Theory: Apple is soon going to announce a HomePod with a screen. People will want to see sports scores on that. The new Sports app is for that.
Microposts
I’m tempted to reset my iPhone and only install the apps I’m using to see how few apps I can get away with.
I would really like to be able to put apps in slide over on my Mac. Having Todoist there would be very helpful when I’m not plugged into my external display.
I finally have a new iPad to replace the one which died in early January. Realised how much I used the old one and my ancient MacBook Pro wasn’t able to handle some things I was doing. Been playing the new Affinity apps and they are very impressive.
I really wish Safari played nicely with all site or web apps. Having to run an app so that links for certain things (Monday.com and Miro) open in a Chromium browser is very annoying.
New iPad ordered and arriving to my local Apple shop on Tuesday. They had an offer with £75 off which was a nice bonus!
Apple bringing transcripts for podcasts is very cool. In fact the only thing stopping me from using the built in Podcasts app is the lack of a smart speed feature. I’m so used to having it that when I listen to a podcast without it it sounds really slow.
This week I’ve made a switch to Todoist, setup the calendar integration with Google and really leaned on their task durations. It’s worked really well for time blocking tasks in-between work meetings.
It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally I read something in the first lines of a post and can’t read the rest of the post because I keep going back to it.
In this case it was the first 4 words. I don’t want a productivity system, I want a creativity system.
I always enjoy a birthday list. This one from Jeff Sheldon has a few nice points and a few that made me chuckle.
Picked up a USB C dock that can handle all the connections I need. I love that I only have one cable to plug into my MacBook Pro now.
I want timers on my HomePod to be live activities on my iPhone. That would be a great enhancement.
My refusal to use Threads or X is making it much harder to keep up with sports (specifically F1) news. Anyone know of any good blogs I could add to my RSS?
It dawned on me this morning that we are in an election year. I’ve never been more disillusioned with UK politics than I am now. There seems to be no party that actually represents me, they all appear to be different shapes of the same blob with no real difference between them.
Had a lovely long weekend down in Cornwall staying in St Ives. Lots of fresh air, mostly good food, good company, and some winter sunshine.
Watching the sunset behind St Michael’s Mount whilst enjoying a Cornish Cream Tea was beautiful.
A long time ago I owned the domain electricweekend.com, just had a look to see if it’s available. Seems it’s now classed as a premium domain and is available for $4,480! Maybe I won’t pick it up to use as a blog.
Just discovered you can’t add a shortcut to standby mode on the iPhone. So you can’t quickly tap a button to run a shortcut, seems like a bit of an over sight.
Official diagnosis from Apple is my IPad Pro is dead. It’s either new iPad or new Mac… not an easy decision.
First day back to work. First job of the year: update all the software I kept putting off because I didn’t have time before Christmas. At least I get to enjoy a coffee while my work Mac goes about its thing.
Happy new year one and all! May 2024 be one of joy and fulfilled dreams!
In the middle of reading something on my iPad and it just turned off. It was plugged in and charging and now won’t turn on or show any sign of life… with my Mac so ancient that it only works plugged in I now have no reliable personal computer bigger than my iPhone.
Ventured onto Threads briefly. My word, it’s as bad as Twitter. Full of ill informed, uneducated, antisemitic posts. The few people that are capable of careful considered thoughts are drowned out. Social media has a lot to answer for.
Managed to follow @mosseri@threads.net on Micro.blog… let’s see how this goes.
Currently reading: Answering Jihad by Nabeel Qureshi 📚🎧
Finished reading: Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi 📚🎧
Wonderfully told and fascinating to listen to the journey of Nabeel. I only wish I could’ve heard him tell it in person.
Considering a switch to iA Writer for my writing. Something doesn’t feel right with Ulysses or Obsidian these days, I want something with the right balance of simplicity and features.
So how do we send a mention to someone on Mastodon from Micro.blog?
I think my coffee station has reached peak Jonny Ive… ☕️
I really don’t get this insistence by some Apple bloggers on referring to the iPhone 15 lineup as iPhones 15. It’s iPhone 15s, just as it’s MacBook Pros and not MacBooks Pro.
The October Declaration – British Friends of Israel
Signed. It feels feeble, but Israel holds a special place in my heart. It is not perfect, but one of the most important moments in my life happened there and Jewish people deserve to be safe in their homeland.