Here I am at 10:38 PM, having only gotten home a short while ago and scrambling to find something that I can write about quickly for Blaugust today, but something still worthwhile. I don’t want to just phone it in. So I went scrolling through my many many many items in Drafts that I’ve tagged as potential blog post ideas. Tonight you get to hear about how I actually don’t hate the AirPods Max case.

I’ve had a pair of AirPods Max for 3 or 4 years now. However long they’ve been out since I picked them up shortly after launch. They’re certainly the best sounding headphones I’ve ever had, but I can’t call them my favorite headphones of all time. The weight and shape are both just a bit large for my head, and I’ve never been able to fully get used to that. But I’m not here to talk about the AirPods Max themselves — that’s a post for another day. No, I want to talk about the case for the headphones that shipped in the box with them. Yes, that one. The outright derided and eagerly mocked, “brassiere-shaped” bit of silicone-like Smart Case. (Which I only remembered by looking this up that it’s called the ‘Smart Case’.)

When it first came out, nobody seemed to like the Smart Case — me included. It felt kind cheap for such expensive headphones, only covered the ear cups, and (since the headphones don’t fold up in any way) didn’t reduce the size of the headphones for travel. I thought my primary use of the case would be to protect my costly purchase when on the go, and this one only covered a portion of them, for crying out loud. I almost immediately splurged on a Waterfield case that at least protected the whole widget, and looked and felt good while doing so.

But in the years since, I’ve used that Waterfield case less and less. I just don’t tend to bring my AirPods Max on many trips and that case is overkill for around the home. But you know what case does a great job around the home and for local travel? The flippin’ one that came with it! It provides casual protection for the more fragile and critical ear cups, while leaving the connector band exposed, perfect for grabbing as a handle!

Some other things I’ve come to like about the case include how easy it is to slide the AirPods Max in and out. There’s no zipper to fiddle with, just a simple magnetic flap (naturally) that holds the case around those earcups. And, despite a brief controversy shortly after launch regarding the AirPods Max battery life (people were finding that they didn’t go into sleep more reliably or quickly enough so the headphones were constantly out of charge), nowadays the battery life seems to be a total non-issue. After a firmware update that adjusted how quickly and to what degree the AirPods Max fell into a power-saving sleep mode. Chief among those triggers for sleep mode is when the headphones are slid into that case with its particular magnet arrangement. If the AirPods Max are in the case, you’re obviously not using them, so it’s ideal to have them power down. It’s essentially solved the battery issues that I was facing.

These days, I think rather fondly of the AirPods Max case. And I’m happy to admit that my negative first opinion has proven out to be wrong. If there were just one thing that annoys me still today is that it’s not obvious enough which way the case goes on. I know to match up the charging port with its cutout on the case, but I do it the wrong way often enough that I think Apple should have made it more apparent. Otherwise, I’m quite satisfied with that funky thing.

This is post #6/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Blaugust Reviews

My (not so subtle) attempt to someday be a guest on “the tech podcast that always has jet lag.”

Dan Moren: Do you Find My in its various incarnations for people, items, etc., and do you find it a creepy technology, useful, or both?

While I’m not a big user of Find My, when I do use it, I’m a big fan. The only person I share my location with full-time is my wife, and I only sporadically check up on her to see if she’s on her way home from work so I can start dinner (it’s funny how often that specific use case is cited when it comes to location sharing). I kind of doubt my wife ever checks my location.

If I’m visiting with friends, I’ll temporarily share my location with them for convenience of meeting up, but I don’t like the feeling that someone is looking over my shoulder and that’s kind of what Find My feels like to me. So I’m unlikely to leave that on, even though I don’t think my friends would abuse it in any way.

My wife and I do have a handful of AirTags spread out between our keychains, bags, Apple TV remote, bikes, and (yes) our dog. Tracking those items down is more common for us.

People can try to use Find My in creepy ways, but I think Apple has done a great job adding checks and balances so that creeps can be easily thwarted. (Tim Sweeney’s opinion that it’s creepy to be able to track down your own stolen items with Find My is…well, it’s something.)

Jean MacDonald: Is there any tech (device or software) that you use that you haven’t upgraded because what you have is good enough?

My iPhone 13 mini has been my daily driver for three years now, which is 1-2 years longer than my iPhone usually lasts. I used to be on the iPhone Upgrade Program which let me swap out for the latest and greatest each fall, but when I tried the 13 mini, I was smitten. I keep hoping they’ll revive that smaller form factor, but I’ve just about given up on that. With Apple Intelligence limited to the latest Pro phones, and presumably the entire lineup this fall, I sense a hefty Apple Store purchase coming my way. But I’ll dearly miss having a phone that actually fits my hand and doesn’t feel like a substantial weight in my pocket.

Runner up: My purchased-secondhand 2020 iPad Pro (which might get a third life if I hand it on to my wife).

Jason Snell: Will the advent of Apple Intelligence really make you use Siri more often?

I’m definitely going to give it a fair shake! I’m cautiously optimistic that Siri will turn the corner from butt-of-the-joke to widely-useful, but I don’t think it’s a sure thing. Apple is being given a very generous second chance to make a first impression, and I hope they don’t screw it up. Mostly because Siri, even as is, can be very useful but many people never think to try their questions and requests because they’ve been burned so many times before.

The opportunity with Apple Intelligence’s personal context is huge, but what actually gets me to use Siri more in iOS 18 honestly might be the ability to easily type out my Siri requests rather than speak them.

James Thomson: Have you learned any tech-related travel lessons lately that you want to share with the class?

I haven’t done a lot of travel lately, but my two biggish trips this year (a Las Vegas climbing trip and a speed-run drive through Canada to Michigan for my mom’s birthday) did teach me a few things:

• If you want to show off your fancy Vision Pro to a friend but be able to walk them through the interface by seeing what they see via AirPlay Mirroring on your iPad, you have to first make your iPad an AirPlay Reciever (Settings → General → AirPlay & Continuity → Turn on AirPlay Receiver). Otherwise, you’ll just look like a silly Apple fan with two fancy computers that supposed to work together but don’t.
• A full backlog of great podcasts will make a 12-hour drive fly by.
• One of those 3-in-1 charger things really cuts down on the number of cables and charging bricks you need to pack. My entire charger setup now is this 3-in-1 USB-C/USB-A battery bank/wall brick, a 3-in-1 tip-switcher cable, a 3-in-1 three-headed cable, and a 3-in-1 folding charging pad. I’m all about the multi-use items.
• An Apple Card is handy to have around when traveling internationally. No international transaction fees, baby! You just have to actually remember to pack the physical card (I never use it otherwise) and switch to it in Apple Wallet for digital purchases.

Bonus Topic: What city abroad have you spent the most time in?

I’ve done very little traveling abroad, so the one pool I can pull from in my honeymoon nearly six years ago. We first traveled western Ireland, but didn’t stay anywhere for more than a couple of days, so Hallstatt, Austria might take the prize since we spent the last four days of our trip there (it was lovely). Although, maybe Dorchester, Canada wins because I did a couple of International Scouting Jamborees there as a kid.

Overtime Topic: Do you yearn for AI companionship?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, no, I do not yearn for an AI “friend”. These Large Language Model chatbots are useful and fun in their own way, but I see them as a tool and not a friend or companion in any way. And other AI features are likewise handy, so I’m not against AI as a whole. But I think, except in specific use cases, filling the void of human companionship with an AI chatbot-enabled gadget is the wrong avenue, and the wrong use of time, money, and effort to develop it.

Until next time, watch what you say, and keep watching the clock.

This is post #5/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Crashing Clockwise Blaugust

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

1️⃣ You might have noticed another blogging community event, Blaugust, kicking off. I’ve written three posts for it so far (this will be the fourth), so…so far so good? I’ve you’ve been in a rut like me, this might help get the writing juices flowing again. [🔗 Belghast // aggronaut.com]

2️⃣ Regarding X’s reversal on the gun emoji, Stephen Hackett says it best. [🔗 Stephen Hacket // 512pixels.net]

3️⃣ I’ve tried Arc Browser in the past and bounced off, but Numeric Citizen’s post might have convinced me to give it another go — if only to try its new UI conventions. [🔗 JF Martin // numericcitizen.me]

4️⃣ I thought this Friend thing was a joke, but it’s not. No thanks, not for me. [🔗 Alex Heath // theverge.com]

5️⃣ For devices that won’t get Apple Intelligence, iOS 18 has seemed like a lightweight release, but after seeing all these little improvements, I’m pretty psyched for it. (I usually watch these round-ups on 1.5x.) [▶️ 9to5Mac // youtube.com]

6️⃣ Like many others, I find listening to lofi music helps me to get in the zone more quickly and focus on the task at hand, namely writing. The thing is, I don’t want hours of those tracks influencing my Apple Music suggestions and I don’t care to guess and check that the Listening History toggle is actually working. I tried out lofi.cafe, but even as a web app on the home screen, it can’t keep music playback going like other native apps. So now I’m trying Lo-Fi Clouds Radio, and I’m tentatively quite happy with it. It’s free, supports Split View and Slide Over, and the music is doing the trick. [🔗 Lo-Fi Cloud Radio // apps.apple.com]

7️⃣ If you see my rock climbing photos and videos and are interested in getting a better look at some of the routes I’m scaling, here’s a YouTube video from a different climber who climbed Quadrophenia, the route I did just yesterday. This Chris Granata guy has a number of other Adirondack climbing videos. [▶️ Chris Granata // youtube.com]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

This is post #4/31 for Blaugust 2024.

7 Things Blaugust

I know this old news by this point, but I hate leaving things unfinished. Therefore, over two months after the fact, I’m back grading the predictions I made prior to Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ event, in wish they debuted the thinnest Apple product ever, got crushed by their own ad, and expanded (rather than simplified) the Apple Pencil lineup. Among other things.

Let’s get grading.

1️⃣ Apple Pencil Pro — 👍

While it didn’t come with all the features I had hoped for, I got the name, haptic feedback, squeeze button, and magnetic charging all right!

2️⃣ OLED Screen for iPad — 👍

It was probably the surest bet, but still I was blown away by the specs of the Tandem OLED display. Can’t wait to see it come to more products.

3️⃣ M3 Chip Inside — 👎

I said it was a coin flip, and I guessed wrong. Apple leapfrogged the M3 chip and went straight to M4 with the new iPad Pro. In hindsight, there was too much smoke for there not to be fire with them debuting the M4 at this event. But still, the M3 only lasted seven months before its successor appeared.

4️⃣ Every iPad gets an update — 👎

So close, and yet so far. The base iPad didn’t get an update, per se, they just dropped the 9th-gen altogether so the 10th-gen could take the entry-level spot. And the Mini got no update whatsoever. I’m hoping out (slight) hope that it could get a more major update by the end of the year, maybe with that gorgeous Tandem OLED display? (A man can dream, alright?)

5️⃣ New “Pro” Keyboard Accessory — 👍

You know what? I’m going to claim this one as a win. Although “Magic Keyboard Pro” would have been a way better name for what they introduced, “Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro” is the official name for the newest keyboard accessory and it does include “Pro” in there. USB-C data pass through was really the only thing I missed in this prediction.

6️⃣ Mac Virtual Display — 👎

Nope. Basically no new functionality in the software for these new iPads, except for what you can do with the new Apple Pencil Pro. And after The Talk Show Live at WWDC this year, I’m no longer holding out hope for a Mac Mode on iPad. (Although creating a MacPad is ever more intriguing.)

7️⃣ Minimum storage space on the base-level iPad gets bumped up — 👎

Nope. Still stuck at 64GB or 256GB.

8️⃣ Goodbye Home Button — 👍

Yup! No more Home Button iPads for sale from Apple. And the 10th-gen iPad now holds down the fort at an entry price of $349, well below the $400 price tag I had expected.

9️⃣ Event video will be no longer than 45-minutes — 👍

Got it. This one lasted a little over 38 minutes.

🔟 “AI” will be said at least 15 times — 👎

According to a transcript (fittingly generated by an AI analysis of the event’s YouTube video), they only mentioned AI by name 8 times. So about half as many as I expected.

Final Result: 5/10 predictions correct. That’s about par for the course for me. But they’re fun to make, so I’ll keep at it.

Bonus Grading Of My WWDC Wish List

A Siri that doesn’t suck. — 👍

It’s hard to say for sure because I haven’t tested it myself, but I’m optimistically grading this one as a win because it seems like they’ve hanging their hat on Apple Intelligence providing “a new era for Siri.” And its new animation is hella gorgeous.

This is post #3/31 for Blaugust 2024.

WWDC Blaugust

First things first, a massive congratulations are in order for Marco Arment, developer of Overcast, for shipping the huge rewrite to his podcast app. It’s pretty cool that he was able to get it out on the 10th anniversary of app’s debut. Hitting those kinds of milestones isn’t important to everyone, but I understand why it was important to him. Marco has been working on this update for about 18 months and, as he noted in its announcement blog post, it sets Overcast on a new, modern foundation for faster iteration and feature development.

I’ve been using Overcast for all of its 10-year existence. With it, I’ve listened to thousands of podcast episodes and saved 1,142 hours (over 47 days!) of listening to silences in those episodes with its industry-leading ‘Smart Speed’ feature. I’ve learned, laughed, and loved shows and their hosts. It is quite possibly the app I use most.

Throughout those 10 years, I’ve dabbled with other podcast apps. I tried Castro and its unique queuing feature. I’ve tried the Apple Podcasts with its weird instance that I would continually want to listen to individual episodes of random shows rather than stick with the ones I’ve subscribed to. I tried Pocket Casts. I tried one called Airshow where its design looked amazing and had great ideas around chapters. I tried an unnamed Testflight beta of a podcast app. But I always, always came back to Overcast. It’s been fast, reliable, had the important features I cared about, and has always worked the way I think podcast apps should work (kind of like an RSS reading client, but for podcasts).

Overcast has been through major redesigns before, and although they can be grating at first as you grapple with your muscle memory for completing common tasks, they have all eventually felt right and become the new norm until the next redesign comes around.

The funny thing about this 10th anniversary release is that it’s not a major redesign of the app. The biggest changes are all under the hood, and the fact that Marco could get it to look and behave so similarly to the last version is quite a testament to his skill because, as I understand it, almost nothing of the old UI code remains in the apps. Sure, there are some notable changes to the UI (more slide up sheets for the Now Playing screen, controls, and show notes; horizontally scrolling playlist icons, a more colorful Settings screen), but overall its the Overcast you know and love. And yes, there are some missing features and bugs — because of course there are going to be some snafus in a ground-up renovation of a decade-old app. But I’m thankful that Marco only changed one thing — the backend — rather than also trying to rethink the entire UI of the app at the same time. It really is a new foundation. Now he can start redecorating and making new additions.

If you’re into hearing about the “why” behind the Overcast renovation, I highly encourage you to listen to Marco discuss it in detail on a recent episode of the Accidental Tech Podcast. I could feel the despair he described as he looked down the barrel of rewriting the entire app from scratch, a task that seemed insurmountable at the outset, but that he has now successfully completed. He’s not shy about admitting that the app has fallen behind in the last few years, but that he’s now enthused about getting it caught up with new features — something that he held off on in the old version because it would have only dug the old codebase deeper into technical debt knowing that this rewrite was imminent. He’s been developing Overcast for 10 years, and I’m willing to give him a grace period to get the app back to the forefront.

Now that I’ve prattled on for over 500 words about how much I respect this rewrite — even if its not exactly the chock-full-of-new-features update that we might have wanted — I’d love to share some short lists of the things that I love about the update and what I’d like to see improved. But first, if you’re like me and have been a happy Overcast user and willing to extend some grace to Marco as he finishes the second act of this rewrite, I encourage you to head to Overcast’s App Store page and give it a rating and review. Marco shared in a follow up about the update on ATP that his recent ratings have taken a nosedive as people displeased with the update have swarmed to express that displeasure. I’m certainly not unhappy with the update — like I said, it’s just a refinement of the previous design — and I know it’ll help both the app and Marco’s mental health to also hear from satisfied users.

Got that rating done? Great! Let’s get to the lists.

Likes

• The app is indeed fast. It’s always been the fastest app to see new podcast episodes, but now the UI feels extra zippy too.
• The horizontal playlist row. I have a lot of playlists, but only really use the first few regularly. I’m glad to have them take up less vertical space on screen.
• Smart Playlist management is way better. Priority ranking now has more options, and selecting included podcasts is much easier with a more compact view.
• The chapters list can now show longer chapter titles. They used to get cut off.
• Swiping gestures make the app feel more fluid and modern. I can make imprecise gestures to dismiss screens for example.
• The simplified list of ‘Current’ or ‘All’ shows in the main podcasts list. The “Inactive” tab was unnecessary.
• The ‘Undo Seek’ option. I’m so glad this works even when you’ve made an unplanned seek from the lock screen.

Dislikes

• Show notes take an extra second to load. This is the one thing that I’ve found to be slower about the app. It’s not a show-stopper, but when I switch the show notes view and see a blank screen for a sec, it really throws me off. I wonder if it’s fetching the notes upon my first request to view them, but it really seems like that data should be already waiting for me. (I’ve not heard anyone else mention this, so maybe it’s a me problem.)
• Losing the skip forward/back buttons on the minimized ‘Now Playing’ bar. I used those buttons quite a bit, and now I have to jump to Control Center or bring up the Now Playing screen to skip forward or back. When I just want to quickly re-hear the last thing spoken, I don’t want the extra step.
• The Sleep Timer is harder to use. It’s not hard to get to, but I use it every day and liked having it more accessible on the Now Playing screen. Marco has mentioned that it being buried further is a common complaint, and I expect it will make a more prominent return.
• The elimination of streaming means shows sometimes take longer to start. I understand and respect Marco’s decision to removing the streaming feature, but it does mean I’m waiting for shows to download more often than I was before. And since I don’t want my infrequently-listened-to shows to take up a bunch of space on my device, I had a lot of those set to stream. Better control over pre-downloading certain shows or playlists would make this problem mostly go away.
• Can’t skip or seek while looking that the chapters view. I like how you can seen progress through specific chapters, but without play controls visible, I can no longer easily seek within a chapter. (Showing chapter segments within the main scrub bar like Apple Podcasts does in the iOS 18 beta would solve this.)

Wish List

• More context menu actions. Long-pressing on a show or episodes feels like it should bring up some options, but it doesn’t.
• Quick actions from the app icon. I don’t understand why every app doesn’t offer quick actions when you long-press on its icon on the Home Screen. I want to quickly start playing from the most recently played list, start playing a designated playlist, jump into the search view ready to type, and maybe start or bookmark the currently playing episode or something. Or maybe start a new clip share from the current episode.
• More user customization overall. This is an app trend that I think Marco is missing. Let users customize which icons appear at the bottom of the Now Playing screen. I’d personally add the Sleep Timer and Share button, but I’m sure others might want the Star button or a way to quickly jump to the Podcast’s main page.
• A listened-to history view. I’ve pined for this for years. Sometimes I fall asleep listening to shows and wake up hours later with no idea of which shows I missed while I was asleep. That never feels good. Or I want to go find a link or share something from a podcast I just finished. Hopefully I can track it down via search or lots of scrolling, hunting, and pecking through the UI. A (7-day? 30-day? infinite?) history of every show I’ve listened to would be so helpful.
• Fun Spotify Wrapped-like stats. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I like seeing and sharing stats. Need I say more?

Even though it may look like I have many of gripes and wishes for future versions of Overcast, I’ll reiterate that I’m very happy with the app as it is. Marco pulled off a successful rewrite, and I’m still listening to many hours of podcasts every day with Overcast. Hopefully he’ll see these lists and make some of the improvements, but none of them are stopping me from enjoying the app. And I’ve very excited to see what comes next with the refreshed foundation ready for rapid development. Congrats again, Marco, and here’s to 10 more years!

This is post #2/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Apps Blaugust

There’s a bar here in town called the Waterhole that is cash-only. When we first moved here, I thought that policy was an inconvenience. I don’t tend to carry cash anymore and wondered why they didn’t “get with the times” and accept credit cards. Each Thursday night, I needed to remember to scrounge up some cash or hit the ATM before heading to see that week’s live band.

It’s not the “nicest” bar in town. They don’t serve food. You’d probably get a quizzical look if you ordered a specialty cocktail. You can get a secondhand high from all the weed smoked out on the patio. The staircase and hallways are narrow and there’s next to no seating. But their claim to fame is the killer live bands they bring in, and especially their weekly summer concert series, Party on the Patio. It’s an institution that brings people of all ages and all walks of life into town to let loose, catch up with friends, and dance. It’s a true watering hole. People love it.

It’s a husband and wife team, Kiki and Eric, who run the place. I can imagine if and when someone else eventually takes it over that there would be some changes. Maybe more chairs, or a food menu. Probably credit card terminals.

But I’ve come to see that decision, and many others, not as an oversight, but as an intentional choice with real benefits. Namely that it’s speedy and simple. There are no computers that could glitch or need updates and maintenance. No reliance on an internet connection. No one has to wait for a customer to juggle a wallet full of different cards when one gets declined. There are no open tabs for the bartenders to keep track of, or cards left behind. Everything is in service of quick service, so folks can get back to the main event: the music.

I’m all for the advancement of technology, and you know I love computers. But there are still places where the experience is better without them. It keeps things simple, if less convenient on the surface. And if new owners did come in with modernizations to the Waterhole, I would mourn the loss of what I now consider some of its charm. And even though it makes me feel a thousand years old to say it, I would be among those stubbornly professing that Kiki and Eric did it best.

This is post #1/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Blaugust

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

1️⃣ Parker Ortolani shared two music apps that you can still get today that showcase previous iOS designs in case you liked the old Music apps better. [🔗 @parkerortolani // threads.net]

2️⃣ Niléane is doing the thankless work of showing how Threads is failing marginalized communities. It sucks and Threads should do better. [🔗 Niléane // macstories.net]

3️⃣ Manton Reece shared a measured opinion on where he draws the line on mixing politics with business. It largely mirrors the way I feel about such things. (Sticker Mule crossed the line.) [🔗 Manton Reece // manton.org]

4️⃣ We’ve gone from an iPod nano with a strap to make it a watch to an Apple Watch sans strap to make it an iPod. Isn’t nature beautiful? [🔗 Allison Johnson // theverge.com]

5️⃣ I’d rather get DRM-free EPUBs for purchased books, but these new price drop alerts for Apple Books are pretty nice. [🔗 Ryan Christoffel // 9to5mac.com]

6️⃣ This Beeline cycling app looks super cool. Can’t wait to give it a try! [🔗 Ben Lovejoy // 9to5mac.com]

7️⃣ “Cate’s Brother” by Maisie Peters came out a couple of years ago, but I only just discovered it. It’s a real banger and my song of the summer. [🔗 Maisie Peters // song.link]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

7 Things

I’ve not been keeping up very well on noting here when there are new penpal entries, so I’m fixing that now! I’ve had the pleasure of writing back and forth with Justin Wong and Steve Ledlow over the past few months.

Justin and I wrapped up our extended month talking about summer plans and new things happening in our lives:

I landed a written job interview for technical writing. That’s been stressing me a bit, just because there’s a bit of pressure and there’s so many questions. I always overthink and overedit my writing. I’m overthinking this email!

Read our entire conversation →

And Steve, of Tangible Life, and I started talking about how life changes when school’s out when you have kids, vacation memories, and love languages:

My wife and I align on many things, but one of my favorite things has to be our feeling on almost every form of “holiday” other than birthdays.  They’re not really a big deal to us.  We don’t exchange gifts.  We don’t make Valentine’s, or Mother’s Day/Father’s Day or anniversaries a big deal.  Our anniversary just passed at the end of June and I was in St. Louis for one day for work.  We didn’t even remember that it was that day until someone reached out because it was a “memory” in their social media.  We just celebrate life every day, and attempt to celebrate one another the same.  It’s refreshing in a way that I can’t describe.  No obligation.  No expectations.  It only works because we both feel this way, otherwise it would be a complete fail.

Read our entire conversation →

I’ll probably be taking the rest of the summer off from PenPals once Steve and I wrap up our conversation, but if you’re interested in chatting with me later this year, please do let me know!

PenPals

Jeff Perry, writing for Clicked:

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump this weekend triggered a predictable firestorm online. As someone who’s spent over half my life in the broadcasting industry, I know firsthand how overwhelming these news cycles can be. From being a bystander online wanting to know what is happening, to being a news reporter trying to get the correct information as fast as possible, it is incredibly stressful during these times. But this time, something felt different for me. Scrolling through my feeds, I realized this wasn’t just another news event — it was a chance to rethink how we consume breaking news.

Jeff goes on to describe how he set an alarm for later in the day to catch up on what happened, rather than wade through everything spilling onto social media.

It made me realize that I treated this event differently too, but without conscious thought. I found out something was going on a couple of hours late (from Apple TV of all places), and almost opened Threads to “check the news”. Then I realized that I had no interest in heading down the algorithm mine shaft to seek out nuggets of truth and relevance there.

Instead, I opened Apple News, which had a helpful “latest” section on the shooting. I quickly caught up from reputable sources, and then closed the app. Later, when I checked again, I was pleased to see that the same section was still at the forefront and while there were a few new updates, the old ones were right where I left them. I felt no need to scroll and scroll.

I think I, too, will be sticking to this slower, more deliberate approach in the future. And it’d be helpful to have a similar experience available in other news and social apps.

Linked

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays (but maybe Mondays). Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ These crowdsourced captions for the Eddy Cue/Sam Altman photo op are quite humorous. 🤭 [🔗 @gruber // mastodon.social]

2️⃣ Microsoft has done a great job making their Surface products more repairable. I’m impressed by the QR code to their repair guide and markings inside the device etched there specifically to aid in repairs. [🔗 Shahram Mokhtari // ifixit.com]

3️⃣ I’m with Tyler Stalman in thinking this new Tom Hanks movie would be ideal for watching as Immersive Video on the Vision Pro. [🔗 @stalman // threads.net]

4️⃣ Jason’s short post is a good reminder that the internet is simply a reflection of our greater humanity. Not inherently good, nor bad. It just is. But I choose to return to find the nuggets that make me feel good. [🔗 Jason Becker // json.blog]

5️⃣ I’m with Matt here in feeling some frustration when folks say that Apple is introducing “actually useful” features with Apple Intelligence. Yes, ChatGPT (and the like) are command line-like in that you type out your request, but millions of people are finding use in that text box. And while a command line requires specific commands to be useful, chatbots are way more accessible as they let you talk like a person to it and still get useful things back. Apple Intelligence will be awesome for the personal context, but I think it’s foolish to say that it’s the first useful AI. [🔗 Matt Birchler // birchtree.me]

6️⃣ Similarly, I bristle when people say “there’s less good music than there used to be”. Maybe the music you like isn’t being produced as much, but “good” and “bad” music is entirely in the ear of the beholder. Nick Heer describes very well how our access to music is so bountiful these days. And reminded me that album releases used to be on Tuesdays, which I’d completely forgotten! [🔗 Nick Heer // pxlnv.com]

7️⃣ Congrats to the Inside Out 2 team on such a successful film (over $1 billion at the box office). I saw it last night and can confirm that it’s something special. A perfect sequel? No. But I felt seen in watching it, and I’ll be thinking about it for years, I’m sure. [🔗 Pamela McClintock // hollywoodreporter.com]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

7 Things