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.
I’m starting to come to the conclusion that what I really want is a Mac in an iPad form factor. Or smush the two together so I have the best of both worlds.
When you Cmd-Q instead of Cmd-W in Safari… 😩
Local coffee shop has added a 90 minute limit on their WiFi and I don’t blame them. I rarely work in a coffee shop for longer, but I’ve seen people there all day and only buying one coffee. These small businesses can’t afford such behaviour.
Jamie calls it Shower Brain, for me it’s driving brain.
people’s tendency toward insightful or analytical thinking is evident during “resting-state” brain activity–while a person relaxes with no task to perform or expectation about what is to come.
When I had an hour long commute either end of the day, I would find breakthroughs in projects would come more readily. Now I no longer have a commute I find motorway or “big road” drives have the same effect. The task requires concentration but on a level that has become second nature to me, my mind can then work on things without my realising it.
The personal blog
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Where I reminisce about personal blogs, and celebrate their renaissance.
Any recommendations for general tech news websites to replace The Verge?
The cactus I bought with my Grandad when I was 4 years old has died, taken by stem rot. Chopped off a couple of bits that still seem healthy in the hope of being able to plant them but it doesn’t look good. Sad times. 36 years we’ve been together.
Today’s coffee is extremely funky! Smells amazing, but might be a bit to much processing for my tastes… ☕️
Dave Rupert in a post about taste:
when the website adds a fifth, seventh, twelfth ad… I know a person who lacks taste is at the wheel. I can feel it in my bones when an app or website has prioritized revenue over user experience. A person without taste or high emotional intelligence broke the unspoken contract we had built on mutual respect.
In my role as a UX/UI designer I increasingly see my job as being a champion of taste. For the majority of users on the web the user experience is good, most businesses have gotten the hang of providing easy paths for users to do things. I now spend a reasonable amount of time championing good taste as a defence of the experience.