7 Things This Week [#22]
A weekly list of things I found interesting, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
(1) Brief Reviews Of (Nearly) Every Mac Keyboard | D. Griffin Jones
Intel Magic Keyboard - On their way out the door of the Intel era, Apple has successfully made an unremarkable keyboard.
I rate it 4⁄5 stars.
Fun read. I’ve used maybe four of the keyboards on this list.
(2) Apple and Olivia Rodrigo encourage iPad creativity on TikTok - 9to5Mac
The TikTok campaign features the FacePaint feature in Procreate, which allows you to create and record illustrations that appear on your face in real time. Procreate is also highlighting the #MadeOniPad campaign on its Instagram page.
Holy smokes! I would have thought that this kind of animation would take days and be complicated to learn. Procreate continues to amaze with the power and capability built into such an approachable and affordable app.
Mac OS To-Go also includes “legendary Apple ease-of-use,” so unlocking the device is as simple as pressing the Apple logo button below the display. And if you’ve used a Mac, you’ll know exactly how to use Newton Phone.
I love alternate timeline concepts like this. 9to5Mac’s Parker Ortolani went the whole nine yards and imagined a phone, watch, and tablet based on Mac OS 9 and the Newton. I got real Loki TVA retro device vibes from this, and particularly enjoyed the beige (lol), silver, and black color options.
(4) Alfred 4.5 Released: Universal Actions, a Whole New Way to Use Alfred - Alfred Blog — Alfred Blog
With the new Universal Actions feature, you can select text in your browser, a URL in an email or a file on your Desktop and pop up Alfred’s Actions panel to choose what to do with your content. Start anywhere and jump into action.
This sounds an awful lot like Shortcuts actions. It’ll be interesting to dig into what Aflred’s Universal Actions can do. And more interesting to see if/how they work alongside Shortcuts in macOS Monterey this fall.
(5) Nothing is the most hyped tech company in years. Can its £99 Ear 1 buds deliver? — GQ
Could the next big thing in tech actually stick around for the long run? “A rational person looking in from the outside would say the chances of success are quite low,” says Wood. “But Carl has a deep experience of making products, getting his hands dirty and making decisions that are sometimes ruthless. I think they can be more like a Sonos than a Samsung.”
I was pretty skeptical of Nothing in the months leading up to the Ear 1 launch. But it sounds like Carl Pei has managed to pull off something special at an incredible price point. Creating two notable tech companies by age 31(!) is nothing (heh) to sneeze at. I’ll be following what comes next!
(6) How to write a good blog post - On my Om
A good blog post starts with a clever lead, or an anecdote, and in very short space, makes a case for what you are trying to say.
Om writes an engaging blog that is varied in its scope, so I was intrigued to see this post pop up in his RSS feed. After decades of writing professionally and personally, he has a lot of poignant advice to share. I’m keen to put them into practice.
(7) Linky App - Pragmatic Code
Yours truly, on Twitter:
I may be a recent convert, but I’m convinced that if you’re not using Linky by @pragmaticcode on iOS to share things to Twitter, you’re doing it wrong. This app is so good!
If you don’t use Twitter, I recommend giving it a try. For me, at least, it’s a happier place than Facebook. And if you use Twitter and iOS, do yourself a favor and download Linky. It makes posting photos and links so much better with the ability to quote (with highlightable text images), pull images from websites to attach the tweet, and automatically include the site’s page title. If you like to share lots of links, as I do, Linky will up your game.
Thanks for reading! If you found these things interesting too, or have something exciting to share, please let me know on Twitter!