A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

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1️⃣ The idea that any species on Earth could be older than Saturn’s rings is absolutely bonkers. [🔗 phys.org] (via Jason Kottke)

2️⃣ I don’t use the Arc browser, but this showcase by Matt Birchler of the Boosts and Zaps you can do to webpages looks pretty awesome. The visual interface of just clicking the things you don’t want to see is so smart. [▶️ A Better Computer // youtube.com]

3️⃣ Elon Musk’s (and many others) facade of standing for “free speech” really grinds my gears. It’s too bad that terms like “free speech” and “censorship” have become so loaded and so widely misunderstood. They give me that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when invoked these days. The classic McSweeney’s dry humor takes the sting off while pointing out the absurdity. [🔗 Mike Langley // mcsweeneys.net] (See also, Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales’ response to Musk)

4️⃣ I’m fascinated by how Manton’s I-don’t-want-to-call-it-a-throwaway-post-but-I’m-sure-he-didn’t-expect-it-to-take-off-like—this post listing all the places he’s visited has taken Micro.blog by storm today. Check out all the replies to his post, and others his inspired. [🔗 Manton Reece // manton.org]

5️⃣ I happened across a sped-up version of ‘This Is The Life’ in a random Instagram Reel and then proceeded to listen to the normal version and faster one on repeat. I’m listening again now. It’s simple but there’s something extra catchy about it, and I like both versions. [🎵 Amy MacDonald // album.link]

6️⃣ Squarespace is now the granddaddy of drag-and-drop website building, but there’s a flashy new kid on the block. MMM takes the dragging mechanism to the next level with everything being movable to any arbitrary position. No snap-to-grid constraints. It’s a beta, but the demo edit page you can try is super solid and easy to use even on an iPhone mini. [🔗 mmm.page] (Via Vincent Ritter)

7️⃣ Lex Friedman’s Avenue Q audition saga has finally come to a close. It sounds like I wasn’t the only one on the edge of my seat wondering if he’d get a part. I won’t spoil it because the Your Daily Lex podcast episodes are super short, and it’s an entertaining arc that you should listen to. The final episode is linked. [🎧 Lex Friedman // lex.micro.blog]

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Take a Chance

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Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.

7 Things

Not too long ago, Greg Morris asked, “I need some more RSS feeds in my life. Who’s in your feed that you can’t live without?” I didn’t have an answer for him at the time, but it prompted me to start to build out my own RSS feed list with more diverse voices than I was used to getting. One feed that made its way into my RSS reader (and I wish I could remember where I discovered it) was the one for the top trending posts using Bear Blog.

I don’t know much about Bear Blog, but I understand it to be a drop-dead simple blogging platform. With little room for CSS tweaks or much customization at all, instead, Bear Blog simply encourages folks to fill the blank page with words and publish to the web. Bear Blog posts can be upvoted, or “toasted” in their parlance, and the ones receiving the most toasts each day end up in this RSS feed.

It’s a pretty genius idea. It’s like bare-bones blogging meets upvote-only Reddit. And since I’m subscribed to this aggregation feed rather than ones for individual authors, I never know what’s going to end up in my lap. It could be an intimate account of one’s day. It could be a brain dump for one’s personal knowledge management system. It could be a lovely short essay about the nature of blogging itself and sharing things online.

One thing that I appreciate about this random assortment of letters from the web is that they don’t all come from internet nerds like myself. Many of these writers just wanted a text box to funnel thoughts into. They didn’t set out to fiddle with their pages, themes, feeds, and links. They don’t worry about where each particular post should live. They just needed an outlet for their thoughts. They write about things far outside the tech-related bubble I’ve formed around myself. It’s refreshing.

I often find myself tapping through to get to the author’s home page and getting lost in their archives. Rarely do I subscribe to a Bear Blog author’s feed — I’m trying to cut down on inputs — nor do I read every trending post. But I can tell you that it feels like I’m opening a delightful little mystery box every time I tap into a Bear Blog post in my feed reader. You just never know what you’re gonna get.

Blogging

Jess Weatherbed, writing for The Verge:

1Password customers are finally gaining access to the passwordless future we’ve been promised. Starting from June 6th this year, anyone with a 1Password account will be able to save and manage their passkeys— a biometric-based login technology that allows users to ditch passwords in favor of their device’s own authentication.

“Finally” seems a bit harsh seeing as the commitment to passkeys by the major tech platforms was only made a year ago, and widespread rollout for the public to use them started just last fall.

But their announcement comes at a time when I’m reconsidering my 1Password loyalty. The only things keeping me there are (1) a pretty great discount I scored a couple of years ago (but will be running out soon enough), and (2) effortless password sharing with my family. And things like their “telemetry system” announcement that reeks of growth-hacky metric chasing actively push me away.¹

I’ve got my fingers crossed that WWDC will bring some iCloud Keychain enhancements regarding the latter (i.e. iCloud Family Sharing for Keychain). And since sharing would likely be free or rolled into iCloud+, the former would become a non-issue. Having my chosen platform, rather than a third-party app, handle creating/storing/auto-filling my credentials is ever more appealing.²

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1. I’ll concede that I appreciate that 1Password made the announcement at all and that they announced it while still beta-testing the feature only on employee accounts. But it still feels icky, and I’m sure is a direct result of their newish venture capital-influenced direction.↩︎

2. On the other hand, I’m all for 1Password making it easy for other third parties to implement passkeys alongside, or instead of, their current authentication systems. And that’s what they’re doing with Passage.↩︎

Linked

Michael Potuck, recapping a CIRP report on the best-selling Mac models for 9to5Mac:

When it comes to what’s most popular between MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, you might guess it’s the more affordable Air. But as it turns out, MacBook Pro is the leader accounting for 54% of Apple’s laptop sales which also makes it the most popular Mac overall.

For desktop Macs, iMac makes up 50% of sales while somewhat surprisingly, Mac Pro isn’t far behind at 43%.

Interestingly, Mac mini and Mac Studio are a tiny sliver of Mac desktop sales at 4% each and a minuscule piece of the big picture with just 1% each of total Mac sales.

We, Apple commentators, often bemoan the existence of the continued existence of the M1/M2 MacBook Pro with TouchBar, but sales numbers talk. Between its more approachable price point of a “Pro” level computer for consumers who want that distinction and businesses that feel like they have to deploy machines with “Pro” in the name, I’d wager big that the 13” MacBook Pro accounts for a surprising chunk of that 54% of laptop sales.

Still, color me shocked that the MacBook Air isn’t Apple’s most popular Mac model. It seems the Mac is following in the iPhone’s footsteps in that the Pro models which cost the most also happen to sell the most.

Linked

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays (and sometimes Thursdays when I’m camping in the boonies). Sometimes themed, often not.

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I just got back from an excellent camping trip down in the Smokey Mountains with my wife, sister, brother-in-law, and young niece and nephew. Sorry about the late post, and you can expect a return to regular 7 Things programming this weekend.

But in honor of that camping trip, here are 7 Things that I always take with me when camping.

1️⃣ Patagonia R1 Hoodie. My favorite piece of clothing, ever. It’s so cozy and versatile.

2️⃣ ENO SingleNest Hammock. Don’t let the name fool you, we (somewhat) comfortably snuggled me, my wife, and our niece an nephew all into one hammock.

3️⃣ Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol Pad. Honestly, this comes with me anytime I’m out hiking, too. It’s just so convenient to have a dry, comfortable sit pad that also doubles as overnight insulation from the ground. I use the small size to save bulk and weight.

4️⃣ Petzl Actik Core Headlamp. Don’t mess around with any other kind. This one functions with just one button (important when wearing gloves and don’t want to press the wrong one), has plenty of lumens, and can be powered by both Petzl’s rechargeable Core battery and standard AAA batteries.

5️⃣ Jetboil Stove Kit. I’m all for minimal dishes when camping. For most meals, boiled water is all I need so no cleanup is necessary, and the Jetboil is the best. For others, I can usually cook whatever I need right in the pot and eat out of it too. It also holds my lighter and spork.

6️⃣ Sea to Summit Aeros Ultralight Inflatable Pillow. It’s only recently that I’ve converted from a shirt stuffed with other clothing as my pillow to an inflatable one. It’s so worth it. And by worth it, I mean you’re carrying something that packs down to the size of a salt shaker, so it’s hardly noticeable.

7️⃣ Kobo Libra 2. I had to throw a tech thing in here. When I’m outdoors, I try to disconnect completely, so I get a lot more book reading done. The Kobo is my favorite e-reader so far. It’s waterproof, so no worries about it getting a little wet, and I can pack it with books (and Pocket articles if I want). This trip, I got a little further into Rabbits.

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Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.

7 Things Gear Favorites Camping

Right before WWDC always seems to be when my software paper cuts sting the most. It’s probably because the anticipation of secretive new features creates a Schrödinger’s Box of sorts: Since any bug fix or feature could be announced, it feels like all the improvements are possible.

This time, it’s a CarPlay improvement that I’m seeking. Rarely a major callout in the keynote, CarPlay did get its 15 minutes of fame last year when Apple pre-announced the “next generation of CarPlay” that will supposedly ship to real cars in late 2023. The fact that this major refresh and expansion of the CarPlay interface is slated for later this year gives me hope that all CarPlay interfaces will see some sort of update, not just the cars that support the next generation.

With all that said, I should probably get to the actual request: Apple, please let me customize the default Maps search items in CarPlay. Here’s what bugged me over and over again on my recent 2,000-mile road trip.

When I’m driving, I want my distractions from the road to be at a minimum. That’s the whole point of CarPlay, to be a quick and easy interface to use rather than fiddling with other less intuitive car software or your actual phone. So, when I need to add a stop to my existing route, I’d like to make as few taps as possible.

There are only a few things that I ever search for while driving: gas stations, fast food, rest stops, and hotels. Only one of those items, gas stations, is surfaced by default in the Maps search interface. I never search for groceries or coffee, and I’ve never trusted the parking option enough to try it.

You’re Holding It Wrong

I expect that Apple’s intent is for Maps to learn what you search for over time, and then surface those options. But that, by definition, takes time and I shouldn’t have to wait for my phone to “figure it out”. I should be able to specify a few search terms that I always want at my fingertips. I’d even settle for a sortable list of Apple’s presets where I can put the most important ones to me at the top.

Yes, I could use the ‘Ask Siri’ button at the top to search for any business or type of stop. But I often have sleeping passengers on road trips whom I’d rather not awaken with the Siri chime or by annunciating my request loudly into the car’s cabin. And even if I did, Siri is inconsistent. It often doesn’t search for the right thing, or it takes too long and I miss my turn. Dedicated buttons are more reliable, and therefore are faster and less distracting, which is what I desire when operating a large metal tube at high speed.

So, I’m putting in my request to the all-powerful software development team in Cupertino, please let me customize your software more to how I know I actually use it.¹

A Potential Workaround

In the meantime, and if Schrödinger’s Software doesn’t come to my rescue, I suppose I’ll resort to using the Shortcuts app to create a preset Maps search and hope that (1) Siri will understand me when I request it, and (2) that it adds in the stop appropriately to my existing route. Perhaps this will be an opportunity to test hot-swapping Action Button actions with the current context. I can imagine pressing the Action Button on my Apple Watch Ultra to run a shortcut that checks for your Driving Focus and then presents the appropriate shortcuts (like a rest stop search) for a quick and silent launch.

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A few minutes later…

Okay, so I took a few minutes and built just such a shortcut system. There are, so far, untested while driving, but I expect them to work. Just make sure your Driving Focus is set to enable when plugging into CarPlay and disable when disconnecting using Shortcuts automations.

Get the ‘Action Button’ shortcut. I have this shortcut set to run when I press the Action Button on my Apple Watch Ultra², but you could also install it on your home screen, as a widget, or to start with Back Tap. It first checks the current Focus, and if it’s a Driving focus, then it presents a menu of map searches. For it to work, you’ll need to also install the following two shortcuts. (I designed it this way so that I could also just shout to Siri, “Hey Siri, find a rest stop.”)

Get the ‘Find a Rest Stop’ shortcut. Searches for rest stops within 20 miles, has you choose one from the list, and starts driving directions to it.

Get the ‘Find Fast Food’ shortcut. Searches for rest stops within 20 miles, has you choose one from the list, and starts driving directions to it.

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1. While we’re making CarPlay enhancement requests, I’ll also throw my hat in the ring with Stephen Hackett, who wishes for CarPlay to better adapt to large screens. As someone who also recently purchased a vehicle with a screen bigger than the biggest iPad, the stretched nature of the CarPlay interface leaves much to be desired.↩︎

2. You’re also getting a sneak peek at a future blog post topic in which I explain how I’m using the Action Button and Shortcuts to make starting common actions on my watch more frictionless.↩︎

Shortcuts

First, publicly backing CarPlay, and now adopting the Tesla charging plug standard. This is the second time in as many weeks where I’ve been nodding my head in agreement with a Ford decision. It shouldn’t be a surprise when an auto maker commits to logical, consumer-first choices, but at least it’s a happy surprise.

Call me optimistic, but with Tesla opening up their Supercharger network and Ford throwing their weight behind it, United States may yet get — ahem — into gear and build a functional nationwide electric vehicle charging system.

Update (2023-06-11): The next domino, GM, has tipped.

Linked

Here’s a glimpse of my second exchange with José, as summarized by ChatGPT:

Jarrod expresses gratitude to Jose for participating in their letter exchange project, sharing excitement about the collaboration. José reciprocates birthday wishes and provides insights into his life in Puerto Rico, emphasizing his geekiness and professional journey from Graphic Design to Product Design. The conversation delves into recent trips, with Jarrod discussing his Outer Banks vacation and José mentioning his plan to visit Disneyland for their fifth wedding anniversary. Condolences are extended for the loss of Jarrod’s aunt. The discussion shifts to Ed Sheeran’s new album, and José poses questions about the origin of “HeyDingus” and Jarrod’s daily routine. Jarrod explains the evolution of HeyDingus, its inspirations, and contemplates potential changes. He describes his typical day, incorporating work, outdoor activities, and leisure time. Jarrod closes the letter with questions about board games and non-tech hobbies, expressing excitement for the ongoing exchange.

Read the entire conversation →

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If you’d like to be a penpal for this project, please reach out! I’d love to get you on the schedule.

PenPals

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

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1️⃣ I’m a sucker for a good desk setup post, and José Muñoz brought his A-game with this retrospective on a decade of using the Thunderbolt Display. It’s equal parts a love letter to that iconic piece of hardware and a fun progression of how it fit into his ever-evolving desks and office spaces. [🔗 José Muñoz // josemunozmatos.com]

2️⃣ Love this idea. If all the event invitees swipe left to say they don’t want or need the meeting, it’s canceled. [🔗 meetcala.com] (Via Matt Birchler)

3️⃣ Let’s see how Daisy, Apple’s recycling robot, is coming along! [▶️ Fully Charged Show // youtube.com]

4️⃣ One thing that ChatGPT excels at is providing endless options for a themed request. Case in point, this incredible list of letter sign-offs that’s ready for nearly any situation. [🔗 Shaun Usher // news.lettersofnote.com]

5️⃣ It’s absurdly easy to get lost in this delightful list of collective nouns. “A menagerie of animals” and “A parade of penguins” always get me. And for moms this Mother’s Day, I give you “A consternation of mothers” and “A mutter of mothers-in-law”. [🔗 wiktionary.org]

6️⃣ The method and visuals that go along with this music-from-text-prompt-generator tool are more impressive than the actual music it creates, but I still spent quite a bit of time noodling around with it. “Techno DJ and a country fiddle” is pretty good. [🎵 riffusion.com]

7️⃣ Take one minute, really just one, and play this little lovely game. You’ll smile at the end, guaranteed. [🕹️ Nicky Case // ncase.me]

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Take a Chance

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Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.

7 Things

Jay Peters, writing for The Verge:

Encrypted DMs currently have a few limitations and a very big flaw. […] Twitter warns that it doesn’t have protections against man-in-the-middle attacks. “As a result, if someone — for example, a malicious insider, or Twitter itself as a result of a compulsory legal process — were to compromise an encrypted conversation, neither the sender or receiver would know,” Twitter says.

I’m no expert, sure, but that… doesn’t sound like end-to-end encryption to me.

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UPDATE: It doesn’t sound like E2E encryption because it’s not. I read “encrypted message” and hallucinated “end-to-end encrypted” the whole time, even though The Verge’s article was correct. From Twitter’s support document:

Twitter seeks to be the most trusted platform on the internet, and encrypted Direct Messages are an important part of that. As Elon Musk said, when it comes to Direct Messages, the standard should be, if someone puts a gun to our heads, we still can’t access your messages. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re working on it. Until then, here is the Encrypted Direct Message we are releasing - a new way of communicating on Twitter that will appear as separate conversations, alongside your existing Direct Messages in your inbox.

My bad. However, I do wonder how many people will use Encrypted Direct Messages mistakenly assuming it’s E2E, since that’s the gold standard and all the buzz these days. Should Twitter have waited until they could deliver the good stuff?

(Thanks Greg!)

Linked