instead have to wait around for everyone to finish school. This day will be ‘wasted’ and that’s perfect.
Their API costs $40,000 a month to use and the only people who are going to see your content are, you know, the worst human beings alive.
This hits the nail squarely on the head. Sure, stuff gets views, clicks and attention on X, but do you really want that audience?
My first exposure to computers and technology came at a very early age. My mum was convinced that I needed a computer to do my school work, and for reasons only known to her, bought me a ‘486’. I would later learn that this was a description of the processor in the machine, but all I could take in at the time was how massive it was and that I had to type everything to get it going. I wouldn’t begin to use anything resembling a modern computer until much later with Windows 3.1.
Even then, technology wasn’t really in my life. It was just a tool to use when needed, and that wasn’t very often. You would have to fast forward more than a decade until I became remotely interested in what these things could do for me, and this all happened by complete accident. With an iPhone that I purchased simply because I had an iPod. I’d had computers to do my college and school work, bought phones to text my friends, but this gadget entered my life and put just the right amount of restrictions in the way that I wanted to get around them.
I discovered that I could enable my primitive iPhone 3G to do more than Apple allowed. With a few lines of code, I could enable copy and paste, and MMS - as shocking as it seems now that an iPhone didn’t have these things. I installed beta software downloaded over peer-to-peer networks and network unlocked them for friends. This interesting world filled a hole in me that had been empty since my dreams of professional football were taken away from me in my late teens. The excitement, skills to learn, and ever-changing landscape was addictive and I can pretty much plot a course from iPhone purchase day to my working life now.
This course went through years of hacking Palm tablets, working with custom ROMs on Android, and writing for technology websites about anything and everything I could. Learning HTML and CSS to build my own blog and gaining the skills to go along with producing content for the web. Because of my love of technology, the people I met, and the skills I picked up along the way, I am where I am today. I am pretty confident to say that had I not bought that iPhone, my life would be a very different place.
Which brings me to today. My world is not as exciting as it once was. The technology that I love is now in a very different spot. It no longer sits idle until called upon like any other tool, it muscles its way into every corner of our lives. There is a lot to be excited about, but also a lot to be wary of. Modern life is a hard place to navigate, and if you’ve had to have this conversation with your children, you will appreciate that it seems to be getting worse. In many ways, we are the tools that technology companies use. To make more and more money while improving less and less about the world.
I cannot get excited about new iPads, task list apps, and camera specs as I used to, but I think that is because I am too jaded by the past. There are others out there that are as excited as past me was about OS updates and new phones, but for AI advancements and wearable technology. I didn’t worry about what these new smartphones would do to the world, and neither will they about LLM’s and image generators.
The Evolution of Privacy and Ownership in the Blogging World
I don’t mind AI scooping up my writing to provide answers to others. I don’t earn anything from the writings on my blog, and I am putting it out there. I don’t even need credit if it helps someone; in fact, I prefer if you don’t give me credit.
The conversation following this post is an interesting one that I learnt a lot from. Whilst I share @pratik take on LLM I also don’t make money from my posts and recognise those that do may feel different, it’s their choice.
Judge the work, not the medium, folks. You can do great journalism on the web, in print newspapers, in magazine, on podcasts, in newsletters and, yes, on blogs
I don’t. But yes, some people do great work from their blog.
Some UI choices apps make genuinely stun me.
Which on of these icons do you think gets you to things you have already done?
Nope not that one, it’s the circle arrow 🤦♂️
Update on the Bullet Journal Pocket
I can’t bring myself to ruin its loveliness, so any thoughts will have to wait 😁
Jack’s criticism of BlueSky is that they shifted focus to the consumer app instead of building the protocol completely. It is a fair criticism.
I would agree. The shift from creating an open protocol to “how do we make money” is messy and at times impossible to understand.
Jacks point that a protocol should not even need a board speaks volumes.
Doesn’t matter what hopital we go to or when we go, we always get the worst views!
Could someone in the know point me in the right direction of showing books on micro.blog pages. I am currently using the shortcode to show this year reading goal, but would like to show me.
The only page I can find is here so is it a case if building something myself?
It is remarkable how much long-term advantage we have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent. - Charlie Munger
Reysu in the video How to absorb books like a sponge and read 2x faster:
One of the most valuable things you can do with your free time is reading books. They not only contain a huge depth of information, but just a single idea in a book has the possibility of changing your life entirely.
I recently found Reysu on YouTube and have enjoyed a lot of the videos on their channel. It is a good mix of technology topics and various bits of life advice—particularly the ones on Notebooks, but that’s for another day. I hate the title of this one and wrote about why reading doesn’t need to be hacked, but this statement in the first part of the video stood out to me.
Reading is one of my favorite things to do. I don’t know why, I have a million other things to entertain me, but reading takes me to a different place that nothing else can. There’s fiction to distract me but not leave me hollow like passive media does. There’s non-fiction for me to learn new ideas and improve my life. Whatever it is that I am reading, it contains loads of little bits that all leave their mark and improve me as a person.
Also a special shout out to this genius thumbnail that first got me to watch Reysu’s videos.
After loosing my Kindle Paperwhite in London a couple of weeks ago I have been a bit lost. I did order another one, but when posts started popping up about a colour Kobo Libra I decided to return it and try something new. Granted I have only had it since Friday, but I am already in love with it.
I will no doubt write a longer post about it later, but there are not many downsides to this new device. It has a nice screen with colour, has a separately available stylus for note taking and highlighting which I love. However reporting those highlights is not a simple as with Kindle, but I found some ways to make use of them. The below works with the Kobo Libra Colour, Kobo Libra 2 and Kobo Clara Colour - so I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t work with others.
In A Text File
- Connect kobo to your device
- Open a file browser and mount the device once connected
- Allow your file browser to see hidden files ( CMD + Shift + . On Mac)
- Go to the hidden folder
.kobo/Kobo - In a text editor open
eReader.conf - In the text file find (or if not present add
[FeatureSettings] - Add a new line
ExportHighlights=true - Save the file and unmount your device from the computer
To export the notes from a book, long press on the book and tap Export Annotations.
When you reconnect your Kobo there will be a new file called Exported Annotations with text files for the exported books. Bear in mind this does not update with new ones, so consider doing this only when they need to be exported.
There are some reports of truncated highlights where not all the content is exported in the text file. This has not happened to me, but please take this into consideration.
Using A Calibre Plugin
When it comes to self management and conversion of e-books, Calibre is king. I have been using it for a while to (cough) manage (cough) my Kindle e-books but it is even more invaluable when using a Kobo device. There is a wide range of plugins available and for this method we will add a new one - namely Annotations by David Forrester.
Head to the preferences panel and click Plugins.
Click Get new plugins and search for Annotations.
This will give you a couple of popups, one is a warning that plugins can contain malware - they are programmes after all. And once installed you will need to restart Calibre.
Once restarted, customise the plugin by clicking the big yellow highlighter in the top bar, and select Customise plugin.
In the next window click the wand icon next to the Comments dropdown and add in the Annotations option. Once done click ok.
Now connect your Kobo device, and once Calibre recognises it, click the highlighter again and select Fetch annotations from connected device. The popup window will allow you to select which books have them available.
These will show in the book details window for ease of viewing, or you can copy and paste them for use elsewhere.
Use Readwise
If you use Readwise, or want a seamless way to sync your highlights, these can be directly added using the standard options. They will sync to the Readwise service and also be accessible from any of your set up export options such as Notion or Obsidian.
However, this will only work for highlights made to Kobo purchased books. This will not work for manually added ePub books or PDFs. There is a solution for this pointed out by Readwise themselves, called October, that grabs these from a connected device - however I have not tested this out myself so cant speak for its usage.
Finished reading: Digital Body Language by Erica Dhawan 📚
Got to admit I skipped whole sections of this book. Some useful points but over all reads like a guide on how to wrap people in cotton wool and stress yourself out doing it.
Received the new Bullet Journal Pocket this morning, all the way from Germany. I’m very impressed with the quality.
There’s a fascinating Arab proverb, “Trust in Allah, but tie your camel,” which serves as a powerful metaphor for the balance between faith and practicality. This adage has lingered in my mind, prompting reflections on how it applies not only to religious faith but to everyday life decisions as well.
In essence, the proverb teaches us that while it’s crucial to have trust—whether in a higher power, the universe, or the intrinsic goodness of life—it’s equally important to not neglect our responsibilities and duties. It suggests a harmonious approach to life, where faith and action go hand in hand. You trust in the larger forces at play, but you also take necessary precautions and actions to safeguard your immediate world.
Consider the scenario of preparing for an important exam. One might pray or hope for success, which is an act of faith. However, this doesn’t replace the need for thorough preparation and study, which represents the act of tying your camel. It’s about not leaving things to chance when you have the capacity to influence the outcome through your actions. We trust lots of things such as individuals to act accordingly to reliance on whole markets to correct themselves, when perhaps we can take action instead.
This proverb also taps into the theme of accountability. It reminds us that while we might put our faith in bigger concepts or future promises, we are still agents in our own lives. We have the power, and thus the responsibility, to take actions that align with our hopes and prayers. Whether it’s as mundane as locking your car or as significant as planning your career path, the message is clear: be proactive.
This proverb offers a grounding thought. It teaches resilience and preparedness, urging us to handle what is within our control diligently, while remaining optimistic about what we can’t control.These words are not just advice for the religious or the spiritual. It’s a universal call to blend optimism with pragmatism, hope with effort, and faith with action. This balanced approach can help us remain both hopeful and effective. It’s a reminder that in the interplay of trust and responsibility, we find the wisdom to manage life’s uncertainties with confidence and grace.
📚 I have almost finished all the Alex Cross books and need another non fiction series to start. Any recommendations?
Finished reading: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter 📚
Finished reading: Deadly Cross by James Patterson 📚
Today was racket sport day for Team Morris.
Lucie was the judge, and she said they were both rubbish!
🏃♂️ Beginning to shake the marathon out my legs with this mornings run
🔗 The Kobo Libra Colour | The Dent
In just a few days the Kobo has made me fall in love with reading again and I’m really pushing myself to do it more when I have short time slots throughout the day.
Picked one up myself yesterday and I’m also really impressed.
One of my most re-read books is Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. I tend to pick it up often and read through some of the passages and often they can tell me something about what is currently happening in my life. A few days ago I happened upon a passage from Book 6.20, where he uses a gymnasium metaphor to deliver a profound insight on handling interpersonal conflicts. It’s fascinating how he draws lessons from the physical to the philosophical.
In the gymnastic exercises suppose that a man has torn thee with his nails, and by dashing against thy head has inflicted a wound. Well, we neither show any signs of vexation, nor are we offended, nor do we suspect him afterwards as a treacherous fellow; and yet we are on our guard against him, not however as an enemy, nor yet with suspicion, but we quietly get out of his way. Something like this let thy behaviour be in all the other parts of life: let us overlook many things in those who are like antagonists in the gymnasium. For it is in our power, as I said, to get out of the way, and to have no suspicion nor hatred.
Imagine being in a gym where accidents happen—maybe a stray elbow here, a bump there. Aurelius notes that in these moments, we don’t hold grudges; we simply acknowledge the mishap as part of the process and remain vigilant without bearing ill will. He suggests taking this approach into our everyday lives, dealing with emotional and social bumps with the same nonchalance. This got me thinking about how often we misinterpret others' intentions. In the close quarters of life, just like in a gym, people might ‘collide’ with us unintentionally. According to Aurelius, we should view these incidents as neutral events, not personal attacks.
He pushes for a stance of strategic engagement rather than avoidance. It’s about recognising potential conflicts and navigating them without emotional disturbance. This stoic advice isn’t about withdrawal but about maintaining inner peace by choosing how we react. By doing so, we avoid the negativity that can cloud our judgment and disturb our tranquility.
Marcus Aurelius teaches us to face life’s inevitable scuffles with resilience and forbearance, just as we would in a gym—no fuss, just moving forward with awareness and preparedness. It’s a lesson in understanding the nature of conflicts and the power of our responses.
If you use any of my plugins for micro.blog or get value from my posts, consider buying me a coffee as it really is appreciated.
I came across an interesting tale about Biosphere 2, a massive scientific experiment in Arizona designed to mimic Earth’s ecosystems. Inside this controlled bubble, trees shot up at a rate that surprised everyone. Initially, this seemed like a win for the scientists—creating perfect conditions for growth. But then, these rapidly growing trees started dying unexpectedly.
The culprit? No wind. Yes, really. In their natural habitats, trees are exposed to wind, which actually helps them grow stronger by forcing them to stabilise and develop robust roots. But in the sheltered life of Biosphere 2, without these natural challenges, the trees lacked the resilience to sustain themselves.
Sometimes, we look at people who seem to be advancing rapidly and wonder about their secret. What we often don’t see is the “shelter” around them—whether that’s privilege, support, or resources—that might be helping them but also potentially weakening them in ways not immediately visible. They’re missing out on the “winds” of challenge that help strengthen and prepare us for the real world.
This whole situation has me thinking about the balance between protection and exposure. How much should we shield ourselves or others from the challenges of life? Are we nurturing resilience or inadvertently fostering fragility? Maybe it’s about finding that sweet spot where we’re supported enough to thrive but still exposed enough to grow strong and resilient. Sometimes, the very things that make us feel safe can hold us back from developing the strength we truly need.
Gone are the days of buying a new phone to be cool on the internet.
I’m now ordering a Kobo so I can read more thanks to @andyn@social.lol and @maique
The weather has been so bad lately that forgot it’s time for bluebells. Time to go walking in the woods!
Managed to get a version of Really Cool Stuff working on micro.blog.
It selects 6 random things from my JSON file of awesome stuff and displays them on the page - I just need to fill my JSON file back up again with great things on the web.
Done some tidying up on the post meta information, and added in a support me button. If anyone gets value from my posts or from the plugins I have developed for micro.blog - a coffee is very much appreciated.
I think I have also worked a better way to display the reply count
Have you ever looked at someone else’s problem and immediately thought you knew the answer? It’s like being an armchair detective during a movie, confident in predicting the next turn of events and sure about what each character should do to avoid pitfalls. From the outside, everything seems obvious, especially when you’re removed from any emotional entanglement. This kind of clarity can make it tempting to think that spotting problems and solving them should be straightforward.
However, when the challenge is yours, clarity often fades, and things aren’t so simple. It’s a lot like asking a toddler to solve for x in an algebra problem—they wouldn’t even know where to begin. Similarly, when we’re in the middle of our own issues, whether they’re related to work, relationships, or personal growth, we can feel just as bewildered.
This difference in perspective, between an outsider and someone directly involved, largely stems from emotional connections. Our feelings can cloud our judgment, making even clear solutions seem obscured and complex decisions difficult to grasp. Being emotionally invested in our problems filters our perceptions and can significantly complicate the decision-making process.
When it is personal there is another layer of complexity. Every decision you make can have significant repercussions, adding pressure and making the ‘correct’ path less obvious. This isn’t just a straightforward task like solving a math equation; it involves navigating emotional landscapes, social dynamics, and sometimes professional risks.
Navigating life’s challenges is thus more about understanding and managing our emotions than simply finding quick fixes. Recognizing our deep involvement in our problems is crucial. It doesn’t necessarily simplify the issues, but it does provide a clearer lens through which to view them. Starting to see our situations with this kind of thoughtful awareness might not immediately solve every problem, but it certainly helps us find our way forward, one step at a time.
Pushed an update to my plugin Search Partial.
You can now add this to any page using a shortcode and don’t have to delve into custom designs.
As I rummaged through my old blog posts recently, I couldn’t help but notice a recurring theme: Twitter. Surprisingly, amid the clutter of musings and reflections, Twitter stood out as a significant part of my online presence. This got me thinking: What if Twitter had been designed as a full-fledged blogging platform from the get-go?
Throughout my blogging adventures, Twitter was always there—whether I was sharing intriguing discoveries, engaging with like-minded individuals, or contemplating its potential for growth. Yet, amid the chaos of tweet storms and fleeting thoughts, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Twitter missed a golden opportunity by not embracing its potential as a blogging platform.
Picture this: a platform where you could share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences without the constraints of character limits or fragmented threads. A space where content could be effortlessly published and shared with your audience, regardless of its length or format. That’s the essence of what Twitter should have been—a unified hub for expression and interaction.
Instead of hopping between platforms to consume different types of content, users could have enjoyed a seamless experience within Twitter itself. Whether you wanted to read thought-provoking essays, peruse captivating visuals, or watch engaging videos, everything would be conveniently housed under one roof. No more juggling between YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter to cater to your browsing needs.
While platforms like ActivityPub and Mastodon have made strides towards this vision, there’s still a gap that needs to be bridged. Integrating diverse content types within a single platform requires careful curation and a seamless user experience—a challenge that remains unresolved for many. However, with innovations like Meta’s Threads, there’s hope for a more cohesive and comprehensive social media ecosystem.
Of course, achieving the ideal “everything platform” requires more than just technical prowess—it demands a deep understanding of user behaviour and preferences. Perhaps the key lies in a collaborative effort, drawing upon the collective wisdom of developers, designers, and users alike. In hindsight, Twitter’s journey could have taken a different trajectory—one where it emerged not just as a microblogging platform, but as a versatile and all-encompassing space for expression.
Thinking of getting a tattoo to commemorate my marathon run and came accross Psalm 26:2.
Test me lord and try me, examine my heart and my mind.
Very apt.
Does anyone make a good email app thats not just for gmail?
I am suck in a circle of: “Oh that looks like what I need.” Scour website for information and find nothing. Download “Oh great, another front for gmail”
Charlie is looking smart in his summer hair cut
I managed to leave my Kindle Paperwhite in London (although the hotel claims I didn’t).
I am not sure if to buy another one or look for something else.
Cory Dransfeldt writing about Data ownership and agency:
I control that data, it sits on infrastructure I manage, it’s in a format I understand and I get the responsibility (or fun — let’s go with that) of presenting it. I get agency and that agency is accompanied by the burden of maintenance, presentation and action. Convenience in exchange for control.
As usual, Cory’s take is measured, accurate, and raises some interesting points on the ownership of your data online. Many people have begun to think about these things now that the USA is finally preparing legislation on privacy and personal data. Of course, that isn’t a worry for me, but this short statement prodded at something I was thinking about when moving my blog around in the last few weeks.
I really want to have an 11ty blog and keep all of my data to myself. I can then pull in whatever it is I want from around the web and display it in whichever way I choose. Thankfully, I am skilled enough to write a bit of code and get things going. It makes the most sense for me, but I just can’t be bothered. I want to be able to post easily, post all sorts of things, and not have to worry about a thing - in exchange for that, I give up control.
Don’t get me wrong, I trust Manton and micro.blog more than any other platform; this is more control of how I can do things and, in some cases, what I can do. In exchange for being able to post easily and not have to deal with rebuild times and server things - my host calls the shots now. This will range from pretty much unlimited ability on platforms like WordPress to locked-down services like Hey World. Whoever it is you choose, as Cory writes, you get “Convenience in exchange for control”.
A couple of days after completing the London Marathon, I’ve had only a little time to process the experience. Not only is it an assault on your body, but also on your mind and senses for hours on end. I’m very thankful to those who have supported me through sponsorship, donations, or just words of encouragement. It was hard to get to the start line, but if you know me, then you will already know that nothing would have kept me from reaching the end.
Unfortunately, there were people who didn’t make it, including some very ill individuals who needed urgent medical attention, and I really hope they are okay. So this is nothing negative toward those who needed to pull out, but it’s only when you take on these kinds of challenges that you realise just how much mental power it takes. I honestly think that just about anyone, given enough time, can physically push themselves, but it’s the mental toughness that gets you to that point.
For much of the run, your whole body is screaming at you to stop. It takes real energy to push that “monkey brain” out of the way and just keep going. I hadn’t realised how much effort this takes until I couldn’t even concentrate enough to order food later that day. I had to keep turning to my wife and asking her to do things. As bizarre as that sounds, it’s the truth; I was done. After the stress of training, raising money, traveling to London, getting to the start line, and everything else. As soon as I crossed the finish line, my brain just shut down for a bit.
The biggest message I get is congratulations on completing the marathon. It’s true, as my grandad would say, that wild horses couldn’t have kept me away from the finish line, but it still took a deep effort to get there—and I owe a lot of it to the people who read my blog and follow me on social media. Thank you. Honestly. You all mean a lot to me.
🏃♂️ Well. I did it!
Thank you to all those that sponsored my London Marathon. I had a great time and raised almost £2500 for a charity very close to my heart.
Does the Glass sharing no longer work on micro.blog?
✴️ UI / UX People
I’m working on some UX improvements for an app login screen. One of the things I want to improve is the password requirement description.
Let’s hive mind some alternatives to ‘special character’.
Over the last few months, it has been challenging to balance my interests and focus. Indeed, I have wasted a lot of time moving things around and messing with my websites, but along with this I have found it difficult to do more than one ‘thing’ at a time. There’s something to be said about putting all your effort one way, but I enjoy lots of different creative things and don’t like neglecting other areas.
Take my blog writing for example. It comes in waves of inspiration and I can post lots of them for a few days straight, perhaps a few weeks if I am lucky, and then it dries up again. This usually co-insides with me doing something else, like developing things for my blog. Or perhaps spending some time taking photos. It appears that my brain cant be creative in more ways than one!
I decided a break away from social media was best for me, and along with it came numerous blog posts because it was my only outlet. Since posting more to micro.blog I have developed three plugins and so writing stopped almost all together (unless readme files count). This week I went to London and took plenty of photos, so I have no doubt that writing will take a back seat again for a while.
It is as if something triggers in my brain and I can only see things one way for a while. When I am writing, my camera sits there gathering dust. Should I try to develop anything in that time, it often doesn’t go very well, and I have to push through it. The main thing I want to keep doing is posting to my blog, whilst trying to find a way to balance my varied interests, but currently it’s hard.
Sometimes the light hits just right
Two of my favorites from yesterdays short trip to London
Getting frustrated with micro.blog hosting again.
Updated both photos .html layout designs and neither of them affect the photos page on my blog. 🤷♂️
I suppose I’m actually going to have to run this thing arn’t I
Did I imagine AI alt text in Mimi uploader, or has it been removed?
Bummer if so, it was so helpful.
Finished reading: Triple Cross by James Patterson 📚
Where do people share their photos nower days? Instagram is a shopping channel.
Love visiting The Bank Of England
Display your omg.lol Statuslog on a micro.blog page.
Set Up
Install the plugin from the official plugin page, or from Github by clicking design, edit theme, and then add new plugin. This will be available as an official plugin, but the submit page is currently broken.
Call the plugin anything you wish, copy in the URL from the Github page, and click Add Plugin.
Add Shortcode
Add the shortcode to the page you wish this to show on, for example, I have placed this on my home page but you could do this wherever you like.
Simply add the statuslog shortcode to your page wherever you want the updates to appear. I cannot put the shortcode here, even in a code block because micro.blog renders this! For a copy and past option, head to Github.
Configuration
You must change the account name in the plugin configuration to your own, otherwise Adams statues, as great as they are, will appear on your page! Whilst you are there you can choose how many statuses you want to appear on the page.
Styling
There is absolutely no styling applied to the div elements placed on the page. This is to give you the most choice possible for how it looks. In my example screenshot above I have some very simple flexbox styling as shown below.
#omg_statuslog {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
gap: 20px;
font-size: 80%;
}
#omg_statuslog > div:nth-child(1) {
background: blue;
border-radius: 11px;
color: white;
}
#omg_statuslog > div {
display: flex;
justify-content: space-between;
padding: 10px;
flex-direction: row;
flex-wrap: nowrap;
gap: 20px
}
#omg_statuslog .status_emoji {
font-size: 50px;
}
#omg_statuslog .status_content {
flex: 80%;
}
Considerations
This plugin uses on page javascript so there are a few things to bear in mind.
- it takes a few seconds to fetch the data from the API and display this on the page
- if a browser is setup to blog javascript then nothing will appear on the page.
Credits
Thanks to Adam for creating such a great service in omg.lol. The statuslog is just a small part of the service, check it out here.
This plugin allows you to display how many replies your micro.blog posts have - it’s a vanity metric, nothing more.
SetUp
You can install the plugin from the plugins page, or feel free to get it from Github by clicking design, edit theme, and then add new plugin.
Call the plugin anything you wish, copy in the URL from the Github page, and click Add Plugin.
Add Partial
Add the partial to the place you wish this to show, for example this may go in the meta information for the post. This can be used in a single post, or in a loop of posts. Each reply count is place in a unique div element so feel free to experiment.
Simply add { partial "replycount.html" . }} to your page and the number of replies to that specific post will appear.
Styling
You can style the block however you like using the class replies. The count number itself sits inside an inline-block class reply_count.
Config
To aid styling you can add in your own emoji to appear before the number, as well as your own text to appear afterwards. If thats not your thing then either options can be toggled on/off in the plugin settings.
Credits
Thanks to Manton for creating micro.blog and for making the API so well rounded and easy to interact with.
My first plugin for micro.blog is available now - Search Partial
It enables you to add search to any page.
In my work to recreate my 11ty blog on micro.blog I wanted a better search experience for readers, and also myself when searching for posts to link to. Manton did a great job with his search page plugin, so I adapted this to be able to appear on any page.
This plugin for micro.blog will allow you to add a search bar to any page you wish.
Set Up
This plugin is available from the micro.blog plugin page, or feel free to install it from Github by clicking design, edit theme, and then add new plugin.
Call the plugin anything you wish, copy in the URL from the Github page, and click Add Plugin.
Add Partial
Add the partial to the page you wish this to show on, for example, I have placed this on my home page but you could do this wherever you like.
Simply add {{ partial “search.html” . }} to your page and the search bar will show as 100% width of the element it is placed in.
When searching, an HTML element will appear and show the results, linking to pages that contain the searched for words.
Customise Search
You can customise the number of results shown on your page by heading into plugin options and changing the default from 5.
Styling
The styling of the search bar will be depend on your theme, I have added in some basic styling as follows.
.field {
width: 100%;
height: 34px;
border: 2px solid #eee;
padding-left: 10px;
margin-top: 20px;
margin-bottom: 20px;
border-radius: 11px;
}
#list_results {
padding: 2rem;
border-radius: 11px;
box-shadow: rgba(60, 64, 67, 0.3) 0px 1px 2px 0px, rgba(60, 64, 67, 0.15) 0px 1px 3px 1px;
}
.field is the search box itself.
#list_results is the results box that only shows when search results are found.
Credits
The basis of this plugin came from Manton search page plugin.
A few worth putting in the timeline from Skegness
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! It might have looked warm but the wind was really cold, but we went over to see some family and I wondered around with my Richo GRiiix as usual.
It was a mere few weeks ago when returning from a run that I thought I’d recovered myself. I felt renewed, full of energy and positivity, as I did before all these issues started. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that all the stress and strain left by personal issues seemed to have gone, and the world seemed right again.
Perhaps it is the fact I am reading The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, but I have begun to realise why I feel much better. I have had some stress and hardship to overcome in the form of my marathon training, and it has given me some clarity. Every Saturday for far too long, I’ve had long runs of increasing mileage to get through that have filled me with dread. I’ve put a brave face on them, but some have been seriously tough and left my questioning my ability to finish. Yet, after finishing them, and perhaps after my muscles have calmed down a bit, I feel wonderful.
I am reminded of a Joe Rogan comment when asked about all the controversy has faced in COVID-19 (and rightly so) and if it caused him stress. When he endures ‘torture sessions’ in his workouts it makes enduring other things much easier. Reading Michael Easter’s book convinced me he’s dead right. When I’ve slogged away for more than 3 hours running, the rest of my day seems a doddle in comparison. Even beforehand, I’m focused on the upcoming stress of the run that everything else pales in comparison, and that gives me focus.
In my life I have already endured quite a few things both personal and family related, but I also realise that going for a run or doing something hard doesn’t solve the stresses of those less fortunate. This is more an observation of the things that improve my mental health and outlook on life. It may work for you, too. There’s something about doing something taxing, and getting to the end, that fills the soul.
Reading my blog you would think I have all my life in order. When the reality is I am a professional hypocrite.
I am really good and giving out advice. With enough prep time I could even convince you I know what I am talking about.
What’s lacking is my distinct inability to heed my words.
The bluebells are out
Charlie Warzel with an interesting thread on Threads:
the bigger thing is it touches on a gut feeling we all have: so much has changed technologically in a short amt of time! We know this connectivity is working on us, but it’s challenging to pin down exactly how.
This thread was linked by this week’s Platformer that discusses the recent book by Jonathan Haidt on the links between anxiety and social media. Something I wrote about in passing a few days ago because it seems to be the talk of the media industry at the moment.
Casey Newton interviewed Haidt on Hardfork a few weeks ago and followed up with some rebuttals the following episode. I thought the interview came across very well, but it’s important to never take those spouting research on podcasts at face value. Science isn’t always as straightforward as it can be presented as, especially when so many are covered in such a little time.
Whoever you listen to regarding the research, Charlie rightly points that we all have this gut feeling that social media isn’t good for us. If you take a break from scrolling, even for a short period of time, you start to feel better. Our brains are simply not made for the sensory overload. It’s just a question of how much and what the effects actually are—something that may never be completely proven.
Sure, you can make the web boring, and it’s great for a bit. I experience renewed concentration levels and suddenly gain more inspiration for blog posts. There comes a point when you wonder why you ever use the social web, but it becomes apparent a little later on. There’s little point if you get nothing back.
The rather depressing fact is, much of what I do online is because I like interacting with other people. As I wrote about a few days ago, I have zero friends and rely heavily on platforms to provide this for me. More than this, though, is my love of getting replies. In many ways, the reason I take pictures and write blog posts is for other people’s reactions, and not hearing them sucks.
That is not the sole reason, but it’s a big part of it. A blog without a way for people to reply easily is a bit of a downer. I could start tracking analytics and worry about page views, etc. Perhaps look at a comments section or reply by email. These are all great ideas, but the easiest thing to do is share the things I do online. Unfortunately, I have begun to realise that Micro.blog may be the best way to achieve this by being able to share once and post to different places.
Doh!
There is a tendency for me to not publish many of the photos I take. A high proportion of them end up in the bin, and many others just sit doing nothing in my Lightroom catalogue. I constantly compare the results of my photos to other people that I see online and the conclusion more often than not is that mine or boring and don’t offer anything. With my break away from seeing other peoples work I made the decision to show the boring photos I took the other day just because I can.
A short trip to Nottingham shopping and three images taken.
Comparison is the theft of all joy right.
Matt Birchler in his semi response to the latest Vergecast on Apple:
What this means in practice is that the thing all card issuers want is transaction counts and volumes to be as high as possible. You don’t do that by locking your card to your own wallet, you do it by making it an easy choice for consumers to pick you.
Of course, Matt is correct. If anyone knows about payment matters, it’s Matt. However, I think this is only part of the story. My Apple Wallet contains more than payment cards, and I foresee this becoming an issue when (rather than if) the EU forces Apple to open things up.
Currently, my Apple Wallet holds a variety of items that I can access with a tap: a few loyalty cards, my Arsenal Football tickets (they are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen), and also train tickets for my upcoming trip to London. There’s no hassle with different apps, printing things out, or searching through emails to find what I need; it’s all there, ready for me. This utility, I envision, will be decimated the moment everyone can produce a ‘wallet’ for my iPhone.
Suddenly, I’ll need an LNER wallet to access my train tickets, a separate app for all my loyalty cards, and my Arsenal tickets will return to the app from which they came. The simple reason is that everyone wants you in their app. As Matt pointed out in his post, their ‘wallet’ becomes a ‘halo’ product. Not one that directly generates income, although it could, but one that markets to you every time you open the app to retrieve your tickets or cards. We know this because you only have to look at Android as an example.
Every time I want to test a new Samsung phone, I endure the same frustrating experience. My bank, Barclays, doesn’t support Samsung Pay. They were one of the last to add Apple Pay, and for a long time didn’t support anything else. They tried instead to push their own payment app on Android users with a terrible experience. The great thing about Android is that I can download Google Pay and use that instead, but it doesn’t work as seamlessly as the default app. Samsung also works very hard not to tell me I can use another payment app, and as a result, most users go without.
This is because Samsung doesn’t want to inform users they can switch. They want to be able to sell you things in the wallet app: a new phone, perhaps a card that will work with Samsung Pay, or some accessories. By getting users into your app, you can generate revenue, and that’s important to all parties involved in the process. I think it’s true that most retailers won’t care, but many service providers will; they will want to cut out the 0.15% that Apple receives, and also sell you all their other wares while they’re at it.
I often catch myself in a relentless loop of introspection, pondering over the endless whys of my thoughts and actions. This internal dialogue leads me down a path where I’m labeled by some as overly anxious or neurotic, fixated on the trivial. Yet, there are those who share this penchant for self-questioning, albeit more quietly, to avoid seeming eccentric.
This habit of constant reflection, I’ve realised, is not just a quirk but a pathway to deeper self-understanding. It aligns with the Stoic philosophy I admire, particularly Socrates' idea that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” By scrutinising my motives and actions, I strive to ensure they are in harmony with my values and beliefs, not merely a passive existence.
However, life in 2024 complicates this introspection with its demand for an online presence. Without real-life friends and unable to disconnect from social media, I’m caught in a dual struggle. This digital entanglement, a reflection of my inability to sever ties with social media, remains a challenge despite numerous attempts to overcome it.
The advice I often encounter is to simply “not worry about it” yet this feels dismissive of the underlying issues. It overlooks the complexity of seeking understanding and personal growth in a world where online and offline lives are increasingly intertwined. This journey is about more than just worrying; it’s about navigating the nuances of solitude and connection in the digital age, striving for a life that truly reflects who I am.
It has been approximately three days since I began craving a step back from the web, choosing to remove Mastodon from my life to concentrate on being more present in the world and working more deeply than I have in a long time. I won’t go into the reasons, but it is safe to say the benefits are already starting to show themselves, as well as the downsides.
Curiously, this isn’t the first time I have experienced this strange phenomenon. Back in 2022, when I first deactivated Twitter and before I adopted Mastodon, I went through a stage of picking up my phone with nothing to do with it, only to place it back down again. I found myself opening new tabs and typing in social.lol before realising there was no need to go there anymore, so I clicked the x a few seconds later. For all the good effects that this has had on me—and they are great—I do feel as isolated as I did back then due to low levels of interaction.
There is no solution to these feelings because there is nothing to solve. There is nothing wrong with being bored, and if it motivates me to do something more constructive instead, then all the better. It just would be nice to be able to use social media without wasting loads of my time on it. An issue that is entirely mine; I can’t even blame the algorithm with Mastodon. I just have a personality that is attracted to that kind of stuff.
Om Malik, with a surprisingly popular, if reductive, take on social media:
If our parents were not around, we saw a lot of movies (on VCRs) or binged on television. When cable came around, it was all MTV all the time. Today, the same kids are on the ‘medium’ of their generation – the Internet and its many forms.
Combined with another post, Om gave a very measured and often cited summation of thoughts on the modern social web. Mainly predicting a coming demise in its appeal, and taking an approach that can only be summarised as “the kids are alright.” In fact, between these two articles, Om falls onto both sides of the social media argument that has recently raised its head again following Jonathan Haidt’s book.
It is worth noting that these posts are from 2023, and opinions could have changed in that time, but Matter surfaced this highlight today, and it seemed very appropriate. This could be my cognitive bias, or it could be the smartphone algorithm tailoring the content to keep me engaged - but, unlike social platforms, there’s no advantage for Matter to keep me engaged with their platform.
This is where the comparison of all the historical things that ‘educated’ kids in the past falls down. You cannot, in good faith, point to radio, television, MTV, films, or your old Super Nintendo as worthy comparisons to spending hours a day on modern social platforms. If you allow me to make a sweeping generalisation, I don’t expect anyone to look back on their childhood wasted on TikTok with the same fondness that many adults look back on their childhood follies now.
There were indeed countless hours wasted on activities in decades gone by, but not many of them (none?) were developed solely to keep you engaged with them to the detriment of the world around you. No doubt, some people wasted an unhealthy amount of time playing games or consuming other passive entertainment in their youth, but nothing compares to today’s epidemic.
There’s a tendency for some to write this off as the latest moral panic. Yet, the level of research that suggests strong links to mental health issues and social media, or the sheer amount of anecdotal evidence pointing to the same idea, is unparalleled. I could point to the research presented in Jordan’s book “The Anxious Generation,” but that has already been dismissed as cherry-picking by people looking to appraise the ideas presented. However, you simply have to make a cursory search for the science, and things become clear.
The lies presented by these platforms to connect people and make the world closer together, combined with the very real benefits of the web, seem to cloud people’s opinions. Yet, you can somewhat understand the pushback. We don’t like admitting that we have lost control and can be manipulated so easily, and it’s fairly easy to trot out users that advocate for the use of social media from their various positive experiences. It can be hard to accept that something that promised so much and ended up having a negative effect on the world has been allowed to happen. The people that built these things designed them from start to finish to disrupt and dominate our minds, and for some people, that is too much to take in.
Yet with all this said, there’s also a certain amount of responsibility we all must take. I am one for downgrading my phone or making myself go without things to curb my usage, but still firmly believe that is it our fault too. The algorithm doesn’t make you do anything you don’t want to, and it’s fairly easy to break free with a little will power.
I’ve realised I need a break from the digital world. Not a complete detachment—after all, avoiding the web entirely is nearly impossible—but I must recalibrate how I’m spending my time online. Since 2019, after moving on from Twitter, I haven’t really found my footing. Mastodon, while offering a different platform, often serves as a diversion from engaging with the world directly.
Hence, I’ve decided to step back for a while. This decision isn’t for attention or to make a statement; it’s more like setting a milestone for myself, a reminder of this moment in time. I’ve taken similar pauses before and likely will again. However, I rarely evaluate whether these breaks truly make a difference in my life.
Maybe the pressures of life are just becoming too overwhelming, and a short hiatus will rejuvenate me. Yet, at this moment, I can’t foresee a quick return. Instagram remains the only social platform I’m holding onto, despite my desire to leave it behind as well. I haven’t found a suitable alternative for sharing my photographs. With plans to capture more everyday moments using my GRiiix, perhaps my blog will become the primary outlet for these expressions.
This feels like a mid-life crisis, as I struggle to understand where I, a 40-year-old, fit into the online world. The answer seems to be “everywhere and nowhere.” The connections I made on Twitter in my late 20s haven’t been replicated elsewhere, despite my efforts on platforms like micro.blog and Mastodon. Currently, there’s a lot I’m unsure about. Yet, one thing remains clear: I will continue to write and share my thoughts on my blog, I hope you follow along.
Following my previous post, where I discussed how certain tasks seem too easy, it’s equally important to identify opportunities to simplify our lives for the better. When tackling any task, whether mundane or complex, the desire to complete it must surpass the energy required. This includes considering the task’s relevance and potential outcomes.
However, this might sound a bit redundant, so let’s revisit the two examples from my last post: getting out of bed to perform daily routines and responding to social media posts. Your motivation to leave the comfort of your bed can fluctuate significantly, influenced by various factors such as work obligations, caring for dependents, and maintaining personal routines. These motivations drive us to complete necessary daily tasks with minimal fuss.
Naturally, it’s more comfortable to stay in bed, but it’s also straightforward to get up and start your day. On an individual level, though the effort required is low and the motivation high, the significance of the outcomes in your life is profound. Neglecting daily responsibilities can lead to immediate and noticeable consequences.
Now, let’s consider responding to a social media post. As previously mentioned, this task is overly simple, allowing users to quickly tap a button and share their thoughts with minimal effort. I believe adding complexity to this process, such as requiring a more thoughtful response posted on one’s blog, could balance the effort with the desire to engage. While it might not eliminate all frivolous responses, it could significantly reduce them.
The primary motivation behind this post is my experience with blogging. I’ve made the process more complex than necessary. While Eleventy (11ty) suits my learning style and offers great flexibility, publishing content is not as straightforward as platforms like WordPress or micro.blog. This complexity reduces my posting frequency since I now require significant motivation to write and publish, leading to many potential posts remaining in Apple Notes.
It’s disappointing, but perhaps this added complexity is necessary.
The modern world is great. We live in a time that is the safest in known history. The healthcare available is phenomenal, and there is a plethora of technology available cheaply to make our lives easier. Yet, in many respects, I sometimes think that it’s almost too easy.
I am not saying I want to go back to times where I had to worry about ever returning from a walk in the countryside. However, there is something about the way that technology, and even at times the world, allows us to do things, or get away with not doing things. I could, if I chose to do so, stay here, sitting on my couch for days on end and barely move.
I can have food delivered, be entertained by watching pixels move around on the screen, and even pretend I’m socialising by texting some friends. With the internet at my fingertips, I could do any number of things, strap a screen to my face, and even convince myself I am outside, whenever I choose. I can exist here in a bubble, yet barely exist at all.
What do I have to complain about, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? - Marcus Aurelius
I don’t, of course, because that’s not in my nature to do so. Some people would say I barely sit still, but my predilection for action doesn’t allow me to stay in my bubble for very long. That doesn’t mean I don’t succumb to the temptations of easiness. It’s easy to waste time scrolling through social media, easy to look up things instead of working them out, and far too easy to comment on other people’s experiences.
I have lost count of the times I have stopped short of replying to someone on social media. Or perhaps deleted the post a few moments after hitting send, because it’s just too easy to get involved. To know things about people living thousands of miles away, to take in the information they are sharing, and to make your own thoughts known. That’s the great thing about social media, the ability to share and debate, but I am of the opinion that it’s too easy to reply.
In the excellent book Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari talks about gossip and storytelling being important for our human development. That might be the case, that my sassy replies are somehow a result of our human nature to survive - but they don’t do me nor others any good. It’s too easy for me to throw in my two cents and upset everyone, including myself. There is no friction between seeing a post and hitting reply, when some barriers would do us all good.
A little over two years ago, I first started experiencing weird happenings. I would grab my laptop, sit on the couch or at my desk ready to write a blog post, and a little while later, I would catch myself answering work emails or updating things on our website. Without realising it, I had stopped writing, if I even started at all, and had begun working full-on when I should have been switched off. At that time, I tried to split things up; it never worked, and I am back to feeling frustrated.
I have one computer for everything. At this point, it’s a 16" M3 MacBook Pro, provided by my company, and for work things, I wouldn’t have it any other way. My hybrid setup means I can work at home from my desk and monitor, I can take it with me to my office, or be just as happy working in a coffee shop. The issues only arise when I want to do some personal things, and my work things are always right in front of my face.
The internal debate on using an iPad for my ‘creative’ work was sparked last time by Josh Ginter, but if I am honest, I don’t want to open that can of worms again. I do have an 11" iPad that very rarely sees any use, and a few iPadOS updates later, it sits in exactly the same place it always has. However, I noted Matt Birchler missing his iPad a few days ago, and he has an important point to consider.
I think the iPad Pro might subconsciously give me unrealistic expectations for how much I need to get out of the iPad.
When you spend as much as a laptop on an iPad Pro with a keyboard and pencil like Apple tells you to, it gives you a lot of false expectations. As a user, you now have to justify all that expense by seeing a return, and the iPad just isn’t up to the job. I can do all the things I need to do with writing and photography on an iPad, but I have to spend my time hacking my way there. Which is fine until Apple breaks something, and I’m back to square one.
Which leads me on to my second point, really. In many ways, my iPhone is my ‘creative computer.’ I write a lot of my blog posts on it, nearly always edit photos on it, and Apple seems to take more care with the OS, so things rarely break. You may consider iPadOS and iOS one and the same; however, there have been many instances where the shortcuts my business relies on have broken on an iPad yet continue to work on iOS.
This feeling of relying on my phone doesn’t fill me with confidence. If you’ve read more than one of my posts, you will know I yearn for a smartphone-free life. Yet, I feel content in the fact that it fulfils an important role in my life—it costs about as much as an iPad Pro, so it should! This post didn’t start off as a way to justify my iPhone. I’ve tried to do that before, but more of an appreciation of the work it does for me. It’s easy to be down on using your smartphone, and you should be aware of it, but users aren’t always scrolling through social media. They just might be doing their work.
Finished reading: The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition by Norman, Donald A. 📚
When I read philosophy, it nearly always gets me thinking about technology. Not because I am obsessed with it, or that it occupies all of my thoughts, but because I don’t really have any other vices to solve. I mean, I probably do, but my usage of technology is one of the only things I seek a solution for. Which usually means I moan about it on my blog, or I shut myself off from it. Which is completely the wrong approach.
Show us these things, so we can see that you truly have learned from the philosophers ~ Epictetus, Discourses 3.21.5-6
When Epictetus writes ‘show us these things,’ he means the rest of your life. He refers to eating, drinking, suffering abuse, having children, all of the things that you expect to fill your life with. Only amongst all of these ‘normal’ things will you really show your true values and morals. You, and those around you, will be able to judge if your values are true only with, and against, action.
It is easy to be a virtuous man if you shut yourself off from the world. Never having temptation nor the opportunity to test yourself. The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, came from the riches of royal parents and was content with nothing. Jesus walked with sinners, thieves, and prostitutes, yet knew himself. The list of people that became great whilst living in the world is endless, yet the temptation to shut out everything is a powerful one. The problem becomes when your outlook on the world is never tested, they are never hardened or broken by the world.
How does this relate to technology, you might be wondering? Well, this all boils down to my constant desire to remove it from my life. I don’t want a smartphone, yet I need one. I don’t want to use social media much, yet it brings me much needed interaction. I am still walking the path to self-discovery and, as I have written about before, the knee-jerk reaction is to remove all of the things that I use, get a smaller phone, or a dumb phone and wait for the changes to happen.
Yet they never do. Because the fix is not removing the desire; it is ensuring you no longer desire it. I can happily sit in a pub surrounded by drunk people, and a drop will not pass my lips - because the desire has been removed from my life. I could take an entire busload of people to McDonald’s and not order a thing, but take me to a shop selling technology and my cup may very well overflow. When I can sit and watch an Apple keynote and not order a thing, that will be peace, my friends.
Mr Mobile review of a product I had my eye on for meeting notes, the Plaud Note:
Finally, there’s the question you really have to ask with any product like this. What company am I entrusting with these potentially sensitive recordings? Well, answering that led me down a fascinating rabbit hole into the world of so called registered agents, which are essentially companies that allow certain types of businesses to operate by giving them a physical address for legal purposes…in Wyoming, registered agents don’t seem to need to do any kind of vetting of the companies they represent.
This was not the way I expected the review to end, but it raised an interesting point. There is no claim of anything fishy going on with Plaid, but things like this are why I really love Michael’s reviews. He thinks deeper than most people would about a product that receives masses of our own, and other people’s, data.
Of course, he also raises this about the dozens of phones we do the same with, but this company in question is a bit of an enigma. Of course, if you want to achieve the same result, the alternative is to hand this data to Google or (Not so) OpenAI; however, I think I trust them more.
The type of data I would hand over using the Plaud Note would be personally and business sensitive, and I don’t think anyone should be doing this without knowing exactly who is processing it. With an endless sea of data brokers, that might not be 100% possible, but not knowing who the OEM is in the first place, hard pass from me.
Finished reading: 10% Happier by Dan Harris 📚
Matt Birchler, writing about the technology used in wristbands at concerts:
Whenever a company says, “We’re using AI to enhance our product,” ask them for specifics. Often, it’s either complete nonsense or something so minor that it’s essentially doing nothing. It’s not always the case, but I think you’d be surprised how much “AI” is mentioned in product marketing as nothing more than a marketing tool to look modern.
The piece linked by Matt is incredibly interesting, but this is the part that resonated with me and confirmed what I’ve suspected for a while. Now that everything is marketed as having AI, I am more convinced than ever that hardly anything actually utilises any type of AI. I’ve seen companies make claims about their products that amount to nothing more than a bunch of IF statements in their code.
I mean, sure, that’s essentially what generative AI is if you zoom out enough and reduce it to its simplest structure, but a significant portion of these products marketed as using AI absolutely do not use AI in the generally accepted sense.
There’s also a deeper, more fascinating shift in our collective psychology occurring. The assumption that even fairly simple gadgets are advanced electronics is a downstream result of all the marketing hype. I am often amazed by what people attribute to the extraordinary, which could be explained quite simply. The wizardry and witchcraft that once filled the gaps in our understanding are now labeled as AI, when in reality, hardly any intelligence is involved at all.
Rex Barrett writing about his ongoing content diet:
… Filling my time with these junk apps is alluring, and I feel good when using them, but I want to find content that takes me somewhere. Ultimately, I don’t want to look back and see hours blocks of time squandered on things I’ll not even remember in a day or two.
My brain goes through these cycles of needing to back away from the web completely, to diving in constantly. It often coincides with bouts of low mental health and other issues, and much like binge eating it is a comping mechanism to distract me from other things.
In many ways I know that snacking on the internet is bad for me, but at the same time I enjoy using it. Overtime I have built up an intolerance to shameless showboating, attention seeking and needless hyperbole which I why I tend to steer clear of Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and similar platforms in favour of decentralised mediums (namely Mastodon). With non algorithmic timelines these things are kept to a minimum and as such as much better for me.
Cory Dransfeldt has great posts about AI, and this one is no exception. Of course, he’s right in his stance on AI-generated images, but as with everything, I don’t find the conclusion so simple.
The images it generates are, at best, a polished regression to the mean. If you want custom art, pay an artist.
As I have covered before, my thoughts on generative AI are mixed. While I understand many of the issues people have with it, I can’t find the same motivation. I use it many times a day to help with tasks that would have taken me much longer; it helps me out with code issues I have, and I also use it to generate images for my blog posts. While I don’t do this a lot, these generated images are a replacement for using stock images. Photos from places like Unsplash are not uncommon to see on the web, pushed by platforms like Ghost and WordPress, and these do not generate any income for artists either.
I would love to have the money to pay an artist to produce images for my blog, but this is not viable, which I am sure is the case for many people. Generative AI just helps me out now and again to make my posts a little more appealing. That is not to say I don’t take onboard the ethical issues; my use of these images has plummeted in the last few months due to this, and in many instances where I would have used an image in the past, I just publish the post with text.
There should be a safe middle ground to cater to these ethical conundrums, as there should be for stopping AI from hoovering up your data - but I just don’t see one happening.
Finished reading: Cross the Line by James Patterson 📚
One of the first sections I added to my new blog is a reading page. I adore reading, and if I’m not reading, I am often pondering over the things I have read. It’s an obsession, but one I happily embrace. The only problem with my need to track these activities is the standard at which I consider something as read.
There’s been debate online about the distinction between reading a book and ‘reading’ an audiobook. I don’t wish to ignite that discussion now, so I’ll steer clear of it due to my aversion to audiobooks. Despite trying them several times and spending considerable money on them (why are they so expensive?), my brain just doesn’t absorb the information as effectively as it does with reading.
My dilemma isn’t with that particular hot topic; it’s more about the quantity of the book consumed. In recent years, I’ve persevered through books I’d rather not have wasted time on (looking at you, Feel Good Productivity) but did so to finish them. Not because of the vain metrics I set for my reading tally, but simply because I feel I need to. Did I really read a book if I only got halfway through it?
If I did read it, is there a threshold for progress I need to reach? I certainly grasped the point of some books long before the halfway mark. My Kindle history is littered with lengthy books that could have been blog posts, and I’m starting to ponder the wasted time. When you’re 40, life definitely is too short for bad books. So, perhaps I should start abandoning them earlier when I’m confident I’ve understood the gist.
This raises the question: Did I read a book if I can summarise it? If I skipped the book entirely and opted for Cliff Notes, does that count as reading? Following my rationale above, it could be the case. I’m not suddenly going to hack my reading and get AI to summarise them for me - but I might consider it for some dull books.
If the end result is the same, there’s no argument, barring the very real benefits of actually reading the book. Reading a book is quite different from knowing what the book is about. There’s something wonderful about understanding the author and the origin of their words. Experiencing the journey in a well-paced process, rather than being bombarded with a brief summary.
However, this only really applies to good books. Enduring bad ones rarely benefits me, except for the occasional headache, so the cycle continues. Other than realising that I should abandon some books sooner, I haven’t really reached a conclusion in this post. Much like the bad books I’m discussing.
I wrote a few days ago about my personal take on AI being trained on my writing. Although I expected much more anger, hence the rather long block at the bottom, I am happy to see some nice responses and some pushback on the ideas. It sparked several emails, a few text messages, and one very well-thought-through response post.
Erlend on Mastodon raised a very good point when considering other people’s choices:
the way it’s been now, those who would like to choose differently than us, don’t get that opportunity. And I find that problematic.
Which is a very good point. My post was a very personal response to the swirling emotions on this topic, and I had considered other people’s websites. Everyone should, of course, have the choice of whether their data is used or not. Something that isn’t a revolutionary idea, but one that seems to cause issues being enforced on the internet. The EU is making the most, if sometimes misguided, progress on this front with GDPR and the wider DMA.
I particularly enjoyed David Pierce writing and talking about robots.txt. The long-time effort to stop bots from crawling your website, which of course is no more than a handshake agreement with no legal standing - and therefore is of very little use. This leads me to think there may be some way to do it in the future, but I always come back to my original point.
Of course, you should have a choice, and the ability to block what is done with the things you post online, but it takes effort to lock them away if you so wish. Make your account private and put your posts behind a paywall; that should do it. However, your ‘reach’ will be extremely limited, and you might not get the result you want. Users have always been able to copy and paste your words, right-click and save your images; this is just the way it is, and it all comes down to you, and what you want to do - there’s a trade-off with everything.
Kyle Hill in their YouTube video on generative AI:
The Internet feels steadily more lifeless. But that’s because, like those alien civilisations, the real human users are hiding in private apps, servers, and RSS feeds, lest they be beset by these digital predators. This is Yancey Strickler’s dark forest theory of the Internet, something to explain the declining realness of the web.
This tracks with my own usage of ‘the web’. A once vibrant, interactive, and at times time-sucking web now feels, well, a bit boring. I won’t go as far as saying people online don’t exist; there are people around, really interesting people, but at the same time, it feels a bit stale, sucked of the vibrancy that existed a few years ago.
In his video, Kyle explains Yancey Strickler’s dark forest theory of the Internet. The notion that the internet is a dark forest, beset with life, life that is thriving as much as it ever was, but doesn’t make too much noise for fear of the consequences. We’ve learned from the years of living online that almost nothing online is real, and responding to what is real isn’t worth the consequences.
I won’t go into any more detail than that surface-level summary, because the video is well worth a watch, but it played with thoughts about my online life that have been swirling for a while, and I think it might do the same for you.
I am not sure where these private spaces where my internet friends exist now are; perhaps someone could let me know, but they sound like a much better place than living in the dark forest.
For mother’s day in the UK we went to feed the animals at J and J Alpacas. This was a really nice experience and we also saw some lambs being born. Of course I couldn’t resist taking my Ricoh GRiiix along and snapping a few shots.
I’ve been mulling over this clash between AI and the content it’s trained on for some time now. As a frequent user of AI and a regular online publisher, I see both sides of the coin. I’m well aware that the articles I put out there probably end up as fodder for some AI training algorithm. And while I know many writers are upset about their work being used this way without compensation, I personally don’t get too riled up about it.
For me, it’s simple: once I publish something online, I’ve pretty much let it go. It’s out there in the wild, free for anyone to use, maybe even to profit from. And I’m okay with that. It’s a part of the deal you accept when you decide to publish online. Keeping things private is a different story. If I have something confidential to say, I’ll do it face-to-face, away from any prying ears (or screens). Of course, even then, there’s the chance of someone passing it on, but that’s just how it goes.
Writing something down and sharing it online, though, is like leaving your notes in a public place. You’re basically saying, “Here it is. Do what you will with it.” I’ve made my peace with the fact that once I hit ‘publish’, my control over that piece of content is pretty much over.
Publishing online is a peculiar thing. Your work is both yours and not yours at the same time. It’s a different beast compared to traditional print media. You can’t hold onto digital content the same way you can hold a book or a newspaper. It’s more fluid, more elusive.
Here’s an example from my own experience. A while back, after buying a used DJI drone, I had a tough time figuring out how to reset it. I eventually sorted it out and shared the solution online. It attracted a lot of views and even helped me earn a bit through ads. But then, one day, I noticed that Google was displaying the reset steps directly in the search results. There went my little stream of income from that post. It felt a bit unfair, sure, but I didn’t dwell on it. That’s just how the modern web seems to work.
If my livelihood depended on my online content, I might feel differently. I might be more vocal in my displeasure about big tech companies using my content. There’s a lot to get annoyed about with technology, people are putting computers on the face for god sake, but some massive word cloud in a data centre somewhere, training itself on my typos and toddler level grammar, give me a break.
👋 This is just my take, I get that yours may differ and that is one of the great things about writing on the web. We can interact and have different opinions. Let me know yours by sending me a webmention or replying on Mastodon. 🤬 Don't get mad, 🤗 talk to me
On their Bear blog, tiramisu writes about their family:
it doesn’t matter what he thinks or feels about things like family vacations. He does them because they’re things he should do, and moments like that illustrate how differently our brains are wired.
This cuts very close to home for me. I am a father, a husband and everything else first before I am an individual. That’s just the way I am. Whenever we do anything it is more important for my kids and my wife to enjoy things than I. Fulfilling my desires comes dead last to everything, and that’s ok.
This isn’t a sod story. Nor is it an inditement of other people getting things over on me. It is simply the way I want to live my life. I enjoy making them happy, and I am always here for other people before I am there for myself. Doing the things I enjoy, like playing the odd game, writing, or exercising is after everyone else is happy. I think I speak for every man with a family when I say my personal enjoyment starts when the kids are tired and my wife is content doing something else, I can then relax.
This is enjoyment for me, and just one of the things I ‘signed up for’ when I became a father. I put the whole world first, and I am ok with that.
Cory Dransfeldt writes in a way that feels like it’s aimed at me, because everything is a checklist:
Check, check, check, clear the queue, close the rings, get to zero. I know this looks neurotic; it is neurotic because I’m neurotic. I always have been, or at least as long as I can remember.
My wife and I have joked for a long time about the fact that if an event isn’t in our calendar, it doesn’t happen. We’ve built up this rigid structure around hospital appointments and kids' activities, that now is an unwavering bubble of organisation. There are always things to do, events to go to, and people to see – but my life neuroticism goes much deeper than this.
I have no idea where it comes from, but it seems like in life, there is always something to check off the list. Ten thousand steps, five fruits and veggies a day, eight glasses of water. Check, Check, Check. Don’t forget the smartphone app to log it all in too! Otherwise, you’re not getting the best out of life, and you’ll never be successful without these five things in your life. Just Stop.
Every so often, I end up here, in a place where every task completed is met with a few more added to the end. As the list grows, so does my anxiety about trying to reach the end—an end that is never in sight, let alone becoming any closer. At this point, I try to remind myself of a mantra picked up from Oliver Burkeman: “There will always be more work,” but it still gets a bit much sometimes.
You see, most of these books on productivity come from places of privilege. They are authored by people who either control their task lists or, quite often, occupy positions where they are no longer burdened by one. The problem is that most of us, the mere mortals who consume these books, do not sit in this graceful position. We often do not control our never-ending task list and must forever contemplate the idea of getting ‘too much done’ for fear of being given more.
There are a few golden books out there. Earlier this year, I read Make Time, which came from a more understanding place. The two authors, although afflicted with the tendency to talk about themselves too much, wrote the book from a more realistic position in working life. I am sure there are more out there too, but the books, podcasts, and YouTube videos all talk about very simple things: scheduling your work (in a myriad of different ways) and being dedicated to completing it.
You can time block. You could plan ahead. Mark one task as your priority. It doesn’t really matter. What none of them talk about, save for “4000 Weeks”, is the stress of it all. Looking at your task list and never seeing it get shorter is one of the best motivation killers imaginable. Having no breaks in your workload to think, plan, be creative, or complete a task you find more fulfilling is a passion killer—a surefire way to burn out and throw in the towel.
As I said at the start, there will always be more work, and that’s a good thing to keep moving and stay motivated. However, there comes a point when it becomes too much, the plate is piled too high, and there is no room to breathe. Drowning in tasks is a terrible way to go.
Brandon encouraging more people to blog the way he does:
It’s easy, blog about what you like. Talk about the things that you are passionate about, things you find joy in, or document your day-to-day.
I really enjoyed this post, despite disagreeing slightly. You see, we both come from a place where blogging is pretty easy; we write about all sorts of things. However, it isn’t that easy for a lot of people.
Thinking about the motivations behind why people would 1) set up a blog and 2) post to it consistently often leaves me confused. Despite all the positives I get from mine, I can appreciate all of the barriers to starting one, and they are too high for most. The motivation to overcome them is often met with the realisation that blogging will cost you time and effort for very little to no reward.
Part of this is due to the framing that writing online has. The constant bombardment of advice from content creators to ‘do this one thing to get loads of views,’ among other such nonsense, leads people who would otherwise blog for the fun of it to begin worrying about stats. The reality is you will not make a living out of writing online. That should be okay. For most people, it’s not, but it should be. With web ad revenues being disappointing, your hard work being scooped up by AI, and a million other people out there doing the same thing, I can’t figure out why people would start blogging in 2024.
To be honest, I am only here because it’s a habit, and I like playing around with my website. It’s fine to write about your life and other such interests. My favourite blogs to follow do exactly that, but it’s absolutely understandable if you don’t want to do that. Blogging isn’t easy, and no amount of rose-tinting will change that, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Put some value on your words, and join in.
Finished reading: Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal 📚
Cassidy writing about the missing human curation:
When algorithms determine everything we should see, the internet becomes much less personal. The “For You” pages of the world are accurate—I am interested in that content, but I’m not seeing it from my friends, or that one author I like, or that random blog I stumbled upon while learning about an obscure hobby.
I stumbled upon this post while searching for cross-posting options for my blog. Due to its precise hit on the internet’s head, I’m now seriously considering personal curation.
While I still believe that algorithmic sorting on a large scale is better for users, the effectiveness of these systems ‘depends’. Almost all are designed to keep you engaged, manipulate your cognition, and then serve you ads. I’ve never encountered one tailored to show you things from your friends, and that’s the real issue.
The finger of accusation can’t be pointed at ‘the algorithm’. It just doing its job. It’s the companies that took all the personality out of the web for their own benefit. Manipulated us into thinking we needed them, remove all the quirkiness from our websites to rank higher and changed the way we post for internet points.
Finished reading: The People vs. Alex Cross by James Patterson 📚
Arun Venkatesan has lots of thoughts on photography gear:
The problem lies within the question itself. It’s one of those inquiries that cannot be definitively answered with anything other than “it depends.” It depends on who is using the gear. It depends on what they are using it for.
I genuinely enjoyed reading this entire post, thanks to Jarrod for sharing it. It reflects much of my own photography journey, especially the part about owning a Leica. Initially, I purchased all sorts of equipment, thinking it would improve my skills. To a certain extent, it did—I learned where I wanted to go and what I wanted my images to convey. Then, I scaled back, seeking something simpler.
After the X100V came an even smaller camera, the Ricoh GRiiiX. It fulfils my needs and truly fits in my pocket. However, this post isn’t about me; it’s about gear, and I believe it does matter to a point. An amateur with a point-and-shoot camera will not be able to achieve the same results as even a half-decent mirrorless camera will—but the question is more about the end result. Learning about what you want to achieve with the final image shapes the gear you ‘need’.
The issue with the realisation that you don’t need so much stuff often comes after purchasing all the things you don’t need. Buy all the things you want; it won’t necessarily make you better, but there’s a chance you might learn something along the way - it’s fun.
Ava writing about effort in their newsletter:
if someone’s much better than you at something, they probably try much harder. You probably underestimate how much harder they try. I’m not saying that talent isn’t a meaningful differentiator, because it certainly is, but I think people generally underestimate how effort needs to be poured into talent in order to develop it.
Whenever you feel yourself saying “I’d love to be good at that thing” - the answer is go and do it. Sure there is talent at play for getting to the extremes of things, but nothing replaces hard work, effort and dedication.
It doesn’t matter what it is, writing, taking photos, getting fit - just go do it and stop wishing.
Another day, another tweak I’m making to my blog. Today’s task, alongside sorting out the navigation to display better, was adding some content to my Posts page. On my old blog, this page listed all the tags I have and a few examples of the posts found in them, so I set about doing exactly that.
Add A Filter
After attempting to write my own code to pull out the latest five posts from a specific tag, I stumbled across Max Böck Github repo with an example of how to display webmentions. This filter allowed passing a collection to it and also customizing the number of posts to display. The filter is as follows:
// Get the first n elements of a collection.
eleventyConfig.addFilter('head', (array, n) => {
if (n < 0) {
return array.slice(n)
}
return array.slice(0, n)
})
Displaying On Page
This made my job much easier, and the filter could potentially be reusable in other situations. For the time being, I chose to display the three most-used tags until I can clean up my imported posts from my old blog and integrate others than using for. As an example, to show the first 5 posts in my Reviews Collection, I use {% raw %}{% for post in collections.Review | head(-5) %}{% endraw %}.
I use head(-5) in the filter to get the latest 5 posts, whereas head(5) would get the first 5 from the collection, i.e., the oldest posts. Once I have cleaned up my posts, I plan to display all collections here and make the code cleaner rather than repeating it three times. But as a stopgap while I do this, I am pretty happy with how it turned out.
James Somers encouraging more people to write:
More people should do what I’m doing right now. They should sit at their computers and bat the cursor around — write full sentences about themselves and the things they care about.
This is an old post, and reminiscent of many newer versions I have linked to but it captures what I experience perfectly. When I am motivated to write, and that doesn’t come easily, the world seems different. As James says about himself — I feel curious about things, with a desire to form thoughts and ideas about myself.
It doesn’t need to be great writing, I mean look at the state of my posts, you just need to do it. Let me know the things you are doing and what you find interesting. Set free your inner weirdness and display your motivations. Just write and the world will be right.
Really early on a Sunday morning, and with sore legs from a long run the day before I took my Richo GRiiix out in Grantham to see what I could find. The answer was not a lot, but I loved the cold air but nice low sunshine. This is where my street photography excels.
One of the great things about making your own website is that you can build new things. One of the worst things about making your own website is that you keep building new things. After web mentions and a way to publish easily, the next thing on my list was a blogroll. Not just a page people can go to, but a way to surface the things I like to everyone who happens to visit my website.
Thankfully, this was easy, and I took inspiration from Chris Hannah’s blogroll on GitHub. Starting with creating two JSON files with information on the blogs I enjoy reading, and the products I like and would recommend to people.
After creating the files, I added an Eleventy filter to generate a random number in order to pick a blog and product at random for each place this would appear. It was important to me that it cycle through as many as possible, but it was not browser-intensive, and my blog continued to serve static pages.
eleventyConfig.addFilter("randomItem", (arr) => {
arr.sort(() => {
return 0.5 - Math.random();
});
return arr.slice(0, 1);
});
return {
dir: {
input: "src",
output: "public",
},
};
Then I can show them wherever I wish using {% raw %}{% for blog in blogroll | randomItem %}{% endraw %}. The best place for this is a partial, and at the moment it lies at the end of each blog post. However, I have plans to improve the design and be able to place it in more spaces.
I have a few things in the JSON files at the moment, but I have a feeling this will grow quickly
In keeping with my ways, as soon as I published my rather long-winded method of pulling in pseudo webmentions, I knew I wasn’t satisfied. Functioning is one thing, but seeing all the code on a page and having trouble following it myself gave me a headache. I began working on updates I had planned for a few weeks later.
I am now just using the Mastodon API to pull in all the information I want to display.
async function fetchAndUpdateUserPosts(instanceURL, accessToken, username) {
try {
const fetchedPosts = await fetchUserPosts(instanceURL, accessToken, username);
const filePath = `./_cache/mastodon_posts.json`;
// Check if the file exists
if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
// Read existing posts from file
const existingPosts = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8'));
// Update or add new posts
fetchedPosts.forEach(newPost => {
const index = existingPosts.findIndex(oldPost => oldPost.id === newPost.id);
if (index !== -1) {
// Update existing post
existingPosts[index] = newPost;
} else {
// Add new post
existingPosts.push(newPost);
}
});
// Write updated posts back to the file
fs.writeFileSync(filePath, JSON.stringify(existingPosts, null, 2));
console.log(`Posts for user ${username} fetched and updated successfully.`);
} else {
// Write fetched posts to a new file
fs.writeFileSync(filePath, JSON.stringify(fetchedPosts, null, 2));
console.log(`Posts for user ${username} fetched and saved successfully.`);
}
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error:', error);
}
}
Full gist here.
For this, you will need an access token for the API, which is available in your settings - more info here. You will also need a username, which isn’t your actual username but more of an ID. More information on how to get this is available here.
The full script checks for changes to the cached file and only updates changes, which is handy for adding new comments, likes, or when you edit your post.
Displaying Information
This method makes displaying the information much easier, as the old way was a complete mess. It illustrates the learning process here!
Now I just need {% raw %}{% set mastoContent = mastodon | searchContentForUrl(page.url | url | absoluteUrl(metadata.url)) %}{% endraw %} so in my post I can then display the toot content, likes, boosts and a comment count. For instance my toot data is:
{% raw %}
<div><i class="fa-regular fa-star"></i> {{ mastoContent.favourites_count}}</div>
<div><i class="fa-regular fa-comment"></i> {{ mastoContent.replies_count}}</div>
<div><i class="fa-solid fa-rocket"></i> {{ mastoContent.reblogs_count}}</div>
{% endraw %}
Future Plans
This new approach, although much cleaner, disregards webmentions from any source other than Mastodon. I am still pulling these in but displaying them on a private dashboard in my CMS. My plans are to filter out Mastodon-related ones and display these on the post page as well. This will take me a while to figure out the best way to show them, and at this point, I will pull in all old data from my old blog.
I’ve been struggling to write about much else besides writing. Sure, it’s occupying much of my time right now, but it isn’t a subject I typically cover. This isn’t a ‘worry’, but a post I read earlier highlighted factors that might be affecting my slump.
A post on the Meadow blog, about reading lots of blogs to be able to write widely, states:
There are no real guidelines on how to create posts. There are no expectations you need to fulfill, no boxes you need to check. There’s nothing you have to do besides doing whatever you want.
This simple statement is easy to forget. I still worry about the way I format my blog posts and what to write about, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. These meta posts are fine, because anything is fine. There’s no pressure to have a ‘thing’, and people seem to read them anyway. So, insert shrug emoji?
I’m 100% on board with the comments about the need to read a lot to write more. My usual inspiration for posts comes from the things I consume. Occasionally podcasts and TV shows, but nothing seems to prod my inspiration as much as reading books and blog posts. Something that generally falls away once I become busy.
By returning to the things I enjoy, it sparks the creativity to do other things I enjoy, and everything becomes right with the world again.
This week I have been building parts of my blog, to learn and to get it to a point that I am happy with. A large part of this was webmentions, and thanks to a few excellent guides I got 90% of the the way their. With only a few design things to think through I read more posts on webmentions and realised the way I was doing it was the best solution for privacy and so here we are with a reduced version.
I need to preface this with the fact I am a noob, and this might be a) wrong or b) a stupid way of doing it. This is just the way I did it, and if you’ve got some advice I am all ears.
Webmentions
I had already implemented a script to pull these from webmention.io and cache these into a local file.
// Import required modules
const fetch = require('node-fetch');
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
require('dotenv').config();
// Constants
const CACHE_DIR = './_cache';
const API_ORIGIN = 'https://webmention.io/api/mentions.jf2';
const TOKEN = process.env.WEBMENTION_IO_TOKEN;
// Ensure cache directory exists
if (!fs.existsSync(CACHE_DIR)) {
fs.mkdirSync(CACHE_DIR);
}
// Function to fetch data from the API
async function fetchData() {
try {
const response = await fetch(`${API_ORIGIN}?token=${TOKEN}`);
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(`Failed to fetch data: ${response.status} ${response.statusText}`);
}
const data = await response.json();
return data;
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error fetching data:', error.message);
throw error;
}
}
// Function to save data to JSON file
function saveDataToFile(data) {
try {
const filePath = path.join(CACHE_DIR, 'webmentions.json');
fs.writeFileSync(filePath, JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));
console.log('Data saved to:', filePath);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error saving data to file:', error.message);
throw error;
}
}
// Main function to fetch data and save it to file
async function main() {
try {
const data = await fetchData();
saveDataToFile(data);
} catch (error) {
console.error('An error occurred:', error.message);
process.exit(1);
}
}
// Run main function
main();
Instead of loading all of the information from this as most guides do, I decided instead to simply count the important details. I think this could be cleaner but its working as thats all I am working on at the moment.
{% raw %}
const filteredWebmentions = data.children.filter(entry => {
return entry['like-of'] === url || entry['in-reply-to'] === url || entry['repost-of'] === url;
});
// Initialize counts for each type
let likeCount = 0;
let replyCount = 0;
let repostCount = 0;
// Loop through each entry in the filtered webmentions
filteredWebmentions.forEach(entry => {
// Check if the entry matches the given URL for like, reply, or repost
if (entry['like-of'] === url) {
likeCount++;
}
if (entry['in-reply-to'] === url) {
replyCount++;
}
if (entry['repost-of'] === url) {
repostCount++;
}
});
// Return an object containing the counts
return {
likeCount,
replyCount,
repostCount
};
{% endraw %}
This is then displayed on my post using:
{% raw %}
{% set urlnohtml = page.url | url | absoluteUrl(metadata.url) | replace('.html', '') %}
{% set urlhtml = page.url | url | absoluteUrl(metadata.url) %}
{% set countnohtml = webmentionsFilePath | countWebmentions(urlnohtml) %}
{% set counthtml = webmentionsFilePath | countWebmentions(urlhtml) %}
{% set totallikes = countnohtml.likeCount + counthtml.likeCount %}
{% set totalreplies = countnohtml.replyCount + counthtml.replyCount %}
{% set totalrepost = countnohtml.repostCount + counthtml.repostCount %}
{% endraw %}
This is not very effect as I ran into an issue where i had shared some links with .html on the end and some without, so got an MVP working late last night.
Mastodon Information
I could then link people to the resulting Mastodon post but decided I wanted to go further and display the information from the toot.
The easy way would have been to rely on the embed code and link to the toot, but I decided instead to make as many things static as possible. Deciding instead to pull the rss feed from my account and filter it by the page url.
{% raw %}
const axios = require('axios');
const Parser = require('rss-parser');
const fs = require('fs');
const rssFeedUrl = 'https://social.lol/@gr36.rss';
const jsonFilePath = './_cache/mastodon.json';
// Function to read the previously saved entries from the JSON file
const readSavedEntries = () => {
try {
const jsonData = fs.readFileSync(jsonFilePath, 'utf8');
return JSON.parse(jsonData).map(entry => entry.link);
} catch (error) {
// If the file doesn't exist or is empty, return an empty array
return [];
}
};
axios.get(rssFeedUrl)
.then(response => {
const parser = new Parser();
return parser.parseString(response.data);
})
.then(feed => {
const savedEntryUrls = readSavedEntries();
const newEntries = feed.items.filter(item => !savedEntryUrls.includes(item.link));
if (newEntries.length === 0) {
console.log('No new entries found.');
return;
}
const items = newEntries.map(item => ({
link: item.link,
pubDate: item.pubDate,
content: item.content
}));
const jsonData = JSON.stringify([...items, ...readSavedEntries()], null, 2);
fs.writeFile(jsonFilePath, jsonData, err => {
if (err) {
console.error('Error writing JSON file:', err);
return;
}
console.log(`${newEntries.length} new entries saved to ${jsonFilePath}`);
});
})
.catch(error => {
console.error('Error fetching or parsing RSS feed:', error);
});
{% endraw %}
This is then parsed into json (I just think it looks better) and stored in a cache file.
I can then query this for specific page urls using
{% raw %}
eleventyConfig.addFilter('searchContentForUrl', (mastodonData, currentPageUrl) => {
// Load the JSON data
const jsonData = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('./_cache/mastodon.json', 'utf8'));
// Iterate over entries and search for the current URL in content property
for (const entry of jsonData) {
if (entry.content.includes(currentPageUrl)) {
return entry;
}
}
return null; // Return null if URL is not found in any content property
});
{% endraw %}
And display thing on the post page using {% raw %}{% set mastoContent = mastodon | searchContentForUrl(urlnohtml) %}{% endraw %}
I then show this with:
{% raw %}
<a href="{{ mastoContent.link}}"><i class="fa-brands fa-mastodon"></i> Join the conversation on Mastodon
<div>{{ mastoContent.content | safe }}</div></a>
{% endraw %}
Future Plans
Like I said right at the start, I am a complete noob with front end and I am currently studying to improve things. I’d like to pull all the information once using the mastodon API, so I have access to replies_count, reblogs_count and favourites_count but that can wait for now.
This only shows on a few posts due to a change in URL but I am planning to pull in old data and show this too. All in all, I’m fairly happy with it for now considering it was cobbled together fairly quickly when I changed my mind on what I wanted to display. Any helpful recommendation will be happily received.
For the last few weeks, I’ve fallen out with myself and the place I publish all of my things online. I don’t want to go into the specifics, but I turned back from the brink not that long ago and don’t want to again. As such, I’ve been learning to build my own static blog with 11ty. It’s slow-going, but that’s the point.
If I am honest with myself, hosting my blog and everything else with micro.blog is the easy way to do it, but making me find solutions for things forces me to readdress my desires. It is easy for me to point at things like micropub, webmentions and the like, but when I have to do work to implement them I have to be certain what I want to achieve.
Seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? That was my initial reaction too, and there might be some conformation bias going on, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it makes. Out of the box, 11ty is powerful, but has a high barrier to entry. There are starter themes to clone and get you going, but to really take advantage of what it can do takes time and knowledge. Knowledge I barely have.
I managed to get a rudimentary CMS up and working, along with permalinks working the way I want to, but after a few hours of head scratching really in-depth features were lacking. Easy enough to just give up again, but these technical skill barriers are there to be solved. It made me think about how easy it is to yell for a feature on a platform, but when you have to build it yourself it’s a different story. The barrier prompts internal decisions that might never arrive.
It also made me laugh at some points where I have jumped into ‘new’ features without actually thinking about how they help and how useful they are. Ultimately, I’m willing to do the work to get the features I want, such as webmentions, but some are falling away. As I spoke about before, this is supplementing my current front end certificate, so it’s win/win at the moment.
Finished reading: Cross Justice by James Patterson 📚
It’s less than 24 hours until Valentine’s Day, but this post isn’t about my wife. Although she is great. It’s about the very real love I have for running again, and it’s all because I gave myself something that I couldn’t get out of.
A couple of years ago, I was in a bad way. Despite loving running my whole life, health issues caused me to just about give up on it. First came an injury that got me into cycling, and then the really big hitter after my COVID-19 booster shot. Since early 2022 I’ve been unable to run without it causing more issues with my health.
I got this stupid idea to enter London, like I have done every year, and was secretly happy when the decline email came. A few weeks later I had a call from Epilepsy Society offering me a place, and I couldn’t say now—and that has been my saviour. I’ve always been a grab the bull by the horns person, and if you get some sponsorships for it before you’ve had time to think, it means you can’t back out.
So I had to get running. There was no choice but to run through the breathing issues and needing an inhaler. It started out crap, but slowly I began to feel myself again. I’ve fallen back into love with running again, and all because of charity work. It gave me a reason not to give up, to force myself to get better, and although I’m still not 100% I feel the best version I have been for years.
The calmness that running brings helps me in so many areas of my life, and I can’t believe I went without it for so long.
It seems my throwaway post about not publishing to my blog gained some traction. Many people took it as it was intended, a commentary on it being too easy to reply and push it in front of my face, but many more people did not.
It’s a shame to see it used as some kind of signifier of privilege. Before I published, I did wonder if it would be yet another reason to ignite something beyond its intention—particularly on micro.blog. Absolutely, you can read into the post whatever you wish, but its intentions are surface level.
It does not arch back to privilege, nor is it any kind of commentary on political or racial issues. It’s just a blog post about me not publishing because I would rather not start yet another discussion on note-taking apps. I would have, were it not so easy for people to reply and make their feelings known directly to me on my blog post comments.
To see it extended to some kind of indicator of deep-rooted entitlement is annoying at best. Whilst I do think it’s important to think about the way your words could be taken, these kinds of issues are why I don’t publish most of my blog posts. I love a constructive discussion on my thoughts and ideas, there is nothing better than having them tested, but this is beyond that.
I would rather not reply. Nor do I want to give it time to think through the ideas posed in response. I think this may be the point that I give up because I can’t be doing with it. If you miss the point, that’s on me too, but reach out to me first, please.
Adam Newbold, writing about using URL as a sentence:
URLs convey valuable information, and good URL design ensures that they provide the right level of context and set proper expectations. Incidentally, good URL design is something that is still lacking all over the internet,
I can’t remember where I saw Adam’s post linked to, nut it had the exact pull quote highlighted and I saved the post for reading later, thinking this was a fascinating idea. Something I could get behind. But the more I thought about it, the more I think it doesn’t really matter — which I think by the end Adam also agrees with.
I understand the idea. Maximising the amount of information in the URL, but on the modern web I don’t think it matters. I mean hey, it matters to Adam and that’s really cool, but in general. When was the last time you paid attention to a URL?
I link to loads of them, both on my blog and in my day job, and there are only two instances they matter. Both of which are every niche and only matter to me in my day job — SEO and direction.
- SEO: There is a held belief that they matter to SEO — I’m no expert, but I think they matter a lot less than they used to.
- Direction: To get people to a URL, it’s important they are short and memorable.
In every other instance, you’d be hard pushed if you even see the URL on the modern web (and perhaps that is another point worth talking about at a later post). Most browsers hide them and only show you the top-level domain. When it comes to sharing on the web, even platform either obscures them with their own linking and/or shows you a rich preview with an image.
Perhaps I am wrong and they really matter to people. I understand it’s essential to own them, and not change them, but as for what they look like — who cares. Well, Adam does clearly, do you?
Last month, I wrote a post that never got published. It was written out, formatted, edited and ready to go. As far as I could take it, but I hovered over the publish button and decided against it. There was nothing controversial there, but it criticised a poor take from someone who is well liked, and I couldn’t do doing with the hassle of replies.
In many respects, the unpublished post in question did its job. Much like the others that I get halfway through and never finish. It got the thoughts out and on to ‘paper’ instead of swirling in my head. The self-censorship didn’t lose me anything, and perhaps gained me a lot of peace, but I still find it funny that I couldn’t publish it on my blog. A space that is reserved for me to reflect on the things I want to write about.
I repeat, there was nothing offensive in the post, simply a retort to the terrible take. The issue that I foresaw was who it was towards. If you offend the community in question, then tend to swarm and reply in droves. All putting in their opinion, even when not asked, which is great, up to a point. I felt as if I wanted to publish it without seeing it anywhere else, perhaps if it were kept away from the blog’s main feed it could still live — but that defeats the point.
As such, it just sat there, doing nothing and annoying me, so I deleted it today and this post is my cathartic release instead. In both deleting the post and publishing this one, I have balanced my blogging chi, but there is still some weirdness there for me. I think that perhaps social media makes it too easy to reply, and too easy for me to read them.
If the reply took effort to reach out to me personally, or write their own blog post, this may put off even the most motivated of people. Even then, it would be very unlikely that I would see it without visiting their blog directly. I have had these protracted discussions before with fellow bloggers through link posts, and they generally go down much better than those thrown at me in 280 characters.
📺 The Lazarus Project (2022) - ★★★★☆
The time traveling paradoxes broke my brain little but I really enjoyed this.
Waiting for James to finish kick boxing, the rain is so relaxing to listen to.
I also forgot the iPhone has an action button… I literally never use it.
I forgot how to post for a minute.
Today I did a recovery run too fast and felt a bit sick.
But we have Lucie new car seat fitted now and she’s much comfier! Did someone say road trip?
Finished reading: Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal 📚
Do not waste your time. The book lacks any real substance and I ended up scanning at least half of it. It comes across as someone that wanted to write a book just to say they have done it.
Finished reading: Target: Alex Cross by James Patterson 📚
Can I quote post, a quote post? Well, tough, I am. Matt Birchler talking about dunking on people being a sport:
…a surefire way for you to generate engagement this week is to talk shit about…
The first thing that comes to mind reading Matt’s post is the outline of all the performative behaviour that happens on social media. Big brands and users alike farming the rage of other people for attention. There’s nothing that seems to get people going than when they hate something you like, or like something you hate.
As I’ve written about before, of course hate what you hate, and embrace it, but there becomes a line when, as Matt writes about, your personality is outlined more by the things you hate than what you enjoy. You are more concerned about the external things that you should hate, than the internal, there becomes a little too much you in f^%k you.
Derren Brown talks about exactly this in the first part of his excellent book Happy. If you base your personality on doing the opposite of something, anything, you are giving up control. He uses the example of walking on the right side of the road, simply because everyone else uses the left. It might seem anti-establishment until everyone walks on the right now. Do you then cross the road?
Arcing back to Matt’s post, he have all been teenagers and disliking the right things was “cool”. It’s an important part of growing up, but why look at other people so much? Why let others dictate what you like and don’t like? Even if the reason they like it, you hate it — other people are making your decisions for you. Certainly, you can have a f^!k you personality, but you might find you are only screwing yourself.
Ali Abdaal writing The Optimisation Paradox edition of his newsletter:
There’s nothing wrong with optimising something for growth, and “treating it like a business”. But it comes with the trade-off that, usually, the thing becomes a little less fun.
It doesn’t matter what you like doing, the moment you get reasonably good at it someone will say “I bet you could make some money doing that”. Should you choose to, it is at that point the fun will be sucked out of it.
Perhaps not straight away. It might take a few weeks or months. Perhaps longer. At some point, whilst trying to streamline it or maximise profits, you will realise you don’t enjoy doing this thing any more. You will realise that not everything needs to be monetised, and you will miss the old days of doing it for fun.
Like a sponge, if given free rein, our actions will suck all the fun out of everything. Ali quotes a ‘game designer’ from a video he has watched. What video and what game designer we don’t know, he said, “Left unchecked, players will optimise the fun out of the game they’re playing”.
Which, as Ali says, is an interesting quote (just not quite enough to write down who said it) because it cuts right to the heart of our unhealthy trait to ruin everything we enjoy by doing too much of it. My tendency, as Ali has found out, is to do this with podcasts. Start spending too much time on audio editing, recording too much, and lose sight of what really matters — the conversation.
I also say this fairly often about writing because I have seen it happen to friends of mine that now need to pay the bills by publishing. All the writing they did because they enjoyed it and moulded their craft, grinds to a holt. I guess, who on earth wants to do things for free, when they can get paid for it. Well, we all should.
For far too many years of my life, I was seeking ideas to boost the things I could get done. At first, it was tips for better conversion rates, better management styles and more recently it’s pure productivity “getting things done” advice. When you digest this kind of thing for even a short period of time, you begin to realise there is no hack for hard work.
In the least few years, self-help advice has exploded to become a multi-billion pound industry. What was once an occasional presentation and a few books in a store has ballooned to everything from podcasts, seminars and month long courses. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, self-improvement is one of the most important things to do. However, most of the content being produced is not to make you better, it is solely to convince you there is a hack to ‘success’ and to attain it you just need to do this one thing.
That one thing is usually buying their course (at just £1995), but that’s not the point of this post. The fact that people believe there is a hack to everything is really the issue. Everyone wants a quick, easy fix. 5 minute abs, diet pills, a stupid morning routine — whatever it is you are trying to achieve, all these ‘hacks’ are a waste of time.
Everyone who is successful has worked hard (and perhaps had a few leg ups) and there is no replacement for it. I had a long conversation around this topic with my son once, when he was asking about shortcuts to wherever it was we were driving. I explained to him that there is no such thing as a shortcut, at all. There might be ways that appear shorter, or might shave some time off sometimes in very specific circumstances, but they simply don’t exist. They can’t exist. Otherwise, they would just be ‘the way’.
Much like trying to look for backstreets or quiet roads when you are driving, there are no hacks to get to places faster. You can pick up tips, learn different ways, but ultimately, you need to do the work and get to wherever it is you want to go, yourself.
Finished reading: Fear No Evil by James Patterson 📚
There are some mornings you get up, feel so under the weather from illness that you can’t face the world. Not to mention, you shouldn’t be spreading your infliction around to the rest of the workforce — so you ring in ill. Spending the day resting and recuperating instead. What if the opposite were true and you could pull a healthy?
I stumbled on this idea as a meme reel on Instagram, but I think they are on to something. I might be the only one here, but I get these days when I feel well rested and ready to do something, but instead I have to deal with the daily grind of 8 (at least) hours of work. I wish I could call in and just say, “I feel too good today and don’t want to waste it. I’m pulling a healthy”.
I could then do whatever it is that makes me happy and enjoy the feeling. Instead of having to deal with the enjoyment sponges that every work place has. Or waste my energy on tasks that make other people money instead of going for a run and soaking in some sunshine.
The world would be a much better place if we could pull a healthy. Go on. You know you want to.
Whenever anyone asks me how I write so much, my default answer used to be because I read so much. The words from other people producing content I enjoyed, be it on the web or in a book, never failed to give my pause of thought and inspiration to write them out. Not all of them were published, but I got to the stage where I was constantly putting things on my blog — currently, not so much.
I’m struggling to see the point in publishing many posts outside of those that form quickly. I’m still scribbling all the time. Opening Ulysses or Apple notes to write some ideas down, but there is very little motivation to turn it into something publishable. As much as I love blogging, and love that more people are doing it than I have even known, I’m struggling.
I’ve read some great things already this year, but it feels as if the rate of content produced has ramped up, but the quality is slipping. It seems like I need a shift in my reading to offset those that just produce content quickly and cheaply, potentially with AI, for clicks.
The great thing is, I don’t do this for anything apart from myself. There is no demand on me putting my asinine thoughts on my blog, to earn my paycheque. So I have the freedom to step back whenever I want to, and presently my online life is getting very little attention.
Evan Sheehan in their post :
I wonder what the alternative looks like. A tool that helps you remember the sites you like to visit so that you can browse them at your leisure, but that doesn’t create a commitment to read—or at least look at—absolutely everything that is published on all of those sites.
At first, this seemed like a crazy idea, but the more I thought about it, the more it made perfect sense. I read 99% of the blogs I follow in my favourite app Matter. Which is great in that it boils websites down to the basic content and makes it easier to read. However, it removes all personality and expression from personal websites.
The idea above is not as crazy as it sounds. Before Facebook invented ‘the feed’ I remember keeping a bookmark list of my friends' pages that I would check in on every so often and it’s wonderful when the internet goes full circle. Making the same list of my favourite blogs to check and enjoy the revelry of their website brings life back into the web.
I just hope it doesn’t fuel my tendency to fiddle with my blog’s CSS every five minutes!
Alan Jacobs with an interesting note on plagiarism:
…see something in a digital book or article that they want to use, copy the relevant text, and then paste it into Word with the intention of editing it later to in some sense make it their own.
Alan’s note covers controversy in academic publishing and the plagiarism that could be caused by sloppy writing and the pressures of education. However, I spent the whole time thinking about blogging and linking posts. I don’t write many of what you would typically call a link post, but I do quote numerous people on my blog and often run through the thought process that Alan talks about.
I save loads of quotes for possible use later. They litter my notebook, my Apple notes and even the occasional sticky note on my desk. Little snippets of ideas or information I might need later to complete some work or give me a starting point for my ideas in a blog post. I always stay true to the original person, but I must admit there’s not a lot of work needed to change the wording and attempt to pass the work off as your own.
Which leads me to wonder where the point is that the copied words become your own? Is changing the phrasing slightly enough?
…if you quote too much, it might become obvious that there’s not a lot of you in your article. So you need to rework the quotations to make the extent of your debts less obvious.
We have all seen blog posts that are more quotes than content. Which is fine, to a point, and where the aim is to share the work of someone else to another audience. When there isn’t a lot added to the conversation outside of that, you do have to ask yourself, what’s the point — and Alan suggests this is where much plagiarism begins. The words are changed, or in some cases not changed enough, due to lack of extra content and not wanting to make it obvious.
Leo Babauta saying Become Quiet So You Can Listen:
…it’s a very human tendency to want to be busy, productive, filling every space with something useful or entertaining.
I’m one of those suckers. Those people who accuse the modern world of always being to blame for everything wrong until proven otherwise. This is one of those posts that makes me think about a small throwaway point and change my view.
Is it a natural human trait to want to be busy with something?
I suffer with a constant restless body to the point that, at times, I have to force myself to stop and do nothing. Just for a bit. My mind tricks me into believing that if I am not doing something, anything, I am wasting my time. I thought this was because of the modern world, some rub of from hustle culture, but now I am starting to think it is just me.
Long before social media, YouTube productivity gurus and hustle porn, the world was still busy. My mother was endlessly doing something. Working, meeting people, taking part in events. Just never still and present. Perhaps this is where my habit comes from, or maybe it’s just the modern normal?
Sebastian de With, on Threads:
This is apparently incomprehensible to some people on this website, but to many people it’s actually a good and beneficial feature that Apple doesn’t let you install software on your iPhone from anywhere else.
It has been a while since I paid any attention to Apple payments and other things going on in the developer world. Not because I don’t care, but because I don’t really have an opinion and what I do think as a user might not always be very popular. So I usually just stay quiet.
I, as a user, have absolutely no desire to install another App Store on my device, nor buy my apps from anywhere else. It is a terrible experience on desktop to need several stores to just play a few games, and will only make things worse. I will also happily pay a little extra to be able to manage all the payments that I make to companies in one place and easy to access on my iPhone. However, I can be happy with my view point and also think that Apple treats developers horribly.
I work on an app, which is in the apps store, so I know all about getting approval from the fruit overlords, and must say Google are fairly difficult too. However, thankfully, they do not take 30% of sales from us because that would be a ridiculous amount of money to lose and then perhaps I would be jumping up and down more!
Just because I do not feel as strongly as some does not mean I don’t care, nor does it mean I don’t understand their frustrations. There is no-bystander apathy going on here, but at many points I don’t say things because I hold this rather Ambivalence state — Which tends to not chime very well with the developers I speak to.
The reasons that have sparked this thought process are not sharable; however, it relates to quite a few things in our lives, and society at large, that I thought it worth sharing. It relates to the often used delaying tactic to action is the amount of knowledge we have. That we need to know more before we get started — leading, of course, to inaction.
There are always times when this is the case, but more often than not it is simply a logical fallacy. A barrier to action that our mind puts in our way. Take, for example, losing weight. There is no knowledge gap here, we all know that to lose weight in very simple terms we need to eat less and move more. Yet more than 30% of the UK population are inactive, and 63.8% of the population are either overweight or clinically obese. Without discussing the nuance of the figures and descriptions here, they clearly illustrate knowledge is not the issue.
Every person that ‘suffers’ with procrastination knows that they should be working on something. They have enough knowledge of the tasks to complete, it may be right in front of their face — but much like those that want to lose weight, they have an action problem. I know how to become a better writer, I have to write more and hone the skills that I have. I don’t need to learn more about writing, I just need to sit in the chair and do it. Yet, for whatever reason, I have an action issue.
I talk to so many people who say something similar to “I really want to be x”. Exchange x for a whole range of things. A better writer, a photographer, a better runner. Whatever ever is, there’s no knowledge gap to doing it, but no action either.
Finished reading: Cross the Line by James Patterson 📚
This week, I’ve had two lengthy meetings at the end of the working day. Important, interesting meetings, but exhausting, and it brought to mind the often overlooked skill of scheduling things for the best possible time.
The instinct for those convening with others is to arrange a meeting when they have time. The first thing the participants know about it is a calendar invite with green or red buttons (and occasionally a yellow), with very little thought about the other things going on around them and the capacity to be at their best at the scheduled time.
I am a morning person; I rise early because of home commitments and often start work at 6am or earlier. Due to this, important tasks are always the first things that get my attention. Not because I eat the frog, but because this is the point in the day when I am at my best — I am high energy. By the time 5pm rolls around, I’m frequently exhausted and very low energy. So a long meeting at this time will be a real struggle.
Whereas if I have to arrange meetings, I typically put them in first thing, with little regard to people who might need a bit of time to ‘warm up’ into the day. By spending a bit of time and thought on the working practices of the people around us, specifically on our teams, we could all have a better experience and get more done.
Being aware of the difference between high and low-energy periods of the day has been a good productivity boost. For quite a while, I’ve highlighted tasks with high and low markers to make sure I am getting things done at the right point in the day. If I have some creative work to do or a problem to solve — that’s high energy and gets done first. If I have some research to complete or reading waiting for input — that’s low energy and can be done later in the day.
Motivated by the talk of ‘real buttons’ in design, I decided to do some work on the interaction element at the end of my blog posts.
Turned out great I think.
🔗
Uncertainty is uncomfortable. And, for many people, uncertainty not only feels uncomfortable, it feels wrong.
The human brain doesn’t like open loops. It makes every effort to close them, some times making huge logical leaps, for its own good. There’s a skill to becoming comfortable with uncertainty but in some contexts you unfortunately never will.
🔗
I spent an internship in the financial-services industry operating a graphical user interface entirely with keyboard commands, and it was fine.
Anyone that’s worked in a CPW owned company looks back on using PIE fondly, it might even still be in use today.
But learning the secrets was a nightmare. Whereas using a mouse is something seemingly ingrained in everyone - that and swiping a touchscreen.
🔗
Specifically, my goal with my content is to teach people how to use technology to pursue their best lives. Technology can help if used wisely. Social media works against that goal.
It’s true that social media is completely anti social. It appears to work against the great things that technology promises to provide.
Straight off the bat, I understand I’ve made these types of statements before. Following the iPhone 14 launch, I had ‘no interest’ in purchasing anything, and a few weeks later, I had a 14 Pro Max and an Apple Watch Ultra. However, with that said, I have absolutely no interest in the Vision Pro, so I have stayed quiet about it. That is to say, this whole post is coming from this standpoint.
Due to this apathy, I’ve been reasonably sheltered from the gushing by others online. I’ve got the words muted on Mastodon, and it has kept most talk out of my feed. However, while laughing along to Andy’s recent face hugger post, I began to type some thoughts into my notes app, and it turned into something publishable. Spoiler alert: they haven’t really changed from my .
That’s not to say I don’t see the use case. I understand the appeal of such a device, to be engrossed in something so much that the outside world is cut off. The feeling of immersion in something is a remarkable experience. The desire to be fully immersed in a film or computer game is understandable – I am just not convinced it is worth the downsides.
I enjoy nothing more than sitting in my office, noise-cancelling headphones on, playing brain.fm, and being engrossed in deep work. Perhaps going to the cinema and sitting in front of a gigantic screen with surround sound. In neither of these situations have I thought, ‘This would be better if I could put this screen on my face.’ For me, at least, any VR headset, even a £3,500 one with creepy eyes on the front, doesn’t solve problems I encounter.
Recently, I think Apple has also realised this and switched the marketing. From being all-in on the Vision Pro solving working and media consumption problems, they have switched the messaging to emotion. Many of those lucky enough to try one have a strangely unified emotional response to spatial video. With one such reporter being brought to the brink of tears.
Who am I to argue with someones feelings, but outside of this, the utility of this expensive purchase is extremely limited. Perhaps that’s the point. The Vision Pro is for those with money to spend on something with limited use. The technology will no doubt get cheaper and become easier to purchase, but from my anecdotal experience, there are already plenty of people with cheap Meta devices gathering dust.
Apple may well have developed technology to try to combat motion sickness, but there’s no getting around the sickness from spending £3500 only to realise you need to create problems for it to solve.
As I wrote about yesterday, I have been using my time to build a blog. This effort stems partly from annoyance and partly from a desire for extra learning. The blog is built on a static site generator called 11ty, and I’ve developed it to a point where I am relatively happy with it. However, with all the messing around and developing a replacement for what I already have, at what point do you just say ‘Forget it’ and give up?
There’s been a considerable amount of work that has gone into my new blog. It’s a website filled with static files, but it also has a CMS backend to manage it all. I’ve added webmention and micropub endpoints to make publishing frictionless. It wasn’t an easy task, but it has all been done to replace something that I already have. My makeshift setup pales in comparison to just paying $50 a year and running it on micro.blog.
This gives me a setup that someone else manages, with no hassle, and it’s (relatively) able to do the things I want it to do. With the caveat of a bit of flakiness here and there and some opinionated choices regarding features. Remove all the extra social things, and it becomes a very cost-effective blog hosting solution, with many more features than my static site built with Netlify.
These smacks in the face don’t just happen with blog hosting. There’s a stark realisation sometimes when, after a few days, the reality becomes apparent that the new phone you got does exactly what the old one did. The new productivity app you fiddled with for hours doesn’t mean you get more done. A fancy new pen or notebook achieves the same thing the cheap ones do.
Don’t get me wrong, I have learned a great deal of new skills and used some of it to pass modules in my qualification. However, while messing around with micropub endpoints this morning to try to get my new thing to do exactly what the old thing does well, at some point you just give up.
Hard to believe, but it has been four whole days since I last thought about interacting with social media. What is even harder to believe is that I consider this any kind of accomplishment. It’s also not strictly true; I have been on micro.blog to grab some images and download my blog export, but I have spent the time saved running another half-marathon and learning more front-end skills.
Already about a third into my online front-end developer course, I’ve learned a lot in two weeks. It was supposed to take me about 9 weeks to get here, but it’s wonderful how much time you save by not scrolling! It also helps that I knew a lot of the basics and could pass some lab parts without even watching the lectures beforehand. As a way of reinforcing the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills being taught, I have moved my blog (twice, in fact).
My other domain at gregmorris.co.uk used to host my old Ghost photo blog, but now it is mostly a copy of gr36.com — with all the micro.blog things removed. It is currently built using 11ty, but it did briefly use Gatsby. The course I am doing is heavily focused on JS, and specifically React, so Gatsby was my first choice. However, the templating and build times put me off right away. I saved around 2 minutes just by switching to 11ty!
This isn’t me rage-quitting micro.blog after moaning about the lack of muting, but it’s not far off. I will continue to publish in both places until I decide on what to do. I need to reassess where I want to spend my time, and the effect that this election year could have on my life. It’s already creeping into my RSS and podcast feeds; I just don’t want to see it where I hang out. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to — enjoying the silence and learning new things.
In basic terms, I am becoming fed up with the way I interact with social media platforms that have no mute options. It was annoying when I first tried out Threads (they sorted it out quickly), and as we approach another election year in the States, it’s untenable on micro.blog.
At this point, I have been asking for this feature for years. Yes, my preferred app, Gluon, offers it, as does the web interface Lillihub, but when at least a third of my usage involves opening the platforms' homepage on my Mac while working, that donesn’t suit me well.
This wasn’t really an issue when I started asking for it. The small community on micro.blog is niche and nice enough to not have many posts I would rather not see. However, now that I use it to access the wider ActivityPub network, these posts are growing all the time.
The usual pushback on this is, ‘Just mute or block people.’ And while that argument is valid, it doesn’t solve the issue at all. All the people I follow are pleasant; they are not intentionally posting about bad things for attention (mostly). I aim to keep my feed small and curated for this reason, and I follow them because I want to keep up to date with them.
They should be allowed to post about whatever topic they see fit. Topics that affect them, like American politics, religion, and all the other things that I have no interest in, yet dominate my timeline in election years. I post about things that others might not like to see, and they should also be able to block my ramblings about those topics as they see fit.
Yet here we are, years into the platform and still no ability to mute words. As the political posts start to ebb and flow, in the words of Casey Newton, ‘I’ve seen this movie before, and I know how it ends.’ I can’t stand to go through this again, so I must either move to another place entirely or uncouple my blog from social media completely.
Finished reading: Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp 📚
Finished reading: Breath by James Nestor 📚
Some nice light today walking the dog in the park, but it’s still freezing cold 🥶
I’m pretty sure it too early for you…
Finished reading: Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp 📚
Finished reading: Cross Justice by James Patterson 📚
A little pool of light
A little pool of light
Anyone for a pie?
Quick stop for a burger between hospitals
This weather really sucks
This post is less of a blog post and more of a recording of an idea I came up with mid-meeting. I was trying to explain how others should manage projects efficiently, ensuring they are clear on the desired outcomes and can measure them once the project is completed. Granted, this might be a bit out there, but it could help others.
Having a project is like following a recipe.
You find one you like; it might be something you stumble upon, or you might already have an idea of what you want to eat. Then, you create the recipe to achieve the desired result. In both instances, a good result is clear, and you know exactly what you aim to achieve from it.
The departments you need to pull into your project are like the tools you are going to use. You chop onions with the correct knife; you don’t give control over to the knife, you just use it to achieve the vision you have. You pull in your design team, use them to create the vision you have, while listening to their feedback and advice. They are the experts.
Then, you go through the recipe step by step, using all the tools at your disposal, and complete your project. You measure the results, both at the end and during the project. You might discover that you need a few more tomatoes or to chop the onions differently. So, next time when you want to replicate the same project or something similar, you can look at the results from last time and make the required changes.
You work slowly towards being able to pull together the best project you can achieve. You bring together all the parts, using all the tools you have to the best of your ability. Some might be automated; many might require following instructions, but in the end, you have something you followed through and can be proud of.
Now I’m hungry.
My new ride
Very apt that todays photo include working and rain. Two things that have dominated my first day back. So much for easing my way back in.
On Hard Fork, Casey and Kevin interviewed Open Ai CEO Sam Altman, before all the drama kicked off. It was a fascinating talk, more so listening after all the drama, I found particularly interesting his thoughts on the co-evolution of Ai. He comes across with well-balanced thoughts on the creation of such a societal shifting product as AI. In many ways, it reflects the evolution needed of all such products. They need to evolve alongside the community they are impacting to make the most change.
In the case of Ai, he highlighted the held beliefs that it should be worked on in private and then one day AGI launched to the world. Which clearly would be too much of a change too quickly. Instead, OpenAi chose to develop its products in the open and see what people thought and did with it. Which is a far better prospect than releasing a world shifting invention such as Ai overnight.
Society as a whole, or a large percentage of those exposed to, as with Google Glass, can, of course, reject things entirely. They can make clear that they don’t want this kind of product. That doesn’t make it a bad product, just too much change too quickly, or little perceived benefit. Which is why Sam was talking about the importance of these intellectual pieces of technology evolving in public.
Jack Goody and Daniel Bell coined the term intellectual technologies. They were both sociologists, referring to anything that could be used to improve our mental abilities — anything from an abacus, to a clock or a thermometer. Nicholas Car referred to the web as a new form of intellectual technology in his book The Shallows, one that is changing our brain both figuratively and actually. It is a new way of interfacing with the world around us, and so too are the new interaction methods for Ai.
The pros and cons of developing Ai aside, all of these advancements bring with them a new way of thinking and extending our cognitive abilities. The slow, steady walk towards AI being able to perform complex tasks is inevitable, however at least we have a chance to see how and where it fits into our lives. There will be upheaval, but by co-developing Ai with society as a whole, we at least have more time and space to work out where it will affect society most and cater to those effects.
The first time taking out my new Ricoh GR iiix and I got really lucky. We spent a couple of hours walking around the Victoria Embankment and river in Nottingham, with great winter weather.
My first impressions of the camera are really great. The image quality is amazing from such a tiny snapshot camera. The 40 mm focal length is perfect, and it is really nice to use. Choosing my photo a day shot might be hard for the first day of the challenge.
A few shots from some winter sun in Nottingham, and my Ricoh GR iiix.
A few shots from some winter sun in Nottingham, and my Ricoh GR iiix.
