As 2019 continued, I wound up splitting myself in two—the feminine, true-to-myself version of me that I put into the world on nights and weekends, and the somewhat effeminate, but still masculine self I presented to the world during the work week. It became a relief to come home, strip off the more traditionally masculine clothing of the work day, switch to leggings and a t-shirt dress, and be a form of myself that felt more comfortable.
As 2019 progressed, so did my exploration. Living in New York City, I was lucky enough to have access to spaces where it was safe to explore my presentation, my identity, my gender, and I used those spaces to their full potential. The moment where it sunk in about what was missing and where I needed to go, came a few days before Halloween. I was going out to a dance party, and had decided to go out in “costume” as a stereotypical goth girl in a Wednesday Addams dress. In preparation, I bought a black wig, and shaved off my close-cropped beard. When I looked at myself in the mirror, clean-shaven, with the black wig, makeup, dress, and a padded bra, I could only say one word: “Fuck.”
As I looked in the mirror, the ramifications were clear to me, though I was hesitant to follow through. The person in the mirror was who I was supposed to be. The path was clear, but I knew I couldn’t yet walk it. There was fear, there was trepidation, and I needed to address those before I could even consider taking another step down that path. Despite those fear, I consider that night out to be the first time I went out into the world as myself.
This description of body dysmorphia hit me right in the feels. I’ve never felt this way about the appearance I present to the world, but I can imagine that needing to always pretend to be someone you’re not would wreak havoc on your mental wellness.
Happily, though, this story ended with a successful transition, and with support and acceptance from her family and communities.
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 LokiTVA retro device vibes from this, and particularly enjoyed the beige (lol), silver, and black color options.
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.
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!
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.
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!
I’ve been listening to Maisie Peters for a while now, and I wholeheartedly agree with Apple Music’s choice for her as their Up Next artist. There’s a video out for her Up Next debut, which is a fun watch. Of note, Maisie has partnered with Ed Sheeran for some songwriting and mentorship. I can’t wait to hear more of her creations!
Maisie entered my listening sphere last year with her single, “Favourite Ex”, which appeared in an episode of season one of Trying. I guess the show’s producers loved it too because she was asked to write the soundtrack for the entire second season. I don’t often save TV soundtracks, but Maisie recorded such heartfelt and poignant songs for the show, and I can’t get enough of it.
You might recall that Billie Eilish was an early Up Next artist, and we’ve all witnessed how she has rocketed into the stratosphere of popularity and accolade. Maisie and Billie’s music are worlds different, but both have that special something that captures attention and emotion.
Maisie’s debut album, You Signed Up For This, drops later this month. A few songs are already available for listening, and they’re excellent.
Now, research out of Iceland has found that working fewer hours for the same pay led to improved well-being among workers, with no loss in productivity. In fact, in some places, workers were more productive after cutting back their hours.
Work fills the time that you allot to it. It’s as true in theory as it is in practice. I’m always up for people rethinking how “work” should happen. The pandemic has given us all a lot to reconsider, and the how our workplace and schedules are just the tip of the iceberg.
We’ve all collectively made up the Monday to Friday, 9-to-5 jobs, and we can remake that schedule anytime we choose. It’s just that getting everyone in a large country to agree on anything is borderline impossible.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been settling into my new job, which does, unfortunately, prevent me from commenting as freely about the world of tech as I usually would. It’s a good job, though, and I’ve been enjoying it, so it’s worth it. I’m also excited to stretch my comfort zone to write more about my other interests here on this blog. So more of that is in the pipeline!
I made another trip back home to Michigan to celebrate my grandmother’s 85th(!) birthday. It was a whirlwind weekend, but it was so good to celebrate with family I haven’t seen in over a year. The timing worked in our favor too. A few weeks later, places are shelling back up against the COVID delta variant, and it may not be as safe for us to be all together.
Last month, I wrote about the massive spike in readers due to links from MacSparky, Matthew Cassinelli, and iPhoneBlog.de. Little did I know that a new piece was about to blow that traffic out of the water. I use the Drafts app daily and wrote about how it helps me to keep track of things. That setup post was shared by Drafts developer Greg Pierce and quickly made its internet rounds the next few days. I was blown away by the response and enjoyed interacting with a few readers who enjoyed the story.
I did not anticipate my Drafts post getting noticed, let alone resonating with so many people! ⌘
Speaking of Drafts, I’ve also had a bunch of fun writing, sharing, and iterating on a Drafts action that helps you to insert the current date into a draft in a variety of formats. It was my first attempt at writing something in JavaScript. I got some helpful suggestions from knowledgeable folks in the community and am very happy with how the action turned out. Here’s a bit from a post I made about it to the Draft forum:
I created my first scripting action today! It was also the first time I’ve ever tried to learn/use javascript, and I’m far more proud of it than is warranted.
My goal was to create a prompt that would allow me to choose from several formats to insert the current date into my current draft. I started with the Prompt action but couldn’t understand how to take the output of the prompt and change it into anything useful. All I could get out of the prompt was the text that made up the button I pressed.
So…I went down the (admittedly) much harder route and tried to figure out how to use a script to display a prompt and do what I wanted. It took a while, and with much referencing the example actions in the Directory, the Draft Script Reference, and this very forum.
I was delighted to be awarded‘New User of the Month’ in the forum. It inspired me to keep sharing what I create with the community there.
Apps I’m Trying
Just today, I’ve converted my phone, watch, and iPads over to the iOS and iPadOS 15 betas. I resisted putting my daily drivers on the beta thus far, but the software seems stable, and I like to keep my things in sync.
It’s been a quiet month for new apps, probably since most developers are busy getting their software ready for the big OS releases this fall. However, I am forcibly trying the HBO Max app since they recently ended the HBO Apple TV Channel. I was a proponent for the channel, which incorporated all of HBO’s content into the Apple TV app, with perks like using the standard video player and downloading video in one place for offline viewing. So now I’m back to a separate app for every service. Luckily I can still use the Apple TV app for finding content, even if it boots me out to the HBO Max for actually watching it.
Stuff I’m Reading
After the backlog of articles I had saved last month, I’m happy to report that I’m back down to under 40 things saved for later. I plan to clear the rest out over the next day and get back to a more diverse and regular reading schedule.
I do want to call attention to the Switch to iPad newsletter that I discovered via 512 Pixels this month. Author Thord Hendengren has been chronicling using the iPad as his primary computing device over the past year, and I’ve been getting a lot of value out of his stories. By using the 512 Pixels link, you can get a couple of weeks of free access to all the paid articles before committing to either the paid or free feed.
On Heavy Rotation
Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night by Bleachers — I’ve shared about Bleachers before. Frontman Jack Antonoff has connections to both Fun. and Taylor Swift, but Bleachers is all his own. Their latest album is tons of fun.
Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish — Like the rest of the world, I hurried to listen to Billie Eilish’s latest. But this album, more so than any of her others, benefits from a slow, careful listen. Billie (and Finneas, of course) have produced something mature beyond their years.
My wife and I are still trucking through Modern Family with just about one season left to go in the series. We’re also still loving Central Park, and are planning a rewatch after the second season finishes up. I finally finished the first season of Veep and started the second. I like the show, but I need to be in the right mood for its humor.
Physical — I mentioned this show last month but didn’t pick it back up until recently. Goodness, Rose Byrne is incredible in it. I ended up binging the rest of the season in just a few days and am glad it recently got renewed for a second season. The characters, particularly Shelia, Bunny, and Tyler, are surprisingly lovable.
Ted Lasso — Possibly my most anticipated second season ever. The first two episodes left my wife and me feeling a little uncomfortable since it felt like somewhat of a departure from the consistently great episodes of season one. But a tweet from Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard) calmed some fears when he revealed that they wrote the first three episodes anticipating that viewers would be able to watch all three back-to-back, as they could when season one dropped. I can confirm that episode three sets the show back on course.
Schmigadoon! — This dramedy/musical combo took me by surprise. Both in how funny and entertaining it was and how quickly it’s going to be over. Just six episodes to the season mean the finale comes out this Friday, and they have a lot of loose ends to tie up. It’s a fun watch, though!
Hobbies I’m Hobbying
Starting a new job has taken up a lot of my time and mental energy. So besides getting back into a consistent weekly running schedule, I haven’t been hobbying much this month. Well, I guess I’ve also been making some wallpapers and shirts and taking Phin to the local dog park. Once I’m out of training and my hours at work settle out, I’m looking forward to building trips to the rock gym into my week, too.
Written from Brunswick, OH 🗺 On a 2020 11-inch iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard ⌨️ While enjoying a Gin and Coke 🥃
From the very first episode, Ted Lasso has included a nod toward Twitter. At the time, Ted professed to not being on Twitter, but his stance against social media has taken a 180-degree turn since the show sprung into the mainstream. A new reference to Twitter was made in season two when Ted advised Sam not to believe everything he reads on the internet, citing the existence of a Twitter account for his own mustache as proof that it can be a bananas place.
If you use Twitter and have any sort of interest in Ted Lasso, you may have seen that the show’s characters are breaking free from the confines of streaming television to make a debut on the social network. It started with tweets from an official (and verified) account for Ted’s persona. It’s a delight. Ted tweets with his lovable voice, commenting on football news and making references toward things happening in the show. I particularly enjoyed a recent prank tweet from the account, which coincided with a “Led Tasso” takeover of the account for the day:
But Ted isn’t the only character with a persona that has extended from the TV show into “real” internet-verse. Two other main characters have accounts started, as well as another dedicated to the fictional football team itself. Here’s a list of all the official Ted Lasso Twitter accounts that I was able to find:
Coach Beard plays off Ted as well online as he does in the show. As the marketing guru for AFC Richmond, as well as an in-show influencer, it makes sense that Keeley has also bridged the gap to real-world Twitter.
I am in the market for a new chess partner. My former partner is…no longer available. So, if you live in the Richmond area and have a Class A chess rating or higher, give me a shout.
new season, new job, new twitter account for urs truly. cant have my bum all over my professional account n e more!! 😜 follow for branding tips and fit footballers xxx
What I’ve found most interesting about these Twitter accounts is that they post not only about content from the show but also about related things happening in real life. Notably, when Lionel Messi left the Barcelona team earlier this week, the Ted account played off the many suggestions that he was headed to play for AFC Richmond as a third ace. (The tweet has since been deleted, unfortunately.)
There are plenty of unofficial accounts dedicated to the show’s characters, but I’ll draw your attention to one that I’ve found fun to follow. AFC Richmond News (@afcrichmondnews) provides commentary on what’s happening with the team, in and out of their games, as if from a news outlet within the world of Ted Lasso.
UNBELIEVABLEPHOTO of “Lust Conquers All” star Jamie Tartt and former coach @TedLasso reunited. pic.twitter.com/KRtqumJuHx
The Ted Lasso characters are lovable agents for good, and it’s wonderful to “interact” with them outside of watching each week’s new episode. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other characters appear on Twitter as season two progresses and grows in popularity. I’d love to see Sam advocating for corporate policy change, Roy gruffly remarking on football games, and Rebecca and Flo “Sassy” Collins bantering back and forth. I say keep the Ted Lasso universe expanding!
In the meantime, I recommend giving those existing accounts a follow. And because I couldn’t help myself, I’m happy to introduce a new shirt in my Ted Lasso collection. This one, AFC Richmond Squad, is available on Cotton Bureau and lets you show off your love for your favorite characters from the show. It was inspired by the shirt that Jason Sudeikis wore in support of British football players who were recently grossly harassed online.
Black shirt with Ted Lasso character names in white text. ⌘
Written from Brunswick, OH 🗺 On a 2020 11-inch iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard ⌨️ While enjoying a Southern Comfort and Coke 🥃
I can’t even remember when I originally bought you, definitely late 2000s. Your print head had trouble with ink in your later years, much as my own head lacks for hair, but you struggled on regardless. You finally keeled over while I was fetching some more plain paper… but did you have to do that right after I’d changed the black ink cartridge???
I, too, had to replace a beloved printer earlier this year. It lasted me close to a decade, and through many road trips and abuse in summer camp offices. But printer must get some sort of sick pleasure at dying right after you purchase more ink because that’s exactly what mine did, too.
“No one else wanted to stand up to me because I was a big celebrity,” the Looney Tunes star added. “But LeBron looked me right in the eyes and asked, ‘What’s up, doc?’—and I could tell he meant it.”
The Onion with another winner. It kind of disturbed me as a child, but I feel like I need to check out Space Jam again.
Go behind the scenes of Hannah Waddingham and Juno Temple’s Variety cover shoot as they dish on their #TedLasso castmates and put their knowledge of each other to the test. https://t.co/KIsEeeVrPjpic.twitter.com/WWRJ1zlkru
This video is such a delight. I love seeing actors who are as good of friends off screen as they are on screen.
Countless folks, including myself, have tried to come up with ways to “fix” the new design and make it more familiar and comfortable to use. This is my latest try. What I wanted to do was to follow the same principles and aim for the same goal. A mobile browser that’s easy to use in one hand and one that makes switching between sites on the fly a breeze.
This is another concept that builds on the Maps app UI. I like the creativity and think it’s heading in the right direction.
Just this past week, I was in a lengthy family message thread, populated mostly with Apple device users, but with a few Android owners in the mix. And there I encountered the problem that has annoyed every iMessage user at some point: you respond to a message with a tapback (those handy thumbs up/thumbs down/heart/etc) and the message thread spits out “Dan liked” followed by the entire text of the original message.
My mom has become prolific at using Tapbacks. I really like them, but they do kind of get in the way in message threads with non-iMessage users. And emoji tapbacks would be awesome!
Even so, it’s also said to be the most revisited. Isle Royale “certainly gets a hold on people,” one park service employee told me. After years of wondering about the Isle, I finally went this May. But planning a running trip was full of uncertainties. Few runners visit on any given year, making reliable information scarce.
[…]
Once I set foot on the island, everything that felt uncertain shifted to possibility. The unknown became promising. I was happy to be alone, to have time in the wilderness to myself, to just be. I had changed my route three times, but after arriving the only plan was to not get injured or lost. I was on island time, and there wasn’t a mosquito in sight. Instead of a through-route, I opted for a series of base camps and long loop runs.
My first real backpacking venture was on Isle Royale with my sister. It was a high school graduation gift from her, and ended up being a transformative experience in my life. The peace and challenge I found in the backcountry there is something I long for on a daily basis. I’d love to get back to Isle Royale sometime, and doing some extended runs there sounds like a unique adventure that really appeals to me.
Thanks for reading! If you found these things interesting too, or have something exciting to share, please drop me a line on Twitter!
Never miss the perfect shot again with Fjorden, the world’s first pocketable, professional iPhone camera grip. Whether you’re shooting street, portrait, or travel: Fjorden lets you achieve your creative vision.
It’s not for me, but the Fjorden, an accessory that gives your iPhone DSLR-like controls, looks pretty neat. It’d be even cooler if it just attached with MagSafe, rather than a specific phone case. The Kickstarter has 12 days left if you’re interested.
In 1871, a woman from Quebec hired a hearse with the sole intention of riding around town smoking in the coffin-bed while enjoying the view. pic.twitter.com/HBp9E9kqQF
In a second step, once the faces were upscaled and aligned, Michael looped through all of the images and averaged them with a sliding window approach: Each frame in the video shows the average face of the last 60 faces. Or in other words, each frame shows the ‘average Noah’ over the last 2 months. With a video frame rate at 60Hz, this means Noah ages in this video 2 month every second, or 10 years every minute.
If you remember, Noah Kalina (whom I’ve linked to a few different times) did a project taking a picture of his face everyday for over 20 years. This is a new composite of those photos and it’s mesmerizing.
People are weird and irrational, and there’s much we don’t understand. For example, why do shoppers moving in a counterclockwise direction spend on average $2.00 more at the supermarket?
What will work for you depends on your industry, product, and customer. When you try to replicate what Valve did to increase their revenue 40x, it might not work for you, but then again, why not give it a try?
Here’s a list of pricing experiments and studies you can get ideas from and test on your own business.
Pricing strategies and human behavioral economics are fascinating subjects. This article breaks down different strategies to explain how and why they work. I’m keeping this bookmarked for the next time I price a product.
For a toymaker accustomed to manufacturing miniature cars and play-dolls, it was a challenge to make a realistic, functional mannequin; one that could reliably demonstrate the physical complexities of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Aside from the technical issues, what kind of face would he give to this giant doll?
That’s when Laerdal recalled a strange, enigmatic half-smile. A serene mask he’d seen hanging on the wall at his in-laws’ house.
An unidentified drowning victim, a model mask, a life-saving training doll. I’d never have guessed at the strange and mysterious origins of the CPR Annie doll that I’ve used countless times in first-aid trainings.
The numbers we’re used to examining, such as the number of women in agency leadership, the number of female creative directors, the number of female graduates entering the workforce - are all great when it comes to monitoring representation, which is critical, but they do not and cannot track the abuse which takes place behind the scenes.
Why? Because no one asks and no one tells.
Not a fun read by Zoe Scaman, but an important one. You and I each have a responsibility to keep our eyes open for misogyny, to shut it down, and to support those who experience it.
Thanks for reading! If you found these things interesting too, or have something exciting to share, please drop me a line on Twitter!
It seems to me that when it comes to Apple’s Memoji, you fall into one of two camps: you either love them, or you hate them.
As someone who falls squarely into the first camp — I’ve grown very fond of my Memoji and can’t wait for new clothing styles to be released this fall — I’d love for it to be easier to use my Memoji in more places. For me, once I’ve found an avatar image that I’m happy with, I want to use it everywhere. Anytime I need to make a new account somewhere on the internet, plop, in goes my Memoji. That’s why services like Gravatar remain popular to this day!
The good news is that with macOS 12 Monterey, we will indeed be able to use our Memoji in a new place: the login screen, and with a twist! Not only will your Memoji be able to be set as your account picture, but it will also be animated as well.
But I think they should be even more available. As it stands today, the process of saving a Memoji for use on the internet goes something like this:
Create and customize a Memoji to your preference in the Messages app.
Go into recording mode as if you were going to send an animated Memoji message to someone.
Make the pose that you want to capture, and take a screenshot.
In the Photos app, crop the screenshot to remove the superfluous UI. You’re left with your Memoji on a white background.
Repeat with different Memoji styles and poses if you’d like some options.
Pro-tip: Share all the Memoji screenshots to an “Avatars” Shared Album. You don’t need to share it with anyone else, but that album will be available across all your devices signed into iCloud. Then you can delete the originals from your main photo library if you don’t want them mixed in with your actual photos.
A one-stop shop for avatars I’ve used over the years. ⌘
What I’d prefer, however, is the ability to capture a unique Memoji pose, or choose from some presets, any time that I need to upload an avatar picture. I’d like to see Apple add a Memoji option to the file upload context menu. Not everyone uses or likes Memoji, so maybe that option only appears once you’ve configured a Memoji, or users could be allowed to turn it off in Settings.
Apple has clearly gone all-in on Memoji, as showcased by the last two WWDCs and yearly improvements in iOS and iPadOS. Making them easier to use in more places would help Memoji to become even more ubiquitous — good for Apple — and give users more ways to connect with their digital likeness, which they may have spent a lot of time customizing to get just right. A win-win.
Written from Brunswick, OH 🗺 On an M1 Mac mini ⌨️ While enjoying a Black Cherry Hard Seltzer 🍺
I’ve got to get something off my chest. It’s an inconsequential annoyance, but it bothers me nonetheless.
Why do so many apps show an age in the App Store that is far beyond their version history?
While not a given, I often use an app’s age in my purchasing decision tree to determine if I think the app will be (1) kept usable and up-to-date for the long term and (2) if the developer has some experience to back up their app. So if I see an app that is 10 years old, I have different expectations than if it’s less than a year old.
Lately, however, when I double-check by looking at the version history, the two don’t line up. It’s particularly noticeable when I read about a new app’s debut, only to notice an unexpected age on its page in the App Store.
Take Breathable, for example. By all accounts, it’s a stupendous app for providing high-quality widgets that display your local air quality index. I read about its introduction on Daring Fireball. Low and behold, it’s listed as 4+ years old on its App Store page:
Nope. Just a couple weeks old. The only explanations that I can guess at is either the Xcode project is just that old and that’s where the metadata is sourced from, or the app’s developer account age somehow plays into the calculation. But I couldn’t tell you, and that bothers me.
If I can’t use the app age metadata to accurately judge an app’s longevity, why does it deserve such prominent placement?
Yup. It totally is the age rating. A tap on the label (which I swear I’ve tried before) brings you down to more information which even includes a helpful “Learn More” link to read about the age rating groups. Mystery solved.
