Guess who did some training this morning on influencing others…
I started using properties in Obsidian and it seems to be causing serious lag issues. Not sure what’s going on with it.
Went to London at the end of last week for the London Coffee Festival. Made a trip to Borough Market for the first time as well. Monday morning arrived and it’s nice to be on my own and not around people.
My work issue headset broke so I started to use my AirPods when on calls. I find myself forgetting that I have them in long after a call has finished and only realising when I go to scratch my ear. Starting to think they are one of Apple’s best products.
Accessibility, colours, and web aim lead to strange combinations… what web aim says is more accessible seems harder to read. It has me wondering which is true scientifically and how important intuition is in design vs what the data says.
I could spend all day reading Maggie Appleton’s delightful website. It’s such a pleasure to wander around in. I think it’s the kind of website I aspire to.
Google is effectively killing off early Nest thermostats, that’s not great consumer wise, but I’ve never understood the need for them anyway. If your house is well insulated it’s cheaper and more efficient to set a temperature and let your thermostat regulate when to heat or not.
Just over a year ago my iPad Pro died. I replaced it with a new one but debated getting a new Mac instead. I wish I’d bought the Mac.
Playing with Perplexities Mac app I asked it what the weather was. It knew where I lived and gave it to me in a nice card. I asked Siri and for some reason it gave me the weather in Texas…
This MacSparky video showing the Perplexity voice assistant embarrasing Siri is quite impressive. Apple still has time on it’s side to catch up, but I have wondered why they didn’t look to buy something like Perplexity to help them catch up.
It baffles me that none of the AI products have created an app like OpenAI have for macOS. It’s the only reason I use ChatGPT over all the others. There may be better services, but ChatGPT has productised their offering better than anyone else.
“But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know you are looking for Yeshua, who was executed on the stake. He is not here, because he has been raised — just as he said! Come and look at the place where he lay.”
Mattityahu (Mat) 28:5-6 CJB
He is risen!
In my work I have to generate a lot of fake data to populate designs, most of the time these have to look like real schools with student data that’s realistic. I used to use Harry Potter characters, but I’ve started to build my own fictional school with houses and key characters. It’s quite fun.
I finished reading: Getting Things Done by David Allen 📚
Today’s coffee is the last dose of an experimental lot from Colombia. It’s co-fermented with peach and smells amazing. ☕️
I really hate Outlook. It’s such a cludgy application, nothing quite works properly and what should be easy (adding a calendar of UK holiday dates) is down right impossible to find.
My data, any app
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Interesting post from Jim Nielsen about interoperable apps, although I’m not sure that’s the right term. When I first saw the title and screenshot I thought it would be a post about apps which work together well. Instead it’s more a post about flexible standards allowing for flexible user choices when interacting with that data. I love RSS for this reason. I use Feedbin to hold my data and then I can choose any RSS app I want so long as it allows me to sign in to Feedbin.
This article about The design game has changed and I don’t know where I fit anymore has resonated with me more than I expected it too.
Design isn’t just about designing anymore. It’s about playing the online game, building an audience, and becoming a content machine. It feels less about the work and more about marketing yourself.
This is the aspect I’ve always struggled with. There’s always been an element of this, but in recent years it seems to have grown more and more important. Ultimately I want to create things that help people, don’t have loads of corporate tape around them, and are fun to use.
My hay fever seems to be hitting particularly hard this year. My eyes are so gritty and heavy, it’s been a long time since it’s had this effect on me.
I’ve been reading Getting Things Done recently, considering that I’ve been aware of the system for 20 years this is the first time I’ve read the book. I wish I’d read it sooner rather than just relying on acquired knowledge from various blogs.