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

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iOS and iPadOS 15 dropped a few weeks back, and I think they’ve been terrific releases with lots of quality-of-life features. Here’s a quick roundup of things that I find useful almost every day:

1️⃣ Turn off dynamic head tracking for audio-only sources with Spatial Audio

Spatial Audio debuted for music earlier this year, and I thought it was great! The only downside was that at some point, Apple turned on the dynamic head tracking feature — the one that makes it sound like audio is being projected from your device when you turn your head — for music as well as video. For videos, it works well as a convincing recreation of watching in a theater-like environment with sound projected from a fixed point in space. For music, it’s super distracting and disorienting. I like my music to come across as if from all around me, and not to change as I move about the house.

Luckily, in iOS 15 you can delve into the Accessibility settings for AirPods and change the preference for Spatial Audio Head Tracking to “Off”, “Video Content”, or “Audio & Video Content”. I changed all my devices to “Video Content” and then breathed a sigh of relief.

UPDATE: One day after publishing this story, Apple released iOS 15.1, which moved where to change this setting. It’s even better now that it’s available in Control Center:

2️⃣ Drag and drop is available system-wide on the iPhone

Ever since full inter-app drag and drop was introduced for the iPad, the iPhone has been left out of the party. Sure, you could drag content within one app, but holding onto it while switching to the Home Screen or another app was a no-go. With iOS 15, you can now drag everything around just like on the iPad.

As an example, the most reliable way that I have found to add a bunch of photos into a Shared Album is with drag and drop from the Files app or the library view of the Photos app into the preferred Shared Album. This was a task that I usually saved up to do on the iPad. Now it’s just as easy to accomplish on the iPhone.

3️⃣ Spotlight gains new superpowers

Spotlight, the system-wide search field and launcher, is probably the most underutilized feature of iOS and iPadOS, likely because it’s mostly hidden from users. The easiest way to use Spotlight has historically been with an external keyboard (⌘-Space). While I wouldn’t say that Spotlight has been highlighted to users in this newest release (contrary to many other apps and features that get a splash screen on first launch), I am hopeful that more users will stumble across it because it’s now available in more places. With the same swipe-down-from-the-center-of-the-screen gesture that has worked on the Home Screen for years, it can now be accessed from the Lock Screen and Notification Center. Since Notification Center can be activated from within apps, that means you no longer have to go back to the Home Screen to pop up the search field.

Furthermore, the things you can do with an app found with Spotlight just got better too! It’s now possible to drag that icon from Spotlight to a new position on the Home Screen (way better than getting it from the App Library), and use any of its Quick Actions. That means, yes, you can now delete an app from your phone just by searching for it, pressing and holding on its icon in Spotlight, and then tapping the “Delete App” button. That ability joins deleting apps from the Updates page in the App Store as a hidden but useful way to get rid of crufty apps.

4️⃣ Return of the Loupe

The magnification loupe left us some time ago, but has now returned. When you long press in a text field, a new elongated magnification loupe once more pops in to aid you in getting the cursor right where you want it. We missed you, Loupe! 🧡

That was quick, so here’s a bonus: This has worked ever since the days of 3D Touch, but I’ve found that many folks don’t know they can long press on the keyboard spacebar and then drag their finger around the keyboard like a virtual trackpad to move the cursor around. It’s super convenient, and, yet, to this day it makes me grieve for 3D Touch and its intuitive text selection method using harder or softer presses into the keyboard. Text selection is still possible without 3D Touch, but with far more difficulty.

5️⃣ Live Text bridges the divide between the physical and digital worlds.

Arguably the star of iOS 15, Live Text makes printed and handwritten text in the physical world actionable from your device. Pointing your camera at text on a page or sign makes it selectable to be copied or otherwise used in the digital world. Things like addresses and phone numbers are automatically identified by the system, and then become tappable just like digital text so that you can navigate or call with just one touch.

My favorite use of Live Text so far, tough, is mundane but helpful. I use it to get long promo codes, tracking numbers, receipt numbers, and more into their appropriate fields on websites without needing to double-check my typing. It just works!

students are starting to steal each other’s notes with iOS 15 and it’s… kind of genius pic.twitter.com/klE992DuBn

— juan (@juanbuis) October 14, 2021

6️⃣ Focus modes bring context to my digital life

I’m a heavy user of Do Not Disturb, and have been for years. With Focus, I can now fine tune which apps and people can alert (read: distract) me in the various contexts of my life. At work, I see my work apps and they’re allowed to show notifications. When I’m driving, only close family and friends are able to ring through, along with my gig work apps. In Sleep mode, nothing is allowed (except my wife, who I always want to be able to contact me, no matter the mode).

I’ve got more for modes like writing, and another more general Do Not Disturb. One of the killer features is firing off actions when entering a focus mode. For example, starting my work one shows my work Home Screen and changes my Apple Watch face.

Setting up Focus modes is fairly straightforward, and I encourage everyone to check it out.

7️⃣ Share any iCloud+ plan with Family Sharing

And finally, an iOS feature that can actually save you money rather than spend it. It used to be that in order to share a bucket of iCloud storage data, you had subscribed to at least a 200 GB plan, which comes in at $2.99 per month at the time of writing. However, with the advent of iCloud+ and iOS 15, I’m thrilled to see that Apple has removed that restriction, and now any iCloud+ plan can be shared using Family Sharing, which includes the $0.99 per month plan for 50 GB. I see many small families that don’t need more than 50 GB yet, so I’m really happy that I can point them toward using Family Sharing and canceling the additional or excessive plans they no longer need.

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed these links, or have something else neat to share, please drop me a line on Twitter or shoot me an email!

7 Things

Mike Rockwell on his blog, Initial Charge:

I buy just about all the music I listen to and store them in a Plex library. On my iPhone and iPad, I use Prism and on Apple TV and Mac I use the Plex app. But on my HomePod’s, I have to rely on AirPlay. It works, but there’s no way to start a specific song or album by voice unless I purchased it on iTunes.

At first I thought the Voice Plan for Apple Music was a laugh (and to friends I likened it to the buttonless 3rd-gen iPod Shuffle). But the more I’ve considered it, and come across use cases like Mike’s, the more I think it was a clever move on Apple’s part. Imagine you’ve been gifted a HomePod mini. What do you do with it if you’re not already an Apple Music subscriber? The barrier to entry has been halved to just $5 a month to vastly expand how that gift can be used.

Go to the linked site →

Linked

Welcome to the first installment of Challenge! This is a series in which I regularly push myself to try something new. It’s loosely based on the (excellent) Do By Friday podcast with Alex Cox and Merlin Mann, which I’ve followed and loved for years.

I haven’t always been proactive about expanding my comfort zone, so this is an attempt to make a change by using you, dear reader, as my form of accountability. First, I’ll tell you about how the challenge went, what I enjoyed (and didn’t), and if I think it’ll fit into my life long-term. Then, at the end of each post, I’ll let you know what the next challenge will be if you want to join me.

Let’s get started!

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A Brief Review of My History with Fitness 🏃

For most of my life, I haven’t had to think much about staying fit. The activities I gravitated toward were intrinsically active, and I’ve enjoyed running for fun ever since my year of cross country in middle school. But my metabolism has naturally declined as I’ve gotten older, and my job took more and more time away from the hours I used to spend hiking, backpacking, and rock climbing. This meant over the last couple of years, I’ve had to start watching my diet and exercise more regularly to stay in shape.

I should stay; I’ve had to try to exercise more regularly. The thing is, fitness kicks have always come in fits and spurts for me. I’ll get really into it for a few weeks or months and then stop cold turkey without really meaning to. That means I’m always looking for new workout options that I can drop into when I get bored or burned out. Here are a few things that I switch in and out of throughout the year: road and trail running, indoor biking, Apple Fitness+, the 7-minute workout, and rep-based bodyweight workout plans. You’ll notice that all of these have something important in common: they require minimal equipment and can be done from the comfort of my home. Actual gym equipment is intimidating, overwhelming, and just generally a non-starter for me.

Enter the Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure 😅

My insightful wife gave me the Ring Fit Adventure for Nintendo Switch as an anniversary gift a few weeks ago, and I was psyched to give it a try. But what is it? Just a resistance ring (called the Ring-Con) with a Joy-Con connector, a leg strap that holds the second Joy-Con, and the game itself. That’s it! Upon starting the game on the Switch, I was guided through attaching my Joy-Cons to the ring and strap (Pro-tip: cinch the leg strap on tightly against your skin, even if it’s under your workout shorts. Otherwise, it slides down.) and was off to the races.

If you’re thinking, “Hey, wasn’t there some other Nintendo fitness thing that tried to gamify exercise,” then you’d be right! When I was growing up, my family had the Wii Fit, which used a balance board and other accessories. I can tell you straight up that the Ring Fit is much better and more straightforward with just the ring and a leg strap. But I find it interesting to think about how technology has served as a good motivator. If I’ve got a gadget to try out, whether it’s a system like the Ring Fit Adventure, new headphones, or even apps, social challenges, or a built-up streak, I’m way more likely to jump into a workout.

Playing? Exercising? Can’t It Be Both? 🤷‍♂️

So far, the experience of “playing” the Ring Fit Adventure game leaves a little to be desired as a 27-year-old man. Partly because I’m barely into the storyline, but also because the game is clearly designed for kids. I don’t say that as a knock against it; I knew that going in, but it’s worth mentioning. A brief synopsis: you, the main character, team up with ‘Ring,’ your exercise mentor/magic ring, in order to beat (and reform?) a muscular monster who had been Ring’s protégé and is now terrorizing the land. You run (jog in place) through each level while blasting away obstacles, vacuuming up coins, and flying through the air by turning, squeezing, and pulling on the ring in your hands. At several points, you encounter monsters that need to be defeated by correctly performing a (surprising) number of reps of various exercises like squats, leg lifts, overhead presses, and more. Each of the early levels ends up being about a 1/4 mile jog, with 10-20 minutes of exercise in total.

A few other observations:

• It’s accurate! I was surprised as to how consistently it matched my actual movements on screen. The IR heart rate sensor also consistently detects a rate that’s in line with my Apple Watch. (By the way, I start a Mixed Cardio workout on my watch to get credit there. It seems like the most relevant workout type available.)
• The ring offers more resistance than I expected, especially for a game that is supposedly designed for kids.
• I appreciate that the game always offers warm-up and cool-down stretches. You can skip them, but I don’t.

Enough description, here’s the brass tax:

The Good 👍

• It works. Every time I play, I feel like I’m getting a proper, full workout. I’m sweating, sore, and out of breath.
• It’s engaging. I rarely look at the clock during the workout, probably because I’d miss a coin or run into a barrier.
• The interaction method adds to the workout. All the interactions like making menu selections or moving forward through dialog require a squeeze or press of the ring, which adds up!
• It’s perfect for morning workouts. Since getting started is as quick and quiet as plugging in the Joy-Cons and turning on the TV, I can exercise without disturbing my wife, even if she’s sleeping in the adjacent room.
• I can multitask while working out. And by that, I mean I can listen to other music or podcasts while playing since everything is demonstrated or written out onscreen, unlike Fitness+, where I have to listen to the instructors to get the full effect.

Room for Improvement 👎

• It’s got a pretty simple storyline. There’s not a lot of nuance to the story, which means it can feel receptive from level to level. Not a dealbreaker by any means, but I do hope that things will get a little more complex as I progress through the game.
• Exercises are also repetitive, even in Shuffle mode. When battling monsters, you can either choose the exercise or have the system select randomly for you. But it feels like the shuffled selections are anything but random. This, again, is probably a byproduct of not having gotten too far into the game yet, and I’m confident that more variety will be added throughout the journey. If not, I’ll just have jacked triceps from all the overhead presses I’m doing.
• In the same vein, I’m hoping there will be more creative ways to use the ring in addition to all pulling and squeezing. I don’t know what it could be, but my hopes are nevertheless high.

Going Forward ➡️

As you can probably gather, I’m planning on sticking with the Ring Fit. I want to see how the story plays out, and I’ve enjoyed each of the 30-40 minute workouts I’ve done with it so far. As the months turn colder and the days get shorter, I’m expecting the Ring Fit to be a great option to stay active while indoors this winter. And when I’ve worked my way through all the levels, there are still mini-games to come back to time after time. This last bit is significant because, as I mentioned above, when I inevitably fall off the Ring Fit game, it will be nice to have a way to ease back in.

All in all, I’m super pleased to have the Ring Fit Adventure as a new tool in my fitness toolbox, and I am impressed with the quality of workouts it facilitates. It gets my full recommendation. And if the Wii Fit’s history provides any roadmap on what to expect from the Ring Fit, there will (or could already) be other games that utilize its clever hardware. But based on even my brief time with it, I expect the Ring Fit to fit (hehe) in my life much longer and more effectively.

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Thanks for reading this installment of Challenge!. I’d love to hear about how you motivate yourself to stay active. You can hit me up on Twitter or shoot me an email. Those are also great places to connect if you’re participating in the challenges or have a future challenge idea to share.

The next challenge: Track Calories With an App

Challenge!

You’ve seen the notch in the display of Apple’s amazing new MacBook Pro. Undoubtedly you’ve already formed your opinion about it — how it looks, and whether it is worth the trade-off of a sleeker design. The Verge’s Chaim Gartenberg wrote a critical piece about its addition sans Face ID, and while I can’t fault him on his opinions, there was a section that ground my gears:

And there have been rumors for years that Apple has been planning to bring back Touch ID to its iPhones in the form of an in-display sensor. But if Apple really is worried about losing some of the convenience of Touch ID, it could simply offer both security options, taking the bold step of actually letting its customers decide which biometric method they’d like to use.

Statements like these frustrate me. I’m not a technical engineer, but I’m positive that there’s nothing “simple” about implementing a second biometric authentication system to the Mac. Not to mention that Face ID requires several bits of hardware that have not been put in any device thinner than an iPad Pro so far. As much as I’d love to see Face ID on a Mac, I would have been astounded if Apple had been able to cram it into the MacBook Pro’s remarkably thin display. And, no, I don’t think we’d be applauding a Surface Book-like thickness lid.

I think it does a disservice to readers and sets unreasonable expectations, to downplay the complexity of these systems.

Personally, I’m glad that Apple has made the notch as large as it has because, to me, it suggests they’re giving themselves enough width to add it later (after shrinking the existing tech packed into it, of course) without a significant redesign needed for their hardware or first and third-party software. Regarding the necessary depth, I’d be okay with a camera bump that pushed out the thickness of the lid just behind the notch, but that, again, adds complexity.

Go to the linked site →

Linked

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

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1️⃣ Surface Adaptive Kit Makes Microsoft’s Laptops More Accessible | The Verge

The keycap and bump labels make it easier to identify important keys, or find ports and cables. The opener support includes a pull tab and ring to provide more flexibility for opening a laptop lid or maneuvering a Surface kickstand. Microsoft has created the kit in collaboration with people with disabilities to make sure it covers a wide spectrum of needs.

Go check out the photos of the adaptive kit from Microsoft. It brings a smile to my face that they’re working on problems like these with, and for, people with disabilities. They look so tactile and fun to touch that I wouldn’t mind having them around to fidget with either.

2️⃣ Students Who Grew Up With Search Engines Might Change STEM Education Forever | The Verge

More broadly, directory structure connotes physical placement — the idea that a file stored on a computer is located somewhere on that computer, in a specific and discrete location. That’s a concept that’s always felt obvious to Garland but seems completely alien to her students. “I tend to think an item lives in a particular folder. It lives in one place, and I have to go to that folder to find it,” Garland says. “They see it like one bucket, and everything’s in the bucket.”

It seems like this story swept through the internet a few weeks ago, but I’m just getting to it now. It boggles my mind and makes complete sense that today’s college students don’t have a mental model for files and folders on their devices. They’ve likely been raised largely paperless and using the Google Docs method where every new document gets created in one big bucket and shared only via links. That’s a byproduct of schools turning to Google for their technology infrastructure needs, I guess. I suppose I’m just surprised that they got so far into their education without it becoming a barrier before.

3️⃣ Spotify for Readers: How Tech Is Inventing Better Ways to Read the Internet | Protocol

That idea, that a reading app could feel like a personalized haven outside the chaos of feeds and streams and recommendations, is a compelling one for some users. “It’s not something you look at with a compulsion,” said Joe Hootman, an early Matter beta-tester who switched over after years as a power user of Pocket. “It’s something I look forward to as a welcome, interesting pleasure.” Hootman compared other feeds and services to roller coasters, and Matter to “a walk around the neighborhood — if you had a really interesting neighborhood.”

I’ve given Matter a try, and while it gets a lot right, there are still some bits that keep me from loving it. David Pierce does well in this piece explaining its origin and its mission to become a personalized front page for the internet. (Sound familiar?) I’ve written a bit about my internet reading flow, RSS, and the likes, and Matter could be a great contender. I struggle to see why they would need so much startup money and fear how much users will have to pay to make it up in monthly subscription fees — but then again, what do I know about the business side? It feels like we’re on the cusp of big changes, and hopefully advancements, in the internet reading space, and I’m here for it!

4️⃣ iPhone 13 Pro Camera Review: Tanzania — Austin Mann

We’ve spent the last week in southern Tanzania, exploring this vast natural habitat and capturing all its beauty with the iPhone 13 Pro’s camera. As I watched Apple’s keynote about this year’s iPhone release, I was most excited about the new macro capability, increased telephoto zoom, and Cinematic mode.

The photography and videography left me speechless. Both the quality of these tiny cameras, but also the content are awe-inspiring. It looks like a breathtaking place to explore. I love these kinds of reviews that take iPhone to exotic places to test the cameras. It seems like an excellent excuse to go somewhere cool each year. Austin Mann knocks it out of the park again this time around.

5️⃣ How Apple built the iPhone 13’s Cinematic Mode | TechCrunch

And that’s the power of the language of cinema: transportation. Though it’s far from perfect in this initial iteration, Cinematic Mode gives “normal people” a toolkit to build a doorway into that world in a way that’s far easier and far more accessible than it has been in the past.

It feels like many reviews concluded that Cinematic Mode ‘wasn’t quite there’ and that it would get better over time. All of the examples I’ve seen (and experienced) say otherwise. Cinematic Mode looks like a ton of fun and puts way more video power in my hands than I’ve ever had before.

6️⃣ iPhone 13 Diary: Putting Macro Photography Capabilities to the Test | 9to5Mac

Photographers aren’t going to be putting down their DSLRs and proper macro lenses in favor of this. For example, I once used a high-end macro lens on a pro DLSR to shoot a series of photos I called London Eyes.

and

The iPhone macro capability doesn’t offer either the precision or quality required for images like these. (It does, however, let you get every bit as close as a real macro lens.)

But for most macro-style photography, when viewing on iPhones and iPads, the results look fine, and the same is true of viewing at normal web resolutions.

While Ben Lovejoy argues in this piece that macro photography on the new iPhones isn’t ready for professional use, I personally think that the example shots he used beg to differ. They’re incredible. He does say that they’ll pass for their intended purpose, viewing on mobile screens and posting to the internet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some award-winning shots that you’d never know were #ShotOniPhone.

7️⃣ I Got Hunted By The FBI | MrBeast

I was in awe of the lengths to which MrBeast will go to make his videos entertaining. Seriously, watch this video and consider the logistics (and money) necessary to pull off a 17-minute video like this. Kudos to him and his team.

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed these links, or have something else exciting to share, please drop me a line on Twitter!

7 Things

Protocol’s David Pierce recently wrote a piece about Flipboard that got me thinking back to the early days of the App Store. Back then, I was a heavy Flipboard user, but eventually left it for my current RSS and read later flow. When reading this article about Flipboard’s ambitions, three points jumped out at me in particular:

So Flipboard’s new aim is to turn those creators into curators as well, to give them the tools to bring all their content, recommendations and audiences into a single place. Flipboard, in that world, becomes a way to both follow and discover new content, across platforms and without all the added complexity and risk of social news feeds. And with a human touch rather than an algorithmic one.

and

McCue said he hopes to see YouTubers make Flipboard storyboards with all the gear recommendations they’d normally put in the description of a YouTube video, or to see Instagram stars put all their favorite podcasts, learning materials and go-to photography spots into a magazine. “In one fell swoop,” he said, “it’s a set of recommendations that are incredibly helpful for people to know where to go, what to bring and how to think about it.”

and

Curating its sources has long been a core tenet of how Flipboard manages the content flowing through its systems. “It’s garbage in, garbage out, right?” McCue said. Flipboard is committed to not being an engagement-driven engine like YouTube or Facebook, and is in some cases happy to act more like a publisher than a neutral platform. “We’ve made an editorial decision that these are people worth trusting,” he said. “That’s part of why Flipboard is Flipboard: Our algorithms only magnify domains that editorially, we’ve reviewed and made a determination that those domains can be trusted.”

I think it was precisely because of a need for more curation that I had moved on from Flipboard. These days, I personally curate from whom I want to see content. And it is indeed the trust I have in those sources/creators/authors that keeps me going back. Only with a positive experience or glowing recommendation do new sources get added to my feeds.

However, the direction that Flipboard explains it’s headed down has me reconsidering. If Flipboard can do the heavy lifting to pull together the secondary content that my curated creators recommend, I could see a lot of value in — slowly, cautiously — broadening my circles.

While an unfiltered stream from the open internet has generally turned into a cesspool, a deliberate expansion from trusted sources seems like a good thing. I’ll be keeping my eye on Flipboard.

Go to the linked site →

Linked

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

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Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of instructing during a sixth-grade camp. Pro tip: If you ever want a good chuckle, just ask young kids for their favorite jokes. They’re always ready with some good ones.

1️⃣ What’s brown and sticky?

A stick.

2️⃣ There were these two muffins in an oven.

One turns to the other and says, “Boy, it’s getting hot in here.” The other one says, “OH MY GOD, A TALKING MUFFIN!”

3️⃣ I tried to change the password on all my accounts to “BeefPasta”

But it wasn’t Stroganoff.

4️⃣ What does an inconsiderate pepper do?

Get jalapeño business.

5️⃣ Two penguins walk into a bar…

which is silly because the second one should have seen it.

6️⃣ What do you call a fish with no eyes?

Fsh

7️⃣ And finally, the joke that’s always been my Grandpa’s favorite to tell his grandchildren…

A duck walks into a hardware store, waddles up to the counter, and asks the clerk, “You got any grapes?”

The clerk pokes around in the back, comes back, and says, “No, Sir, we’re a hardware store; we don’t sell grapes.” The duck hangs his head in disappointment and waddles back out.

The next day, the duck returns. He goes up to the counter, and again asks, “You got any grapes?” The clerk responds, “No, I told you yesterday that we don’t sell any grapes here.” The duck turns around and heads back out.

On the third day that the duck comes in, and asks for grapes, the clerk gets angry. “No! I’ve told you that we don’t have any grapes. If you come in here asking for grapes again, I’m going to nail your feet to the floor!”

The next day, the duck is back. He waddles his way up to the counter and innocently asks, “Hey, you got any nails?” The clerk, surprised, bustles around in the back but returns apologetically. “No, I’m afraid we’re all out of nails,” he says. The duck, with a wicked grin, says, “Good! You got any grapes?”

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed these links, or have something else exciting to share, please drop me a line on Twitter!

7 Things

What’s New?

As I sit here asking myself, “What’s new this month?” I struggle to come up with anything substantial. I’ve fallen into the comfort of an easy routine in my new job. I feel more confident all the time in my role there. After 18 months of turmoil between the pandemic, leaving my job, being unemployed, and finding my new job, I now feel that life is back on an upward trajectory, and I’m looking forward to the months to come.

The most significant thing of note from the past month was undoubtedly celebrating three years of marriage with my wonderful wife. My wife and I have made a point to take a trip of some kind each year for our anniversary, and I’m so glad that we do. It’s always a special time for us to reconnect, talk about the past year, and discuss plans for the future. Since our birthdays are only a couple of days apart, we do something similar each February. They’re some of our favorite times of the year.

This year, we took time off work, booked a cabin near Lake Placid, packed up the car with our fur babies and hiking gear, and drove the 9+ hours to Adirondack Park. This was my first time in New York State, and, I have to say, it’s way more gorgeous than I expected. Both my wife and I loved it there, and we’re reconsidering our next move, which may now be east instead of west. Autumn weather was a little further along near Lake Placid, and you can see some of my favorite snapshots of the week here.

Less substantially, but still exciting, is that it’s new iPhone season. As planned, I used the iPhone Upgrade Program to trade in my iPhone 12 Pro and “upgraded” to an iPhone 13 mini. I LOVE it! I broke tradition and went with the bright and bold PRODUCT(RED) color. The lighter weight and more reachable screen have made a big difference in how I use my phone each day. It feels quicker and easier to pull out for fast interactions. While I do miss the telephoto camera lens and gaze longingly at tack-sharp macro photos coming off the new Pro models, I’m very happy with my choice to go with the mini. All those photos I took in the Adirondacks are off the 13 mini’s camera if you want some examples.

Apps I’m Trying

Marvis — A next-level music player for iOS and iPadOS. It’s so fluid, fast, and fun. I love that I can customize the Home screen to just the content I want to see when I hope the app, and the gestures make getting around the app effortless. A big improvement over the stock Music app, if you ask me.

Halide — Remember how I said I’ve been pining over losing out on the macro camera from the iPhone 13 Pro? Well, the wizards at Halide have built a macro mode into their pro photography app that uses machine learning to make up the lens difference and works on all kinds of iPhones. I’ve only had it for a day, but I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy using it. Maybe I’ll learn more about manual photography while I’m at it.

Matter — Although I’m overall pleased with my current all-in-one Read-It-Later solution of Reeder, I’m always on the lookout for the next cool app on the horizon. I’ve linked to an upcoming project from Readwise that I’m excited about, but Matter is another app that has just opened to the public that I’m giving a fair shake. My likes: effortless highlighting and text shot sharing, estimated read times, synced read progress, and automatic audio versions of any saved article, which are quite well done. Dislikes: Rendering articles isn’t rock solid, which it needs to be for me to trust that I’m getting the full article that I saved with all its images. Matter probably won’t pull me away from Reeder yet, but it has informed me what I want to see from an actual next-gen reader app.

PeakVisor — I used this app a bit while in the Adirondacks. Like the stargazing apps that have come before it, PeakVisor lets you point your camera at mountains around you, and it will use what it sees along with location data to overlay labels for all the peaks. Some bonuses: a neat 3D AR view of peaks as if flying above them, and route beta / a tick list to help you bag those peaks.

Safari Extensions

With the release of iOS 15, Safari Extensions have been significantly souped-up. Here are a few that I’m testing (along with 1Password, Grammarly, and a few others for which I already had apps installed).

Vidimote — Get all the video settings you could want for every video on the web. This includes playback speed, picture-in-picture, full-screen, and more. Unfortunately, too many sites block the native controls, and Vidimote brings them back.

Keyword Search — I use Alfred on the Mac to prepend abbreviates to searches to search specific sites on the internet. For example: “hd” searches just this site, “ms” searches MacStories, “sc” searches Six Colors, and “w” searches Wikipedia. Keyword Search brings that power to Mobile Safari. Pro Tip: It even works from Spotlight, which means it works from anywhere on iOS. Just use your customized shortcut and then tap the Safari search result that pops. It just works!

Honey — This app catalogs coupon codes for all kinds of websites. Before, I had to pull up the app extension or search the app itself for codes. With the Safari Extension, Honey’s automatic savings are just a tap away.

Stuff I’m Reading

Despite its relatively short length, I am still reading Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. It’s well-written and has made me add Japan to my destination shortlist. I’ll have more to say once I finish the book.

On Heavy Rotation

The Lucky Ones (Deluxe) by Pentatonix — Hard to go wrong with Pentatonix, and they’re on top of their game in this deluxe version of their latest album.

A Beautiful Life by Heartless Bastards — Raw and beautiful.

Free Love by Sylvan Esso — Airier, but still weird and wonderful.

Things I’m Watching

Ted Lasso — It was probably too big an ask to expect the second season to recreate the magic of its nearly perfect first season. I still love this show and commend its creators for taking it in a different direction than I think we all expected. I can feel that they have multiple story arcs to tell, and look forward to seeing how it all gets wrapped up in the end. The season finale lands today!

The Other Two — At the recommendation of Alex and Merlin on Do By Friday, I tried out this show. It’s about a teenage boy who becomes an overnight singing sensation…except it’s not. It’s actually about his two older siblings who are struggling their way through life. It’s got the dry humor that I just love, and I can’t wait to get through the first season so that I can get caught up on what Alex and Merlin have to say about it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine — The final season just dropped, but my wife and I needed a refresher of where the story left off. So we went back to season 7 and are going from there. This show fills our slot for “a happy show in which we like all the characters” nicely.

Raya and the Last Dragon — A beautifully crafted movie featuring a beautiful message of trust. Disney did well with Raya.

Cruella — Also a Disney movie, but taken in a completely different direction than Raya. It’s been many years since I’ve seen 101 Dalmatians, but watching this live-action origin story for Cruella de Vil made me want to revisit it and see how much they tied together. It was entertaining from beginning to end, with Emma Stone killing it in portraying Cruella.

Hobbies I’m Hobbying

As I mentioned at the top, I’ve become more comfortable in my routine as of late. That’s good, but it also means that I haven’t been branching out to try new things as much as I’d like. That’s why I’m excited to launch a new project here on this site that I think will help me reach two objectives at once: try new things, and blog more. My working title for the project is “Challenge!” and it’s loosely based on what the hosts do on the Do By Friday podcast. Each week, I’ll assign myself a new challenge to try out, and then I’ll write about the experience. I’ve got ideas for the first challenges, but if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them! Look for the first installment to launch here soon.

Now Journal

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

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This past week I celebrated three years(!) of marriage to my wife and best friend in the world. We spent a few days in the Adirondacks hiking and exploring the gorgeous landscape in the midst of stunning fall foliage. Here are 7 of my favorite shots from the week. (Shot on iPhone 13 mini)

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The fall colors were out in full force on this trip; they make the fall one of our favorite times of the year. It’s special to me that my wife and I always get to enjoy the colors together on our anniversary adventures.

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed these links, or have something else exciting to share, please drop me a line on Twitter!

7 Things

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

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It’s been a pretty crazy week with work, so I didn’t get a lot of time to prepare, but it just so happened that I had precisely seven links lined up — I love it when things work out like that.

1️⃣ Tools for professionals, tools for amateurs | Arun.is

Perhaps there is another lens through which we can see the differences between amateurs and professionals — Tools.

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Why they use them, where they use them, how they use them, how they feel about them, and other questions are equally important as the nature of the tools themselves. The answers to these questions may also spell out the difference between professionals and amateurs.

Arun (who doesn’t write often but always produces thorough and thoughtful blog posts) ponders the pixelated line that separates an amateur from a professional. I think he nailed it with some of his comparisons: needs vs. wants, assets vs. toys, confidence vs. delight. For most things, I fall firmly on the amateur side and relish needing out over minute details. Not because I have to, but because I find it fun to explore my interests (like backpacking, climbing, and technology) through their gear.

2️⃣ A Brief History of Credit Cards (or What Happens When You Swipe) | a16z

What actually happens when you swipe your credit card? a16z general partner Alex Rampell helps solve the mystery, taking us from the beginning of the credit card revolution (including its hometown of Fresno, California) and on the journey of how both information and money travel, through the five parties involved in every credit card transaction.

As a follow-up to a post that I linked previously about Apple Pay-specific transactions, this video does an excellent job explaining how credit cards work in general. I had no idea about all the steps and middle companies that need to communicate for a single transaction to go through. Also, it gives me new respect for how quickly transactions are approved these days (especially with Apple Pay!).

3️⃣ 15 Microprints Hiding in United States Currency | Mental Floss

Even in the age of credit cards and online payments, most of us still handle legal tender every single day without ever stopping to look more closely at how money is designed. You probably hadn’t noticed, for example, that most notes boast tiny words scattered about the larger images.

Do yourself a favor and take a gander at this webpage. This text is hiding in plain sight on US cash. I’d never have noticed any of them had they not been cataloged here.

[Via Daring Fireball]

4️⃣ ‘Shiftscreen’ takes the iPad experience to the next level with multi-window navigation and more | 9to5Mac

Based on an API that lets apps take full advantage of an external monitor, the new Shiftscreen brings a multi-window experience to the iPad. The main idea of the app is to provide new ways of web browsing, since it cannot actually access system features to force other iPad apps to run in windows.

Check out the video linked on this page — it’s wild. I’ve got shiftscreen 4X downloaded while it lasts (it’s not hard to imagine that Apple would take it down for one App Store reason or another), and I am excited to give it a fair shake. Paired with an external keyboard and trackpad (and monitor, of course), it seems like it adds a whole extra operating system to your iPad!

5️⃣ Hacking CloudKit — How I accidentally deleted your Apple Shortcuts | Detectify

All of them were gone. I know realized that the deletion did somehow work, but that the _defaultZone never disappeared. When I tried sharing a new shortcut it also did not work, at least not to begin with, most likely due to the record types also being deleted.

At 23 Mar 2021 20:44:00 GMT I wrote the following email to Apple Security:

[Subject: Urgent CloudKit issue, access misconfiguration with com.apple shortcuts, accidentally deleted whole public _defaultZone and now gallery and all shared shortcuts for all users are gone]

(Heads up, this article looks, and is, technical, but is surprisingly readable for even people like me with minimal technical insight)

Wow. I remember when this happened in the spring and the tizzy it caused in the Apple community. It is incredible to think it was the (apparently honest) mistake of one person poking around to discover vulnerabilities. I sure hope that the powers that be at Apple learned a lot from this ordeal. But from what I’ve been reading about their bug bounty program, there’s plenty more room for improvement.

6️⃣ Ebooks Are an Abomination | The Atlantic

More clear is the consequence of disintermediation: Nobody takes a self-published manuscript and lays it out for printing in a manner that conforms with received standards. And so you often end up with a perfect-bound Word doc instead of a book. That odd feeling of impropriety isn’t necessarily a statement about the trustworthiness of the writer or their ideas, but a sense of dissonance at the book as an object. It’s an eerie gestalt, a foreboding feeling of unbookiness.

I have no beef with ebooks — my primary medium for both fiction and non-fiction —, but I did appreciate this article’s history lesson and strong opinions. It reads as if written from the child of librarian parents, which I do not say as a slam against it. On the contrary, hearing people talk about things they’re passionate about is one of my great pleasures in life, even if I don’t share that passion.

7️⃣ Here’s to the Crazy Ones | Basic Apple Guy

The poem itself was developed by a collective including Rob Siltanen, Lee Chow, and others. It was allegedly initially ‘hated’ by Steve Jobs, although he later came around & changed his mind (classic Steve). Two narrations of the ad exist, one by Richard Dreyfuss and one by Steve Jobs himself.

I’ve always loved this poem and knew it existed around Apple’s OSes, but not in all these places. So I’m glad that Basic Apple Guy did the work to document them all in one place.

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed these links, or have something else exciting to share, please drop me a line on Twitter!

7 Things