All Publications by Numeric Citizen

My newest photo series on Glass: Humans.

1. My morning routine now includes spending some time on Bluesky to get some news and to keep experiencing with this platform. 
2. At one point I was very effective on Twitter to filter out the content by different channels using Twitter lists. I'd like to do the same eventually on Bluesky.
3. For now, my Bluesky usage is heavily skewed toward following news about the war in Ukraine and somewhat engaging with the community around that subject. I expect this will evolve over time.
4. I feel that Bluesky is what Twitter should have become. 
5. I don't see bots, spammers, and the like on Bluesky and I wonder how long it will stay that way. 
6. Have a great day my friends. If you are on Bluesky, just say hi to me on Bluesky, search for "numericcitizen.me"!

Even idle (10%-15% CPU usage), the new M4 Mac mini (with M4 Pro chip) runs much hotter than the old M1. I don’t hear the fan but according to iStats Menu, the temp inside is 56F.

Got my M4 Mac mini yesterday and completed the migration off the old M1 Mac mini. The process took me about 2.5 hours, where about 1.25 hours for data migration only using the Apple Migration Assistant¹. Upon first login, I got only a handful of security-related popups, much less than I was expecting. Many apps like Microsoft OneDrive, Synology Drive client, worked perfectly with minimum reconfiguration, which was a pleasant surprise. A few app licenses to reconfigure and hop I’m ready to go!

This is the first time that I’m using a two-monitor setup at home (Apple Studio Display + LG UltraFine 4K). It’s quite a setup upgrade. Today will be my first full work day with this setup, I’ll report back later for more impressions.

Migration in progress … 😎

If only Bluesky had an iPad version of their mobile app. Is this in the works? (Posted from Micro.blog but asking the Bluesky community).

How does an app get updated on a weekly basis without any new features or apparent bug fixes? Exhibit A: Medium. Is someone trying to game the App Store?

Paying to be a beta tester: is this a new trend? Glass Series was available to patron subscribers only while being in beta testing. RealMac Software offers Elements in beta as a subscription but at a reduced price. Active beta testers are actually paying of their time to use a software still being debugged and refined. Isn’t that enough? I understand that building software is hard and requires resources… but paying to be a beta tester seems to cross a line here.

I recently flew to and from Florida, which reminded me of my love for using an iPad on a plane. Here is a list of reasons, in no particular order, why it’s such a great experience.

• The 11-inch iPad Pro is perfect for today’s cramped planes. I always prefer using the iPad over the airplane’s infotainment system.
• It’s the only time I use Stage Manager to multitask across many different apps (task management, writing, music listening, etc.).
• Listening to music with noise cancellation is the best way to isolate myself from my neighbours and reduce ambient plane noise. The typical ambient noise level on a plane can reach 75 dB. Even if I don’t play music, I keep my AirPods Max on my head to lower the noise level.
• Watching downloaded YouTube videos is a great way to spend flight time. I often download short videos to learn new things instead of sleeping. Apple TV+ is also a great content provider for longer flights.
• It’s the best time to review my iCloud Photos Library and triage and cleanup. Using Photomator to edit RAW images is such an enjoyable experience, too. It’s a reminder of the Pixelmator apps acquired by Apple, which prompts thoughts of an uncertain future.
• It’s the only time when I play games. My current favourite games are Townscaper, Missiles Command: Recharged and Discbricks.
• On my way home, I use the iPad to organize my return to work or everyday life. I usually do this by simply using a list of tasks in Apple Notes.

Of course, this wouldn’t be as seamless without the iPad’s impressive battery life. Despite multitasking with multiple apps, playing games, and watching videos, I’m always impressed by how long the battery lasts. I usually only need a quick top-up once I reach my destination.

In conclusion, the iPad has become an indispensable travel companion. It transforms my flying experience from mundane to enjoyable and productive. Whether I use it for work, entertainment, or simply to organize my thoughts, it enhances every aspect of my journey in a way that no other device can.

In preparation to receive the new M4 Mac mini which supports at least two screens¹, I decided to rework my desk setup and bring back the LG UltraFine 4K display on my desk. Once the migration from the old Mac mini is complete, I’ll be using a two-display setup. My Synology NAS was moved to a separate table to make some room for the LG display. My Elgao StreamDeck+ was relocated too, this time on the desk shelf.

I’ve been playing with Glass Series and I must say that I really like my experience with it so far. Series are like albums, like this example.

As I’m getting ready to receive my new M4 Mac mini¹, I’m starting to think that my decision to go with a 1TB model was not really future-proof and probably downright a mistake.

If I’m less active here it might be because I’m more active on Bluesky. 😬 @numericciten.me

At Fort Lauderdale Airport: I was really impressed by the scanner they use at the security gates. The operator uses a big screen similar to a big iPad and uses touch gestures to tilt and rotate luggage in 3D, uses a slider to see slices of the bag’s internal content. Really cool.

Leaving Haiti. 😍

Great use of Apple offline Maps in Miami. Works wonderfully well.

This is how he does it. Incredible the amount of BS being said in such a little crowd and so little time. All white and rich guys. 🤮

Dealing with Airline companies is not my favorite thing in the world. Flight got cancelled. Booked another one. Barely made it to the gate. 😅

In a few hours, I’m flying from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Interesting fact: Florida is one of the states who most massively voted for Trump. Thankfully, I’m staying there less than 24 hours.

Many tech reviewers are discussing the unusual placement of the power button on the M4 Mac mini. However, none of them, to my knowledge, mention the size of the power light. It is much larger than before. Could this be annoying? Are Apple designers failing again? Is Apple doomed once more? These are serious questions. Why am I the only one asking them?

1. I'm slowly getting over the Trump election. It's utterly sad because it means that you can say anything you want, do anything you want and still aspire to become the President of the United States of America. Is this what is called "the American Dream"?
2. I spent some time this morning to do some cleanup of articles that I started writing at some point in the past. My gosh, I have so many unfinished article projects: moving out of Toggl, find a better reading workflow, documenting my Bluesky experiment, and on, and on, and on.
3. I'm also slowly getting over the loss of Omnivore, the best read later service available until now. While updating a comparison table of similar services, I added Inoreader to the mix and I must say that it's probably one of the best alternative to Omnivore in my opinion.
4. I'm finally getting read for some bad news about Pixelmator apps. I prefer to set my expectations very low so that I could be pleasantly be surprise. 
5. Have a great week-end! 👋🏻

Bye bye Tot; I’m so in love with Raycast Notes!

Apple bought Pixelmator, which sent a shockwave across the creative world. I’m in shock myself. As the dust settles a bit, it’s time to think about the possible implications of this.

As a reminder for what follows later in this article, Pixelmator has been around as a company since 2007 and makes two apps: a Photoshop competitor called Pixelmator Pro and a Lightroom competitor called Photomator. The former is available only on the Mac, while the latter is available for all Apple platforms (except the Apple Vision Pro). Look for this BasicAppleGuy article for a more detailed description of Pixelmator's history.

As explained in this article, I migrated to Pixelmator apps this year, leaving Adobe behind (I was a subscriber between 2016 and 2024). It took me some effort to achieve it, but it was mandatory because I couldn’t justify the subscription price asked by the Adobe Photography plan. I bought Pixelmator Pro and Photomator, which are probably among the best native Mac apps out there. I mainly use Photomator, but I use Pixelmator occasionally to create simple things like the following artwork for my podcast. It's elementary design, and Pixelmator can create more complex content, as you might already guess. Photomator offers a unique take on photo editing. One could argue that Photomator shares familiarity with Adobe Lightroom. Having used both, I would agree this is why I felt at home when I switched from Lightroom to Photomator. I’m pretty happy with my decision because the alternatives are viable for my photography workflow and needs.

Over the years, especially since switching to Pixelmator apps, I often wondered why Apple wasn’t buying the company. When you look at Pixelmator apps, you think: These apps could have been made by Apple. Some would say that Apple should have made those apps! Just look at the Pixelmator website; it looks like Apple designers are behind it.

Until recently, Apple lagged behind Photomator in photo editing features, but not anymore. Without a thorough comparison, let me say that both photo-editing apps are similar in the primary photo-editing area. I prefer Photomator over Apple’s Photos for basic image editing. Apple Photos’ design uses a more complex user interface to edit a photo but also lacks some flexibility. I like many of Photomator’s tools, while Apple’s Photos offers many tools that I don’t need or find a use case for. The capabilities of Photomator layers are approachable because I can understand how to work with them. It’s a well-thought-out app.

For some reason, I believe that Photomator and Pixelmator maximize Apple’s frameworks and APIs for image processing while presenting a different take from the user experience side. Instead of reinventing the wheel, they reuse many Apple graphic technologies and APIs, such as the iCloud Photos Library. Still, they also offer unique features, too, like Super Resolution, Denoise and Workflows.

I’m not very knowledgeable in Pixelmator Pro, but judging from my limited experience, I know that Apple doesn’t have such an app in their current offerings. I think Pixelmator Pro is much more approachable than Adobe Photoshop, and I think it’s a great addition to Apple’s offerings.

Market consolidation to compete against Adobe?

Someone could ask: Is Apple interested in Pixelmator Pro to compete against Adobe Photoshop with a more approachable take on image editing? Maybe, maybe not. It’s tough to tell from my point of view. Others have written that Apple is looking for new talents. This often happens in technology, but I doubt it is only about talent. It doesn’t serve Apple well to kill such a high-quality Mac app also available on the iPad and the iPhone. These apps are so rare these days.

Canva bought Affinity earlier this year. Words on the internet point to Canva's desire to better compete against Adobe. That sounds about right. By buying Pixelmator, is Apple trying to do the same? Probably. The case is compelling. As I said, Pixelmator Pro competes against Adobe Photoshop. Apple doesn’t have an offering in image-editing space and has never entered that space, while Photomator is a bit like Aperture, competing against Lightroom Classic.

From the official announcement on Pixelmator press release, we can read (emphasis is mine):

Pixelmator has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval. There will be no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time. Stay tuned for exciting updates to come.

What’s next for Pixelmator’s app? What was the motivating factor for this acquisition? Let’s look at each of them.

What could come next for Pixelmator apps?

Pixelmator Pro is an image editor that competes with applications like Adobe Photoshop. Looking carefully at this web page on Apple’s website, we can see that Apple has nothing like that while offering many other pro-level apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, MainStage, etc. Some are available on the Mac and the iPad, like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. I can see Apple adding Pixelmator Pro to the mix. It's probably the easiest guess to take. As noted by 9to5Mac, Pixelmator Pro isn’t currently available on the iPad. Apple could make it happen and ask for a small subscription fee, like for FinalCut Pro. I guess the focus of the Pixelmator team would be to work on this in the short term. It might not have been economically possible for the team to do it alone, but with Apple backing, it's an entirely different matter. I’m sure Apple is looking to expand their subscription offerings. Like FinalCut Pro for iPad, I can see Apple adding Pixelmator Pro.

Photomator is a photo editor that competes against Lightroom and… to some degree, Apple Photos. That is the crux of the problem. As I said earlier, there are some feature overlaps between the two. It is not obvious what Apple will do with Photomator. One thing that is unique to Photomator is its support for file-based editing. Photomator can work directly with files, which wasn’t possible until this summer. Of course, Apple wants users with bloated iCloud Photo libraries, potentially translating into more iCloud space subscriptions. But it makes more sense to use a file-based workflow for more serious photo editing of RAW images coming off a digital camera. Speaking of RAW images, RAW support is more comprehensive in Photomator. More advanced features like layers are available in Photomator, making it much more versatile for complex photo editing tasks. Workflows that enable the ability to do many different tasks in a single action are also something power users like me appreciate. Super Resolution is another example of something unique to Photomator. Could these more advanced features be folded into Apple Photos? Some people think it might. Other guys, like the developer behind Acorn, another image-editing app for the Mac, in a blog post, are asking similar questions to mine. He doesn't have a clue. Me neither. The overlapping of many features makes me less comfortable to bet on this. Keeping Photomator around would send a confusing message. The jury is still out on this one.

Looking ahead

Is Apple getting their hands on Pixelmator Pro while dropping Photomator the only possible story here? I hope not, but time will tell. For now, I’ll continue to use Photomator for the more demanding photo-processing needs while keeping an eye on what’s happening next. Let’s just say that I’m cautiously optimistic.

1. Fuck. 
2. Another four more years of trash politics. 
3. Fuck again. 
4. Apparently, the Americans thoughts the economy was better when Trump is in power. Under Biden everything is more expensive. The same is happening in Canada; everything is more expansive from groceries to housing. Is it because of the current Prime Minister? It's the same thing in Europe by the way. Does this mean every government is bad over there too? I mean, come on! Fuck it!
5. If people thought it was bad under Biden, wait for it, we ain't seen nothin yet.
6. Fuck da fuck.

I’m nearly done with an article about the Pixelmator buy-out by Apple, but I will wait a bit before publishing it…. everyone being focused elsewhere.

1. I want to believe that the American people will make the right choice today. They have to.
2. If I'm being honest with myself, I could probably get rid of Craft and focus on Ulysses for my writing needs.
3. Weather outside is so "Novemberish". Gray. Cold. Windy.
4. Apple Intelligence Writing Tools aren't working well with markdown content.
5. I'm having lunch with one of my colleagues today, going outside the house from time to time is a good thing. 
6. Have a great day. 👋🏻

It seems that watchOS 11.1 is drastically killing battery life on my Series 10 watch. Am I alone?

I spent some time this morning to visit my documented tool set on my metablog to make some updates.

1. It's election week in the US. My fingers are crossed, and I hope for the best: Harris. I'm not voting, since I'm Canadian, yet, I'm going to Florida next Saturday to catch my cruise ship for a one-week vacation, and I'd like the place to be quiet. Not only the US but the world doesn't need someone like Trump. 
2. On a totally different subject, I'm waiting for reviews of the new M4 Mac mini. Then I'll make a decision. Shipping dates are between November 15th-19th for the configuration I'm looking for, right when I return from vacation. 
3. My wife is having a job interview tomorrow. She's about to make a 180-degree turn with her career and I hope she will get it. But if it doesn't go well, then she will have difficult decisions to make and probably go as a freelancer, just like what I'm considering for myself. 
4. In other news, in case you didn't know or noticed: I don't write a lot about politics and wars, but I recently decided to vent a little bit for about it. I chose to do it on my Bluesky account, not on my blog.
5. I just discovered Openvibe which looks like a mix of Croissant, Tapestry. Bluesky and Mastodon are supported, and RSS feed support will be added soon. I much prefer Openvibe design to Tapretry's. I'm not impressed so far by the latter. I don't think it will ever reach the level of Ivory for Mastodon or Openvibe. 
6. Each time I post something here on Scribbles, I'm reminded how could the post editor is. Happiness is made of small things, I guess.
7. Have a great day. 👋🏻

The following is a summary of my contribution activities since the previous newsletter edition
👨🏻‍💻 18 posts 😃
🏞️ 10 photos shared 😃
🎙️ No podcast episode published 😔
📺 One YouTube video published 😃

Did you know The Numeric Citizen Blog Posts Monthly Digest came out on November 1st? Check it out!

👤 Personal

1️⃣ I got a new supporter on my Ko-fi page this week, and I'm happy about it. It's not only about the money but the feeling that I'm not writing in a void. Some people are not only reading my stories but want to show their support. I'm grateful for that. But money is often not far behind, too. As a creator, I depend on many services and tools that cost money. I never wanted to make money by writing, but I had this wish this week: having enough supporters to cover all my subscription costs. That would be cool. I have a long way to go before reaching this goal.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ This week, I (re)discovered the fragility of software. I left behind 1Password because Apple Passwords offers simplicity without being simplistic. Pixelfed is another example of its development tied to a few developers, with one guy being much more active than others. Pixelfed suffers from its leading developer lacking focus and being spread across many open-source projects. There are things I want to see on Pixelfed but aren't coming, like an iPhone app that has been in beta for maybe a year! I'm considering reducing my activity level on Pixelfed to focus on Glass instead. The third example is Omnivore, which will close because its developers are working on something else. So, I'm focusing on Inoreader instead to support my reading needs. Do you know what is common between Glass and Inoreade? Both are paid services. Next up on the list of fragile software? Continue reading below, and you'll find out.

📖 Reading

1️⃣ I should revisit my reading workflow because of the demise of Omnivore. For the time being, I'll be focusing my usage on Inoreader and letting the dust settle before making a decision. The closure of Omnivore is sad because I lost my reading highlights library. There is no easy way to reconstruct this. I did export my data, but it is sitting in many files on my computer. I do have those in Bear, though, as shown below.

“I hate that today if you want a great browsing experience, you need to install all kinds of ad-blockers.” — Riccardo Mori

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

1️⃣ I’ve been writing an article this week for the office using an unusual workflow. I wrote down fifteen phrases representing individual thoughts around the automation of IT operations. Then, I went to ChatGPT and asked GPT 4o Canvas to use these fifteen thoughts to write an article. Upon my first read, I asked ChatGPT for many changes and added my personal touch. The result is somewhat positive, considering the time I took to write this. I then imported the article into NotebookLM to create a podcast episode, and the results blew me away. I sent the results to some of my colleagues, who were impressed too. 2️⃣ Apple Intelligence Writing Tools are out for those with capable devices. Information Architect recently published an article about how Apple Intelligence’s approach to text editing might be wrong. This article is echoed by Kirk McElhearn, who thinks the writing tools are not good. I must say that I tend to agree to some degree. When I ask to proofread my text, I need to take the time to compare both to see if my writing was contaminated or not. It takes time, and the user experience might not be optimal. On the other hand, this solution might be good enough for most people. Time will tell, I guess.

Why the M4 Mac mini Will Be My Best Mac Ever!

A plethora of Mac announcements this week pushes the Mac to new performance levels.

Numeric Citizen SpaceJF Martin

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ One of the best creators recently discovered via Glass, Mad Heiress, offers a rich set of images, poems, stories, etc. Some photos are mildly NSFW but very tasteful and respectful. I wish I had a fraction of his talent. Simply put, wow. Another newly discovered photographer on Glass is Yano Kova. She does stunning black-and-white street photography. There are so many great photos like this one. 2️⃣ I’ve been sharing many discoveries recently in photography, most of them made through Glass. I wonder why? I fail to see comparable quality photos on Pixelfed. The latter is more general public, while Glass, a paid service, attracts more accomplished photographers. That's simply a guess, an observation. I don't want to offend anyone who shares photos on Pixelfed. I'm on both platforms. 3️⃣ Speaking of Glass, the photo-sharing service, officially set a date for launching the Series on November 12th. I can't wait to try it out! The Series feature will allow photographers to publish related photos as bundles if you didn't know.

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ The rumoured home device that Apple might be working on resembles the iconic iMac G4 but with a more squarish and smaller display. I have always liked this Mac because it wasn't only a utility device but an object of art. I'm not looking to buy this type of device, and I don't see the roles it would play in my household. 2️⃣ This was Mac Week, and it had many meaningful announcements. The iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro received a tech refresh, with the Mac mini having the only notable external redesign. I have a lot more to say in a separate article. 3️⃣ Apple is buying Pixelmator! I repeat: Apple is buying Pixelmator, the maker of Pixelmator Pro, and Photomator, my beloved photo-editing apps that took over Adobe’s! I don’t know if I should be happy or worried about this sudden turn of events! You can read the official announcement right here on Pixelmator Blog.

🚧 Special projects

1️⃣ After weeks of hard and tedious work inspired by this documented process, I finally completed my migration off 1Password. Not only will I save some money, but my security posture will also improve because of this migration to Apple Passwords. I have been a 1Password user since at least 2014, but with Apple's introduction of a solid password management app, I prefer to use first-party and integrated solutions. The next thing to do is migrate off Authy, the 2-factor authenticator app. That part is not fun because I need to turn off the 2-factor configuration for each service and reconfigure it using Passwords. 2️⃣ Following the news about Omnivore’s slow demise, I'm going to work on using Inoreader as a replacement for reading later articles, exporting my data and building something different for my reading workflow needs. IFTTT, Notion, and Readwise might be involved to some degree.

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ The big news of the week on the applications side is undoubtedly this announcement by one of the main contributors of Omnivore, an open-source read-later service. According to the news, the developer accepted a job to work on ElevenLabs’ audio reader instead. I understand the decision; everyone needs to put bread on the table. But I'm not switching to ElevenLabs’ app anytime soon; I don't need an audio reader to read my content out loud. So, what am I going to do from now? I won’t wait for someone else to take over the development of Omnivore. The first option is to maximize what I already have: Inoreader. It's a paid subscription, their business model is clear, and they have been around for quite a while. In the coming days, I will explore Inoreader to store articles for reading later and text highlighting. I already know that Inoreader doesn't work with Readwise. So, I'm done with one-man-shop open-source projects. I decided to export all my Omnivore data and move on with it. 2️⃣ I'm also now questioning my usage of Readwise. I’ve been using Readwise since 2021. I don't use Readwise to browse my past highlights, but I use it for archival purposes. Even for that, I don't refer to my past readings often. Omnivore was configured to save my text highlights into Readwise. From time to time, I export the highlights to Bear. Without Omnivore, Readwise makes no sense; I don't use other means to store data in Readwise. Readwise offers a lower subscription tier for that purpose, and I could consider downgrading to it. I don't use the Readwise Reader because it felt too overwhelming the last time I tried it. 3️⃣ Scribbles.page is out with a few updates like adding a website menu, something that I was hoping to come.

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ This week YouTube content is heavily flooded with Apple news and commentary about about Mac-related news. But, to start, I chose a short clip showing Steve Jobs explaining what Apple is going to do for the computer world. I felt it was to the point and relevant to this week's announcements.

💎 Miscellaneous

1️⃣ I’m going on a one-week vacation, so the next edition will be published around November 23rd. I'll be mostly offline during that week because I have no internet. It’s a good thing to disconnect, right? 😱

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ Of course, I'm looking forward to two things: reviews of the new M4 Mac mini and, for the long term, how Apple is going to deal with their recently acquired Pixelmator company. I'm holding my breath, and my fingers are crossed.

I wish you a great week! ✌️👋🏻

Just finished the latest edition of The Ephemeral Scrapbook, edition 2024-43. Enjoy. Email version coming out soon to my dear subscribers!

Why can’t I get macOS 15.2 beta on my M2 MacBook Air running 15.1?

I find this fascinating that according to what I’m reading here and there, I never cross paths with Trump supporters. I didn’t make it on purpose, but it might be because my interests, my online vibes, only attract non-Trump supporters?

A building in my neighborhood. Not the best architectural style if you ask me, but someone had an interesting idea to embellish it.

This year, as I explained in this article, I completed a migration from Adobe to Photomator. I rarely use Pixelmator Pro, but I’m a fan of Photomator. I hope this week’s news won’t make me regret my decision.

In this article, I want to do things differently. I will write about why the new M4 Mac mini is the most fantastic Mac ever and share my thoughts gathered during a week of Mac announcements. Let’s get down to it.

First thing first: I’m a Mac fan. I’ve been such a fan for quite some time and wrote about it extensively. I tried to use recent Macs in recent years because I spend so much time working with them that I want the best. I’ve been a longtime desktop fan with many iMac models (2005, 2007, 2010, 2017), but in recent years, thanks to the Apple Silicon chip, I made a turn and started adding Mac portables to my digital life. This article was written mainly using an M2 15-inch MacBook Air.

Sunday night, October 27th, 2024.

I’m rather excited for the upcoming week. Is it because I'm in for an updated Mac mini? Coming from a M1 Mac mini, Probably. Following this tease from Greg Joswiak last week, it's official: the week ahead is all about the Mac. The first announcement should arrive on Monday, probably around 9 AM EST. I'm wondering what is going to be announced first. Is Apple going to play the crescendo game with the Mac mini announced last? If so, the iMac could be the first to come out with updated accessories using a USB-C connection. Will Apple show off redesigned accessories, or will they play it safe and leave it as it is now? The maligned Magic Mouse should be tweaked with a more intelligent way of recharging it. I’ve been using the Magic Mouse for many years, and I think it is due for an ergonomic revisit. Anyhow, tomorrow can't come soon enough.

Monday, early morning, October 28th, 2024.

I’m just having my coffee, going through my RSS feeds, and looking for any last-minute news or rumours, but nothing is worth mentioning except this bingo card by the Basic Apple Guy. It's an entertaining read. He thinks Apple will start with the Mac mini announcement, but I disagree with this prediction. He seems to imply that there will be some videos, but I don't think so. I hope we will get more than a press release in the Newsroom. Will we get a $499 Mac mini configuration? Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath. Will we get a space black Mac mini? I doubt it. Apple is so predictable these days. A dedicated Apple Intelligence button on the new Magic Keyboard? We didn't have a Siri button. I don't think we will get a dedicated button for Apple Intelligence. The day is still young, but I’ll learn more very soon.

Monday, 9:10 AM, October 28th, 2024

Refresh the Apple Newsroom webpage in my browser. Refresh the Apple Newsroom webpage in my browser. Refresh the Apple Newsroom webpage in my browser. Nothing shows up yet. Maybe at 10 AM EST?

Monday, 11:30 AM, October 28th, 2024

I was busy at work and missed the announcement timing, which was at 11 AM EST.

The first press releases (with a video announcement, a stripped-down version of a keynote, or a glorified press release?) came out thirty minutes ago, and as expected, the iMac was the first to receive the M4 treatment. Comparisons are made against the M1 iMac, which I find questionable, but they yield great numbers. Compared to the Intel-based iMac, this is even more questionable, but I guess Apple sees that many iMac owners are still using such old iMacs and wish for them to upgrade. This iMac is the best all-in-one design, but it's not for me anymore. I prefer having a separate screen, a bigger one for that matter. I'm using an Apple Studio display, which I really like.

The keyboard and mouse now have USB-C ports, too, but there is no word on where the USB-C port is located on the Magic Mouse. A nano texture option comes to the iMac, a first and pricey option. There is no significant change of colours. Meh.

Yet, for people like me who use an M1 Mac, the M4 represents a giant leap forward.

Of course, Apple touts Apple Intelligence as the most beneficial workflow for getting M4 processing power. That’s not surprising. They have a dedicated press release for iOS 18.1 et al. that sports the first Apple Intelligence features.

Monday, 5:30 PM, October 28th, 2024

Reactions are favourable for the beefed-up iMac, which includes new capabilities like better support for a two-display setup. Pricing for the now USB-C-only peripheral also increased slightly, at least in Canada, reaching new heights and near-obscene levels.

Still, the iMac is a super-looking computer.

I am turning my attention to tomorrow morning, 11 AM EST.

Monday, 8:04 PM, October 28th, 2024

I’m still digging into today’s news. I found this information tidbits about the low-end iMac configuration encouraging: the 10-code M4 CPU configuration will support two external displays, which could have been possible only for higher-end configurations. This bodes well for the M4 Mac mini.

Tuesday, early morning, October 29th, 2024

What a spoiler this morning when Amazon leaked the next Mac mini on their website! Apparently, the leak occurred yesterday night after I went to bed, but it has been fixed this morning. MacRumors still has the information. A comparison of different Mac models was briefly available, showing the new Mac mini design, which I include here. Oops.

Visually, if images are at scale, the Mac mini is much similar to the Mac Studio and comes with two USB-C ports in the front on the left and something else on the right, but it’s hard to see. It might be a headphone jack because it is a black circle. The only finish available is silver, which is disappointing; a space black version would have been fantastic.

The Mac mini’s spec sheet suggests it is much more powerful than its predecessor. It shows a maximum of 64 GB of RAM, 20 GPU cores, and 8TB of storage. However, we don’t know about the entry-level configuration yet, which is much closer to what I’ll get.

Even with this last-minute leak, I’m more excited about the new Mac mini. I can infer some pricing guesses and see the price going upward in the $2K CAN range for a configuration I will buy. Ouch.

Tuesday, 11 AM, October 29th, 2024

The mighty M4 Mac mini is now officially announced! From what I’m reading, what a machine this is: compact, beautiful, but powerful, with all the right ports at the right place. I’ll be ordering one in mid-November. Reactions are overwhelmingly positive, if not enthusiastic. It's probably the best Mac mini ever to ship.

The video segment for this announcement is slightly more than 12 minutes long. I particularly like the use of the tilt-shift effect during the introduction. The Apple headquarters building seems like a miniature replica. The following shots illustrate the video’s particular visual vibe.

In the following image, we expect the reveal of the new Mac mini, but instead, we are presented with the current one quickly followed by the new Mac mini, which is much smaller. I like this sense of humour. I also think it references the old-style reveal on stage by Steve Jobs back in the day.

This is my desktop Mac for the next five years: M4 Pro Mac mini with 12 CPU cores, 16 GPU cores, 16 Neural Engine cores, 24 GB of RAM and 2TB SSD. Compared to the M1 chip, the M4 is a significant leap forward. According to the Geekbench website, the M1 is rated at 8661, while the M2 Pro is rated at 12726 and the M3 Pro at 14042 in the multicore benchmark. We are close to a 2x increase here. I can’t wait to experience the difference.

Since I’m using a RODE wireless microphone for video and podcast recording, the receiver plugs into a headphone jack on the back of my current Mac mini. It’s not very convenient. Now, being on the front, it is. There is a little controversy about the power button placement. It can’t be worse than the current design, and I would argue it is better. Looking at the videos, I think the power button is not entirely flush with the button case, which will help locate it with the touch of a finger.

Now, the only question is: when should I place my order? I’ll probably wait until mid-November, when I return from my one-week vacation.

Tomorrow, it’s Wednesday, the third and last Mac-related announcement. MacBook Pro is next, but I’m surprised the Mac mini announcement came before. I would have thought that Apple would keep the newly redesigned Mac for last. The sequence seems tied to the Apple Silicon chips, not the Mac model itself. Anyway, there might be an even more significant announcement tomorrow. Who knows?

Wednesday, 7:10 AM, October 30th, 2024

This morning, I tried configuring the M4 Mac mini on the Apple Store app that I will order to see if shipping dates have started to slip. It’s not the case. Apple probably has good inventories. I’ll keep an eye on this over the next few weeks. Also, I’ve been testing buying through the university store for better pricing, and I could save $200 CAN. If I apply a trade-in value for my M1 Mac mini (a $225 CAN value), the final price would be $2,219 CAN. That’s a lot of money.

Wednesday, 11:05 AM, October 30th, 2024

As expected, the MacBook Pro with the M4 chip was announced. The video segment is the longest of the three, at 16m33s. For the first time, the nano-texture display option is available on the MacBook Pro, adding another set of price points.

All Macs now come with 16 GB of base memory, including the MacBook Air, a surprise move. This could also mean an M4-based MacBook Air might come later, like next Spring.

My wife is looking to get a Mac for the first time. She’s looking at the MacBook Pro and will probably settle for the 14-inch, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD version. She plans to use two external displays. She’s a Windows laptop user, and she is in for a shock.

It was an excellent week for the Mac in general. I feel that Apple is excelling on all counts. The Mac lineup is straightforward, with the Air and Pro for laptops and the iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro lines for desktops. A plethora of configurations are available for each line at various price points. The message around Apple Intelligence is loud and clear. I counted 14 references to Apple Intelligence on the MacBook Pro mini website alone, 16 on the iMac mini website, and 16 on the Mac mini website. That’s a lot.

#Montreal #montrealphoto #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography

The small house. Trick or treat? 🎃 #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #spookyvibes #spooky

• Gone is 1Password.
• Gone is Omnivore.
• Gone might be Readwise. 

The following is a summary of my contribution activities since the previous newsletter edition
👨🏻‍💻 9 posts 🙂
🏞️ 13 photos shared 😃
🎙️ No podcast episode published 😔
📺 No YouTube video published 😔
This newsletter edition covers weeks #41 & #42.

Did you know you can catch a few highlighted stories and photos of mine by visiting this website?

👤 Personal

1️⃣ I’ve been in a writing lull recently, preferring to focus on photography more. I often go from writing to photography and vice versa. My attention span seems shorter than usual, which doesn’t help my writing in general. That’s not entirely true; I’ve been writing, but I’ve been on LinkedIn and Medium in my professional life. I’m trying to be more active on LinkedIn for a few reasons that I won’t share here, but you can read about it on my Ko-fi page. If you want to know what it is all about, subscribe to my Ko-fi page.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ I've looked at Canva, a PowerPoint replacement that runs as a SaaS but is also available on devices like the iPad and the Mac. However, Canva is much more than a PowerPoint replacement. I see Canva as a competitor to Adobe Express, which I enjoyed long ago. I cannot share why I'm looking at this right now, but I must say that it feels like a great alternative and a valuable tool for creative people like me. The question is: what does this service bring to the table that I cannot already do using Keynote, Freeform or Mindnote, etc.? I could use it to design a website prototype, that's for sure. One use case could be for website prototyping while I wait for the beta release of Realmac Software Elements. I will make more comments about Canva soon.

📖 Reading

1️⃣ Every once in a while, I stumble on a blog post from other bloggers that shows their appreciation for what I'm doing, like this one. People can show their appreciation in many ways, like supporting me on my Ko-fi page and writing blog posts like that one. 2️⃣ More than ever, I believe in the web curation movement as we enter AI-generated content at a massive scale. That's why this blog post from Manuel Moreale resonated with me. I want to quote a few things from this blog post. 3️⃣ A newly discovered author, Maggie Appleton, touches on fascinating subjects like programming, design and anthropology. Besides touching on exciting subjects, her website is gorgeous by its simplicity and organizational structure. Too bad the site didn’t receive recent updates. Still, it's now part of my RSS feed subscriptions.

“With a web flooded with AI-generated slop and the platforms themselves encouraging it, the role of curators is gonna become more and more important.”

“Anyway, now more than ever, if you find value in curated blogs, newsletters, zines, or any other type of curated material, consider supporting the people who create and maintain them, because the vast majority of the time, they don’t do it for the money, they do it because they think it’s important.” – Manuel Moreale

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

1️⃣ I started testing Ulysses, the writing app for the Mac. Version 32 will support Apple Intelligence, particularly for the Writing Tools. If all goes well, it could replace Grammarly when support for Apple Intelligence is added to more apps. My initial testing offers mixed feelings. To invoke Apple Intelligence features, you must select the text, which is not required with Grammarly. Apple Intelligence refuses to work on a paragraph containing a hyperlink. It could be a bug in Ulysses beta, but it could be a limitation, too. Grammarly works better in that respect, but sometimes, the link will be mangled when corrections are made. Nothing is perfect. Stay tuned for more comments on that one.

“If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.” — Creativity Inc., Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ A good post from Matt Birchler: resolution is not everything in digital photography. I agree. 2️⃣ A newly discovered photographer: Anna Shtraus, thanks to Glass Highlights. She takes many photos in places like the Middle East. She calls herself a visual poet, and I like this. Instant subscribe! 3️⃣ Did you know you can watch my latest images from Pixelfed in slideshow mode? Try this link! 4️⃣ Found a great wallpaper collection inspired by Edward Hopper, for your iPhone, available on Gumroad.

Anna Shtraus on Glass Photography Community

Anna Shtraus. Visual poet living in the Middle East. I used to live and breathe landscapes, but recently really enjoying shooting streets. If the light is good, the…

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ Rumors about the iPhone 18 😳 are already surfacing, stating advanced densification of the A20 chip with 12 GB of RAM using a 2 nm process. It's too early for me to influence my decision for next year's plan, though. I'm still planning to get the iPhone 17 as I often skip one generation of devices. 2️⃣ According to Mike Gurman, Apple is now turning its attention to home automation products and services. Now that Matter, the protocol that makes home devices talk and work together, is the standard, Apple is looking to build devices like home robots and communication-related gizmos🤦🏻‍♂️. I should wait before judging, but I don’t see that as an exciting journey. 3️⃣ For Apple fans, BasicAppleGuy shared some new wallpapers out of Apple Park photographs—many great ones. 4️⃣ Apple is considered two years behind in generative AI, according to a report by Gurman. Remember the MP3 players before the iPod came out? Apple was thought to be behind, too. Will this scenario repeat itself with generative AI? The leaders like OpenAI keeps getting better all the time. But, If you can't beat them, joining them might apply here. Om Malik is getting nervous about Apple Intelligence being late to the AI game. 5️⃣ ||The subsequent major releases of macOS, iPadOS, iOS, tvOS||, et al. are around the corner. Get ready for Apple Intelligence phase #1 of... many more phases! Phase #2 of Apple Intelligence is already out for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 users, as well as modern iPads and Macs with Apple Silicon Ship. I upgraded my iPad and iPhone to this second major release of iOS 18. I'm currently on the waiting list to test Image Playground, but according to this article, it might take a few weeks to play with this.

Apple Park Wallpapers — Basic Apple Guy

A collection of nine Mac & iPad backgrounds featuring beautiful locations around Apple Park.

Basic Apple GuyBasicAppleGuy

🚧 Special projects

1️⃣ Not exactly a special project, but I’ve been spending quite some time testing the next round of betas for Craft Docs. As shown on Craft Docs YouTube channel, three important things are coming to Craft: Collections, Styling and Task management. I have mixed feelings with the new directions for Craft. I don't see use cases for Collections. The new styling feature doesn't go far enough by lacking basic image processing. Task management is also something that I'm not really looking to do within Craft; I'm a happy Things 3 user. The next public release of Craft, probably version 3.0, is still many weeks away.

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ Photomator 3.4 came out this week, and surprise, you can now flag, reject and start (from 0 to 5 stars) each photo. As suggested by this guy on Micro.blog, when using the Apple Photos library, these actions are saved, and a new set of photo albums is created to easily find those photos, all placed within a folder named “Photomator.” For those like me who often use files outside of Photos, for each photo that gets flagged, rejected or starred, a new .xmp file is created, just like the sidecar file if the photo has been edited. This is an excellent addition for those like me who previously used Adobe Lightroom, where the catalogue is central to the photo-processing workflows. 2️⃣ It seems a new MindNode app is coming soon, called MindNode Next, a free upgrade for those on the MindNode Plus subscription (like me). Collaborative work seems to be the highlight of this new generation of MindNode. Strangely enough, MindNode Next is already available for the Apple Vision Pro, and other platforms are coming later this year. 3️⃣ Inoreader finally launched the redesigned reading experience, which I LOVE. 4️⃣ Notion launched several new features and products presented in this short clip. Notion Layout for building better-looking pages. Most of the new features are available now. I played with Notion Layout a bit, but I will spend more time exploring Notion Forms and the new Marketplace in the coming days. The latter is essentially modelled around an App Store.

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ Photomator 3.4 is out and comes with photo tagging and starring. See that in action in the following video. I'm already a fan. 2️⃣ The Starship flight and return to Earth, right on the launchpad, is mind-blowing. We came a long way from the first space shuttle flight in 1981. Very impressive.

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ I'm still waiting for this M4 Mac mini announcement, but it is coming. It's widely expected to be in the last week of October. Even more with Apple's tease shared on X.com. 2️⃣ Here's an excellent summary of what's new in the upcoming iOS 18.1 release from MacRumors. Here's an excellent overview of iOS 18.2 from MacRumors, too. 3️⃣ Apple teases new Macs! The M4 Mac mini is really coming next week! Getting ready for hard decisions.

I wish you a great week! ✌️👋🏻

Let's have a drink, shall we? #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography

On the road to New York City, in the car, using Spectre app.

At the show of Sting in New York City.

New York is full of colors. #newyorkcity #architecture #streetart

I ❤️ NY #architecture #newyorkcity

Silouhettes. #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography

Here's something different... a street scene. #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #streetphotography #newyorkcity

Oh boy that I find it hard to study and improve technical skills in today's world, full of interruptions and disruptions. 

1. I'm currently testing the updated Scribble's post editor. I like the tweaks. 
2. I'm testing Canva as a tool for website prototyping. It comes with a Mac app (not native, but hey... who builds native apps these days?) Great potential here. 
3. I'm about to test a new beta release of Craft where Objects are replaced with Collections. Similar concept but very differently implemented. The former was more useful to me. The latter is more like a Notion database.
4. Have a great day. 👋🏻

JF Martin (@numericcitizen@pixelfed.social)

Like a painting.

Pixelfed

The following is a summary of my contribution activities since the previous newsletter edition
👨🏻‍💻 10 posts 🙂
🏞️ 3 photos shared 😔
🎙️ No podcast episode published 😔
📺 No YouTube video published 😔
This edition covers the week #39 and #40.

👤 Personal

1️⃣ I’ve been busy with personal matters recently, which prevented me from working on my usual creative hobby and releasing this newsletter more regularly. But over the years, I learned that sharing when it’s meaningful and ready is more important than sharing for the sake of sharing. If it means to release this newsletter on a more irregular basis, so be it. Hobbies must be fun, not a burden. 2️⃣ With this newsletter edition, I decided to tweak the content a bit: I'll no longer include the logbook excerpt from Things 3, my preferred tasks manager. This logbook was a list of completed tasks during the week. I don't see the real value of including this anymore as I wasn't always able to keep it up to date and reflect my actual accomplished work. At one point, I even included a list of all the articles that I was reading on Omnivore. Since there is no integration between Omnivore and Things, automation is not possible and trying to build one is not worth it.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ I made some tests with Google's NotebookLM using my main website as the source. It's fast, and after a few minutes, I was already impressed. There is a media buzz about this podcasting feature, which is technically impressive, but ethically, I find this dangerous. 2️⃣ I discovered www.flaticon.com while searching for icons for a Keynote presentation template. I think I knew about that icon collection but forgot about it. I might subscribe to it if I find enough interesting icon sets to build a coherent collection.

📖 Reading

1️⃣ The end of Tabletop newsletter by Michael Steeber. So sad. Michael didn't share much about what's next for him. I hope he is okay. Maybe he was hired by Apple? Maybe there is not much to say about Apple Stores nowadays. The rate of new stores opening is relatively low, and most news is about remodelling and relocation. 2️⃣ Lou Plummer launched a challenge for bloggers and writers: the appreciation challenge. I find the idea rather interesting, so I was probably the first to share my appreciation for his work publicly.

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

1️⃣ ChatGPT canvas feature recently announced at their latest developers conference seems handy for writers like me. I tried it out to create an article and was blown away. Ultimately, the best of this will be experienced when embedded into apps like Craft or Ulysses. From the OpenAI website: “We trained GPT-4o to collaborate as a creative partner. The model knows when to open a canvas, make targeted edits, and fully rewrite. It also understands broader context to provide precise feedback and suggestions.” 2️⃣ It occurred to me this week that I often spend more time sharing photos when I'm writing less. I feel less inspired to write in the evening, and I'm also more tired; it takes less effort to share photos. That's the explanation that I came up with. 3️⃣ I finally wrote and shared my Apple Watch Series 10 review. I made a funny title: “A Significant Iterative Refinement.” I'm playing with words here and making fun of Apple’s iterative product releases.

Numeric Citizen Blog Posts Monthly Digest - Numeric Citizen Blog

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ I've spent more time editing photos than usual in the last couple of days, and I'm enjoying it. Next week, I’m going on a short trip to New York to see a show of Sting, and I'll bring my camera with me for sure. 2️⃣ Great video about showing the iPhone 16 Pro video capabilities, entirely shot in Chicago, an excellent place for such video. It could have been an Apple ad. Was it? 3️⃣ A great review from Tyler Stalman of the iPhone 16 from a photographer's perspective. 4️⃣ Another iPhone 16-related review, this time about the controversial Camera Control by Sebastiaan De With.

Ben Lomon on Glass Photography Community

Ben Lomon. Montreal-based photography enthusiast.

A Montreal-based photographer I discovered this week. I like to see my city as seen through the eyes of another street photographer.

Monthly Category Favorites — Windows — Glass

How did you frame them?

Glass’s monthly category for September was “windows. “ In its category highlight, Glass offers a few great images shared by the community. I submitted two photos (image one and image two) in that category but wasn’t selected.

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ The Pixel Fold Makes the iPhone look old. Really? This form factor does not convince me, and I’m not alone because I never see someone using a folding device. I prefer discreet devices like a phone and a tablet. And a Mac. I must be getting old. 2️⃣ The Macintosh IIci with an Apple Portrait Display as shown here was a very popular configuration for anyone doing serious desktop publishing in the early nineties. I always liked portrait display orientation and I wonder why we don’t see that more often these days.

🚧 Special projects

1️⃣ My 1Password to Apple Passwords migration is going well. The fun thing about this migration is that I relived old memories of many defunct web services I used in 2014 when I started using 1Password for storing my passwords. I disabled the 1Password browser extension on all my devices to force myself into migrating passwords. It works.

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ Ghost is still working on implementing Fediverse. It's still too early, but Ghost users like me could see their monthly bill increase as the number of fediverse followers increases. I submitted my request to be part of the upcoming beta. Tiny sites with small memberships are preferred; this is precisely what my Ghost site is: small. Ghost's subscription tiers are based on the number of subscribers. With Fediverse, the number of followers will add up to the subscriber count, which could translate into a price increase for me. Since my audience is relatively small, it's not an issue for me. 2️⃣ Inoreader is prepping a significant web application redesign. After switching to the beta version and testing it for a few hours, I must say that this is the most successful redesign of any web service that I have ever seen. The new look offers higher information density while being cleaner and more functional. A new sidebar provides a great way to switch between major Inoreader features like RSS feeds, audio, search, etc. I provided a screenshot of my home view so you can judge yourself. 3️⃣ I finally cancelled my Linktr.ee subscription after three years of use. It was a great ride, but I prefer to focus on fewer platforms now. 4️⃣ If you are a writer using one of the popular writing apps like Ulysses or iA Writer, consider reading this review of an alternative app called Paper (very detailed).

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ Again this week, I spent quite some time watching video reviews of the RODECaster Video device and again, more than ever, I think this is something I will get. The question now is when? It's a relatively expensive device, and I'm also waiting for the next Mac mini to be announced in the next few weeks, which will probably cost a lot, too.

💎 Miscellaneous

1️⃣ Google announced two new Chromebooks and the integration of Gemini AI with a dedicated keyboard key. I would consider getting the Lenovo Chromebook Duet because of its relatively good design. But why am I considering getting this? I'm curious to test the water outside the Apple walled garden. I like vertically integrated solutions, and Google can compete with Apple.

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ I'm still looking forward to the October announcements from Apple, which will focus on the M4 Macs, including the redesigned Mac mini. From there, I'll decide if I upgrade my M1 Mac mini or buy the RODECaster Video device or do both.

I wish you a great week! ✌️👋🏻

Getting ready to leave for a week-end in New York (or close to)!

Apple's September 2024 release of the Apple Watch Series 10 introduces a range of improvements that mark a substantial progression, particularly for users upgrading from earlier versions like the Series 6 or Series 8. Based on my experience with the new device, I want to highlight the key innovations and enhancements that set the Series 10 apart from its predecessors.

Performance and Design Enhancements

The Series 10 is still true to its origin; the new finish and larger display make it look rounder, but I'm not sure there is a significant difference. The larger screen is handy when interacting with apps or reading notifications, making the overall experience more user-friendly while allowing more information to be displayed seamlessly. The edges of the display curve more smoothly into the casing, giving it a refined aesthetic that enhances its appearance and usability. The thinner bezels make better use of the display area, allowing more information to be shown without feeling cluttered. This thoughtful design iteration makes it easier to read messages, type on the on-screen keyboard, navigate apps, and use widgets—all contributing to a superior user experience.

The Series 10 offers a significant boost in performance. Compared to my Series 8—a noticeable upgrade over the Series 6—the Series 10 is considerably more responsive. The user interface of watchOS is smoother, with apps launching faster than before. This speed improvement is especially evident for those upgrading from older models. Skipping a generation of devices is the best way to feel these differences when upgrading. Everything from switching watch faces to opening apps feels instantaneous, and this increase in responsiveness contributes to an enhanced overall user experience.

Notable New Features

The new double-tap (or double-pinch?) gesture has proven incredibly useful, adding a new level of convenience when navigating or interacting with the watch. This feature allows users to quickly control apps and interact with notifications without using the other hand, which is particularly helpful when on the move. The gesture feels intuitive and becomes second nature after just a short period of use, enhancing the overall hands-free experience. It is handy for answering calls, stopping timers, or controlling media playback, reducing the need to tap buttons or use the Digital Crown.

Another notable addition is the on-device translation feature, which has been very handy for quick translations. I downloaded the English and French language packs, and having translation capabilities directly on the watch has been helpful in day-to-day situations. This feature is perfect for travellers or those who frequently interact in different languages, as it provides instant translations without relying on an internet connection. The accuracy of the translations is also impressive, and the speed at which the watch processes these requests is a testament to the improved performance of the Series 10.

Another surprisingly enjoyable feature is listening to podcasts or music through the watch's speakers. While it might seem unconventional, it’s a convenient option for brief listening sessions when headphones aren’t available. Given the small form factor, the speakers are clear enough for spoken word content, and the sound quality is adequate.

Upgrade Process Challenges

Despite the many enhancements, the upgrade process remains an area needing refinement. Apple’s in-store purchasing experience is seamless, but migrating settings and watch faces from an older watch is still cumbersome. The Apple Watch backup and restore feature does not work reliably, which disrupts the upgrade process for many users. The ability to share watch faces via iMessage is clever and saves time, but it doesn’t provide a complete migration solution. A more streamlined approach that allows easy transfer of all settings would significantly improve the upgrade experience. The current process requires too much manual setup. There is also the risk of losing some configurations in the process, which makes upgrading feel less rewarding than it should be.

For those upgrading to the Series 10 while keeping an older watch, here’s a helpful tip: use iMessage to share watch faces from your old device to the new one. This lets you quickly set up your preferred watch faces without starting from scratch. Install your apps first, then send each watch face via iMessage to yourself, enabling easy installation on the new watch. This method saves time and helps ensure that your new watch feels familiar right from the start while still taking advantage of the improvements in performance and design.

For those who decide to set up their watch from scratch, it can be an opportunity to curate watch faces and settings intentionally. I found it refreshing to start anew, choosing only the watch faces I needed rather than transferring everything from my old device. This method allowed me to simplify my watch setup and only retain the features that I found most helpful. However, not every user will find this experience liberating—many would prefer a one-click solution that ensures all settings and configurations are automatically transferred without hassle.

Another area for improvement is the syncing process, particularly for music and photos. Allowing users more control over when and how content syncs would significantly improve user experience. Music and pictures only sync when the watch is charging, which is typically overnight while I wear my Series 8. Since I got my new watch, my favorite photo album still hasn’t synced, and there’s no option to force the sync. This limitation can be inconvenient, especially for users who want certain content readily available. Apple could improve this by allowing users to manually initiate syncing, ensuring that content is updated according to personal preferences rather than the device’s schedule. Simplifying the migration process when upgrading watches would enhance the overall experience, making it as seamless as the initial in-store purchase.

Health Monitoring and Battery Performance

The health-monitoring capabilities on the Series 10 have also seen notable improvements. For instance, The heart rate monitor is more accurate than my previous Series 6. During workouts, such as walking, the Series 10 consistently provided precise heart rate readings without blackout periods, addressing a critical problem of earlier models. This increase in accuracy is particularly beneficial for those who rely on the watch for fitness tracking, as it provides a more reliable assessment of their exercise metrics. Additionally, the Series 10 includes improvements to other health features like blood oxygen monitoring, which initially came with the Series 6, sleep apnea detection, and sleep tracking. Together, these features work more seamlessly, offering richer insights into overall health and well-being and encouraging healthier habits.

Battery performance has also improved, thanks, of course, to the new battery. My Series 8, with 84% battery health, and my Series 6, at 64%, clearly showed their age. The Series 10, with its new battery, delivers much longer usage time, especially when using more demanding features like long workouts or the remote camera app. With moderate use, the watch comfortably lasts more than a day, even with health tracking and other features enabled. Before going to bed, the battery level is now at more than 60%, allowing more than a day of usage on a single charge. The low-power mode also extends battery life, which is helpful during long outdoor activities or when charging is not immediately available. This extended battery performance makes it easier to rely on the watch throughout the day without worrying about finding time to charge it.

About The Second Hand Animation

One minor inconsistency I noticed was with the animation of the second hand across different watch faces. With a 1 Hertz refresh rate, the new Reflections watch face features continuous second-hand animation, while many others do not, without any apparent reason for the discrepancy. While this doesn’t affect functionality, a small detail detracts from an otherwise cohesive experience. Apple could address this inconsistency in future updates to ensure a uniform experience across all watch faces, mainly since attention to detail is one of the hallmarks of their products.

Conclusion

Overall, the Apple Watch Series 10 represents a significant upgrade for those coming from older devices, as well as for more recent ones like the Series 8. With improved performance, a larger and more ergonomic design, enhanced health features, and new interactions, such as the double-tap gesture, it’s a compelling choice for those using older models. While Apple’s attention to detail is evident in many areas, there remains room for improvement in the upgrade and syncing processes. Despite these minor drawbacks, the Series 10 watch pushes the boundaries of what a smartwatch can offer, making it an excellent choice for new users and seasoned Apple Watch owners.

1. Yesterday, I upgraded my M1 Mac mini to macOS Sequoia. Now everything that I own is running the latest OS release or the next iteration, like iOS 18.1 on my iPhone. My Mac mini is used mainly for the job and I wanted to wait a bit for all my main apps to receive compatibility-related updates before proceeding with that one. Today, I'll see if it was a good idea. I'm rather optimistic. 🤞🏻
2. Enough of those videos about the RODECaster Video switching and production device. I must be reasonable here and wait for Apple to announce the redesigned Mac mini. Then, I'll make a decision. 😌
3. I've been testing ChatGPT advanced voice interaction and boy this is really impressive. The speed of improvements in generative AI is mind-blowing, and I'm starting to see that Apple has a lot of work to do just to barely keep up.
4. Speaking of barely keeping up, I have a hard time working on my different writing projects as I'm busy working my freelancing project and my home improvement project. I don't see how I'm going to improve the dynamic on this front. 
5. Have a great weekend. 👋🏻

1. I'm curious about Google Chromebooks. I'm late to the party but I'm willing to invest some of my money to test one from Lenovo when with comes outsoon. The newest edition comes with full Gemini AI support. 
2. I'm dying to get my hands on RealMac software Elements to build a website. I'm still waiting for the beta invite, though. I already started the work on content and structure design. To be hosted on CloudFlare Pages and GitHub. 
3. I'm also dying to get may hands on the RODECaster Video device to upgrade my YouTube video production game. That one isn't cheap, but it seems so fun and attainable for me.
4. I almost forgot about these new Oura rings 4 that are coming out very soon. I'm heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem and already have an Apple Watch, but I must admit that I like this tiny device too. It's a great smart ring with a great look. Again, that's not cheap and it comes with a subscription. Ouch. 
5. Have a great day! 👍🏻

1. I'm currently testing and exploring the new Inoreader beta and god I'm liking what I'm seeing! It's probably the biggest update in years to this venerable RSS reader. I'm so glad to be a subscriber to this service. 😮
2. I'm excited and looking forward to getting a RODECaster Video when it comes out. It's not cheap, but this thing got nearly unanimous rave reviews on YouTube. It will be a game changer for my YouTube video recording. Can't wait for that one. 👀
3. I'm also excited for RealMac Software's Elements, a brand-new website editor for the Mac, rebuilt from the ground up. I'm watching each video sharing details about each beta release. It should be out later this year. 👀
4. Have a great day! 👋🏻

The following is a summary of my contribution activities since the previous newsletter edition
👨🏻‍💻 23 posts 😃
🏞️ 2 photos shared 😔
🎙️ No podcast episode published 😔
📺 No YouTube video published 😔
This newsletter edition covers weeks 37 and 38.

👤 Personal

1️⃣ It’s been a busy two weeks. I just returned from a business trip to Las Vegas and spent quite some time working on our future home improvement project. Plus, this underground project of going freelance also took some of my spare time. This explains why I didn’t share much in the last two weeks.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ As Manuel Moreale said, discovering (non-dev) blogs is hard. 2️⃣ I found this blog, Things, by Guy Schmidt: minimalistic, but with most of the things I like. 3️⃣ I haven't thought about it, but depending on the wallpaper you use on your iPhone, you could save battery power during the day. These wallpapers, because of the clever use of the rule of thirds, are rather beautiful if you like astronomy. 4️⃣ I love visual notes (also called Sketch notes). I took notes during a recent brainstorming session at the office and was reminded about sketch notes' existence. I researched the web, found many great examples, and stumbled on “Ink Company Studio.” What they do is clever: during a corporate event, you subscribe to the company’s service to create sketch notes during meetings or presentations. It’s very cool. While skimming different sketch note styles, I realized I like it when there is a good balance between text, iconography and colours. 5️⃣ Another cool discovery is the official website of Alberto Ortega. His artwork is made of paintings of street scenes from the fifties based on handmade miniature models that he creates. It's really cool and unique.

📖 Reading

1️⃣ While browsing my Micro.blog timeline, I met Erlend from Norway. I came across his Micro.blog hosted website that I have found to be gorgeous and unique in its design and appearance. At first, I didn't believe this website was hosted on Micro.blog using one of the available visual themes, but yeah, it is. Browsing his website is a delight both visually and with the content. I decided to support him via his Ko-Fi page.

"So many ‘exciting’ camera upgrades, so much computational assistance, you’ll end up forgetting what it means to take a photo." — Riccardo Mori

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

1️⃣ I'm enjoying writing for Medium. While doing so, I gathered a bunch of notes about my writing and reading experience on this platform. I plan to write an article about that soon. There are many things to like about Medium but a few irritating things to dislike too. It's a bit a love-and-hate relationship.

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ Another excellent photo series by JF Dupuis, this time about a dear subject of mine: clouds. Really big clouds. 2️⃣ For those with an old iPad, here’s a good suggestion: make it a photo frame with this app. I spent some time digitizing old family photos recently, and putting them on an old iPad is a good idea. 3️⃣ I decided to tweak some photo-related settings on my iPhone: Preview HDR content is now OFF and photographic styles is now set to rich contrast. My desire here is to remove some typical iPhone images flatness and this comes after watching this iPhone 16 Pro review from The Verge. 4️⃣ If you are contemplating buying the iPhone 16 Pro for its photo-related features, consider watching this video review from Peta Pixels. Well worth your time. One of my nephew bought the iPhone 16 Pro and found the Camera Control to be finicky to use requiring a long learning curve to master. I'm skipping this year's iPhone and hope that next year Apple will tweak that new button.

I’m wondering if the new iPhone 16 Camera Control is the new Touch Bar. – Numeric Citizen

Dewi Koomen on Glass Photography Community

Dewi Koomen. Love to see the extraordinary in the ordinary - proud mom 👧🏻 👦🏻 🇹🇼 - Click Pro - Dutch 🇳🇱

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ Lack of excitement. Sameness. Boring. Ennui. These are general sentiments about the last Apple Keynote announcing the new iPhone. On top of that is the perception that Apple Intelligence won't do the trick of triggering a super-cycle. As the main backdrop, developers have been angry about Apple for quite a while now. Something wrong is happening, and I wonder if Apple is noticing. 2️⃣ Not everyone is impressed by Apple. In this blog post, Riccardo Mori offers a rather harsh take on Apple and their recent announcements. Ouch. He is a longtime Apple user, but when he started with Apple, it was quite a different world, and Apple was so different. Apple, the underdog, was more likeable. 3️⃣ Manuel Moreale hates the redesigned Control Center. It seems Apple is doing everything wrong. 4️⃣ Apple Intelligence rollout will take a long time. How could this be different? Generative AI wasn't a thing until late 2022, and Apple had about two years to figure out a whole new integration and backend infrastructure to support that in a meaningful and secure way for its users. 5️⃣ While waiting for Apple Intelligence, it might be a good idea to read MacStories iOS 18 review. I want to mention two things about this review. First, I like the artwork used across pages and review details. It is a direct jab at Apple's upcoming Apple Intelligence image creation tool and AI-generated content. MacStories commissioned an iPad artist to create these artworks. Second, I like the author's take on Apple Intelligence, AI in general, and his desire to be a creative guy who dislikes AI-generated artifacts, which negates the unique value proposition of humans: creativity. 6️⃣ Meta Connect was fun, apparently.

🚧 Special projects

1️⃣ Since the official release of Apple's Passwords app, their official password management solution, I started migrating my passwords off 1Password. I came across this article from one of the developers behind Apple's Passwords, Ricky Mondello. He works for Apple. I'll use his "online method” to migrate and increase my online security posture. I’m trying to migrate a few passwords each day. Tedious.

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ There are two places to look for information about iOS 18 and iPadOS 18: MacStories detailed review and this guide from MacRumors. 2️⃣ The new Reeder app continues to trigger reactions. Some people really like the latest iteration. 3️⃣ iA Writer for Android will retire, thanks to Google’s Play Store rules.

“Developing on Android is a daily worsening struggle with red tape, inconsistent device performance, App Store search performance gaming3, and rampant piracy.” — iA Writer developer.

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ On the “How About Tomorrow?” podcast with Adam Elmore & Dax Raad, DHH joins in and discusses so many interesting and controversial things that I cannot decide where to start. From Apple’s current hegemony over developers and users, quitting the Microsoft world, then quitting the Apple world and joining the Linux bandwagon, quitting the cloud, and building its things, this discussion is highly entertaining. DHH is a controversial guy, and this discussion contains so many opinionated views that there is a lot to unpack. I must admit that many of the opinions expressed resonate with me. DHH is correct when talking about Apple and its power over developers. Quitting the Apple ecosystem is something that I read more and more. Many are talking about this, but very few make the jump. I don't see myself doing it soon; I'm probably too old for that, but I can see the point. Hyperconcentration of power is not a good thing for anyone. DHH’s bravery in calling out things is necessary. 2️⃣ I came across the new RodeCaster video reviews, and I must say that I’m impressed. So much that I’m considering getting one when it is finally available. For 1200 US$, it’s not exactly cheap, but it could solve many of the challenges I have while doing video recordings and for Teams meetings at work.

💎 Miscellaneous

1️⃣ I’ve been on Bluesky since April 25th, 2023. My user number is 35,638. Not bad. See my badge below. It reminds me of my early days on Twitter back in 2007. I was an early adopter, too. 2️⃣ I made a video about Craft. I shared a summary of it on Reddit. Got called out for writing a bad summary using ChatGPT. I got some support in response. Not everyone is a jerk. Still, I hate Reddit.

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ This video about Meta's Orion augmented reality glasses made me look at the Apple Vision Pro differently. Even if Apple Visio Pro is a technological marvel, Orion Glass shows the way in some areas, like device size and style. It's interesting. But I still don't like Meta and Zuckerberg.

I wish you a great week! ✌️👋🏻

Newsletter Past Editions

📅 Meta

1. I'm currently dissecting Medium in preparation for a Medium review. Yes, I know, I'm late, but this review will act as a reminder of Medium good, bad and ugly things. There is a lot to write about, trust me. 
2. Getting ready to put my writing on pause for the next few days, thanks to a business trip to Las Vegas. Time to be serious. 🛫
3. I'm liking my Apple Watch Series 10 so far. It was time for me to upgrade because my Series 8 couldn't last more than half a day. In a way, I got a battery replacement with a new case. 😂
4. My iPad Pro will come with me because this is the perfect device for business trips. I like it a lot. I'll also be using Microsoft Remote Desktop app to connect to my Cloud Pc instance on Windows 365 if needed, which is also very cool. 
5. Have a great week! 👋🏻

Today's recurring thought: I prefer to write for my blogs than write for my company's blog., simply because I prefer to own my words and thoughts.

• My wife updated her Apple devices and didn't notice anything new. This Apple these days. I can't blame her. She's a typical user. Eventually she will come back to me with "is this new?" while showing my her screen. 😂
• Spent some time on Bluesky to start building a list of account that will become my new curated timeline, like I did a while ago for Twitter in the good old days. By the way, I'm user \#36688.
• My next "60 minutes with" video will be about using Omnivore. I can't wait to do that one this weekend. The previous one was with Pixelfed, last year. I must be fully acquainted with an app or service before feeling at ease doing those videos.
• Have great day! 👋🏻

The latest edition of "The Ephemeral Scrapbook" details the author’s activities, which range from sharing various posts and photos to digitizing family memories with Photomyne. Notable discoveries include Jony Ive’s new button design and Jeremy Ultey's blog on generative AI. The author expresses mixed feelings about sorting old family photos and highlights the significance of curation in combatting disinformation. The newsletter also discusses Apple's recent Glowtime event, iOS updates, and impressions of the iPhone 16. The author contemplates the future of content creation as centered on human curation, and shares insights on writing, with a particular process involving ChatGPT for translations. Future plans include visiting an Apple Store to experience new products announced in the recent keynote.

The following summarizes my contribution activities since the previous newsletter edition. The next edition is scheduled for early October.
👨🏻‍💻 19 posts shared 😃
🏞️ 3 photos shared 😔
🎙️ No podcast episode published 😔
📺 One YouTube video published 🙂

👤 Personal

1️⃣ Last weekend, I spent quite some time sorting out boxes of old family photos. I came out of this exercise with mixed feelings. It is strange to see in a picture that 95% of the people pictured are dead. It's hard to realize that I missed a significant portion of my parent's life when they were retired. I was too busy with my own things. I'm the youngest child, and I had a big age gap with my parents I somehow always saw them as being rather old. Nonetheless, I miss them. 2️⃣ I resubscribed to Photomyne for a month to digitize some of my family photos before throwing them out. It works great. I'm using my iPhone 15 Pro Max for this. I wrote a review of Photomyne a while ago.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ Jony Ive, now at “Love From” company, designed a... button. It looks cool, but I want to hear the satisfying click when both parts snap together. 2️⃣ I discovered this "blog" by Jeremy Ultey, a professor from Stanford University. He is currently invested in helping others take advantage of generative AI to help people and companies gain comfort and confidence. 3️⃣ Here is a good way to discover new blogs.

📖 Reading

1️⃣ In the article “Curate to Create,” I found the whole idea resonating. Based on the principle that nothing created is really new these days, what's left to be done is to curate and develop connections between bits of information. Also, I see that curation is one way to combat disinformation and add value to published content. In a way, it's the entire point of this newsletter. Am I good at it? No, but I'm working at it every single day.

“The reason why the current web sucks is because way too many people are expecting things to magically get better without doing their part. The web is a collaborative product and we all have to do our part to make it better.” — Manuel Moreale

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

1️⃣ Writing helps me think and sometimes leads to solving problems or challenges. For example, I’ve been writing a few stories about my thoughts on becoming a freelancer, and this helped me have a clearer view of what it really means. Writing, for me, is the best way to process thoughts and ideas. Without writing, I would be blind. 2️⃣ I wrote a new story on Medium this week about a personal experience at work. I followed this process: I wrote the initial story in French and then used ChatGPT to translate it into English. I read the results and felt it wasn't conveying the essence of the original text. I asked ChatGPT to improve the writing of the resulting first iteration. It came out pretty well. Then, I asked ChatGPT to elaborate on a specific story aspect I felt wasn't well explained. I was impressed with the results. What is this process telling me? It is sometimes more manageable to start writing my ideas in French. Asking ChatGPT to translate my text into English is transitory because the resulting translation often needs improvements.

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ I’m still eagerly waiting for the Glass Series to launch. No official dates have been set so far. It is exhausting to wait for that. 2️⃣ I discovered Micheal Beecham on Glass while browsing black and white photos. This guy is so good at capturing the mood, and doing it in black and white offers the best way to capture the subtleties of the scenes. 3️⃣ A series of great black & white portraits from JF Dupuis on Pixelfed.

Michael Beecham on Glass Photography Community

Michael Beecham. A Dorset-based black and white landscape photographer. Usually on a hillside, or in a woodland somewhere. Tall. Generally good-natured.

Jean-François Dupuis (@jfdupuis@pixelfed.social)

Portraits

Pixelfed

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ Like him, I rarely use the action button on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple is adding another button on the iPhone 16. Will people use it more? I guess so since it is dedicated à taking photos and videos. 2️⃣ Apple Glowtime event took place. In my opinion, we should call it an infomercial more than an event. I share most of my thoughts about it here. 3️⃣ Reactions are mixed, I would say. 4️⃣ Apple Observatory seems to be a new construction site at Apple Park in California. According to this article on Dezeen, it looks like a great place with a design that is similar to Apple's current architectural traits and elements. The place was first on the day of the Glowtime keynote, where the new iPhone 16 line was launched. It was used as a demonstration space, according to Gruber. 5️⃣ Speaking of Gruber, Manuel Moreale wrote a small post about the EU vs US iPhone debate, the iPhone divide, and the way Gruber keeps hammering the subject in the name of what, exactly? We don't know. This piece might come across as bold and confrontational. The tone challenges Gruber’s perspectives on Apple’s features and policies, especially around the EU vs. US debate over iPhone functionalities. It questions the value of Gruber’s critiques and urges him to adopt a more inclusive mindset, embracing user choice and differing opinions globally

Exclusive photos reveal Apple’s subterranean Apple Park Observatory

Dezeen can exclusively reveal photos of technology brand Apple’s new events venue, which is sunk into the hillside at the Apple Park campus in California.

DezeenTom Ravenscroft

"Apple’s brand, product ecosystem and marketing muscle are all so strong that even the bare minimum is usually enough." — Mark Gurman

“Sameness in design is not equivalent to a lack of creativity." — Om Malik

“It just occurred to me that Apple (and other “gatekeepers”) are getting a bit of their own medicine with the DMA. Developers in the App Store have always had to live with unclear and changing rules, as well as the risk that Apple will effectively shut down your business with an absolute rejection. Suddenly the bully is being bullied, with changing rules and unclear guidelines — and they don't like it.” — https://mastodon.cloud/@drewmccormack/113106933929326824

It’s Glowtime Apple Event Bingo — Basic Apple Guy

Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event is scheduled for 10:00am PST on Monday, September 09.

Basic Apple GuyBasicAppleGuy

🚧 Special projects

1️⃣ This Medium Publication « Numeric Citizen Journeys » is in fact gradually becoming my newest project. Since I like documenting a lot of stuff in my life, I think this could be helpful for other people in the same situation. Consider giving it a look, I'm quite happy so far with the design.

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ Apple's iOS 18 is finally in release candidate state while I'm using iOS 18.1 beta on my iPhone, iPadOS 18.1 beta on my iPad and macOS 15.1 beta on my MacBook Air. I'm waiting for the subsequent betas, which should be in the next few days. 2️⃣ I'm still using the new and controversial Reeder app, which is being updated to improve formatting and functionality. 3️⃣ Apple released three ads about Apple Intelligence. The main character in these ads is Isabella Ramsey, who was last seen in “The Last of Us” TV series (I can’t remember her name, sorry). I'm not sure that I like the messaging of these ads, especially where they make us look “fake” by making people think we remember things or that we read what we were expected to read, which we didn't. 4️⃣ I’ve been spending some time watching videos about Realmac Software's RapidWeaver Elements, a new static website building app, for the Mac. It is still being developed and is currently in private beta. I've been watching those videos for a secret project that might require me to build a website from scratch. Elements seems like a great Mac app. I'm afraid to learn CSS, but it should be minimal if videos are any indication. I'll report back in the future. 5️⃣ In my latest YouTube video, I discuss general concepts surrounding objects and Craft Objects. This upcoming feature in Craft is a game changer, and I felt the need to share some details before the official release later this fall. 6️⃣ Scribbles.page blogging service keeps improving quite a lot. Recent additions are live post previews which is handy when writing longer posts and private blogs for those who needs a closer exposure of their blog.

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ I recently discovered and watched the Fifth Element short film on YouTube only to find out later that this short film was entirely made by AI, from the visuals, the storyline, the music, everything! How much energy in how many datacenters does this short clip require to become reality? It's far from a perfect story, but it's a boring one. It's only the beginning.

💎 Miscellaneous

1️⃣ I would love to hear the click of Jony Ive's designed button. MG Siegler talks about it, too. 2️⃣ JPEG-XL image format is official, and the latest iPhone supports it. It seems too good to be true—faster, smaller, wider support. Something is scary, though: it's a complex file format requiring a lot of code to support, as reported on Threads. If it is true that Firefox needs 100K lines of code to support JPEG-XL, then it is safe to assume that this also becomes a great cybersecurity attack surface. Do you remember the Macromedia Player or the Adobe Flash Player? You can also find all the details about JPEG-XL on the official website. 3️⃣ This little Dji NEO drone is super cool, and while I don't need one, I wish I had one. See the following promotional video. 4️⃣ I realized that this newsletter is all about curation, human curation, to be specific. Is this the future of the web? Some people like Jeremy Utley think it is, as he shared in “Curate to Create.” The future of content creation lies in curation, as audiences face content fatigue and anxiety from endless choices.

A picture from the Severance series is available on Apple TV+. What a strange world this series portrays. I liked how they conveyed that people working with computers are doing things I don’t understand, and I’m in IT! What they do is unknown to me, at least. They move little numbers to meet a visual target using a trackball instead of a mouse. I like this retrocomputing style. It’s so weird and useless from our point of view. Maybe this is what other non-techy people think about those of us who work in IT, anyway?

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ I’m looking forward to visit the Apple Store next week and experience everything Apple announced during their Glowtime keynote. I’m really eyeing the Apple Watch Series 10, to replace my aging Series 8, bought in 2022. Battery life is miserable; I’m barely making it to the afternoon.

I wish you a great week! ✌️👋🏻

Newsletter Past Editions

📅 Meta

Generally speaking, the “Glowtime” event has too many tech sheet talks, lacks emotional conversation, and feels too long. When a device is mature, new iterations are so subtle that mentioning those subtleties is the only way to entice users to upgrade. Or is it? I’m getting tired of the Apple headquarters. I can’t believe Apple invites the press to watch a video on a big screen. What a waste of resources and money. Here are some things that I find worthwhile talking about, at least for me.

About the Apple Watch

First, I’m a bit surprised that Apple didn’t mention the tenth anniversary of the Apple Watch. I would have preferred an emotional retrospective segment over the specs-packed ones. And we didn’t get the redesign the iPhone underwent with the iPhone X in 2017. Speaking of design, the new watch is barely thinner by 1 mm. As per the Apple Watch mini website, the following visual comparison lets people get the gist of it. However, the jet-black finish accentuates the slimmer design over the one in black matte. I would have preferred that they used the silver finish on both sides to be a fair comparison.

Another strange thing is that the Apple Watch mini website offers another visual comparison, which is the screen size. Why is the Series 8 and 9 absent from the comparison? Maybe the difference would have been too incremental. Is Apple targeting mostly Series 6 and prior owners? Anyhow, I would have liked to see the Series 8 in this comparison.

More apparent is the Series 10 design change: the watch roundness, thanks to a more pronounced corner radius. I kind of like it. As always with Apple products, seeing it in person will help you make a final decision. Also, Series 10 sports double the storage of Series 8.

One more thing, absent from the keynote is Jony Ive showing a new Apple Watch band with the newly designed “button”. Is such a thing possible? I wish.

Other notes

AirPods Max was given a new charging port and colors. There are no audio improvements, no size reduction, and the same stupid carrying case. Jarrod Blundy for HeyDingus website sums it all up. The AirPods Max are now the new original HomePod, IMO. Getting new features with software upgrades is great, though. This is the case for the AirPods Pro 2. That's cool, and the messaging around it was to the point.

Oh, the iPhone 16. I find it less exciting, but I wonder if it is because the features gap is less pronounced this year. The Main camera got a new name: 48 MP Fusion camera. Confused. This new camera button and mini user interface look great.

Some of the photography-related changes are intriguing: the new photographic style in post-edit is really cool. The user interface for editing a photo with a specific style using a multicoloured pad is dope. I can’t wait to try it in the Apple Store on my next visit.

As expected, Apple mentioned Apple Intelligence a bunch of times. You can find the logo everywhere on the iPhone mini website. I can’t wait to see real-world Apple Intelligence benchmarks for the iPhone 16 Pro compared to the iPhone 15 Pro; how much difference does 8 GB of RAM and the A18 / A18 Pro CPU make? It would cost me over a thousand Canadian dollars to upgrade from my now-discontinued iPhone 15 Pro Max. I’ll pass and wait for the iPhone 17 next year.

JF Martin (@numericcitizen@pixelfed.social)

Zagreb.

Pixelfed

Here is a summary of my contributions since the last newsletter edition.
👨🏻‍💻 18 posts 😃
🏞️ 7 photos shared 🙂
🎙️ No podcast episode published 😔
📺 2 YouTube videos published 😃

👤 Personal

1️⃣ My consideration for freelance work is still moving along. I continue to write about this subject and find it full of interesting angles to consider and write about. I like stimulating subjects. 2️⃣ I'm happy to introduce the third generation of my newsletter, The Ephemeral Scrapbook. 3️⃣ I added a guestbook to my blog. Reading guestbooks at the museum on the way out is always fun, so I added one to my blog. Many readers already signed it! I'm so grateful for these simple gestures.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ I discovered Colossal. According to their website description, “Colossal is an online art magazine that celebrates contemporary art and visual culture across a wide range of creative disciplines.” Colossal showcases artists of all origins and genres. Highlighted artists are often found on other platforms like Etsy or Behance. It’s intriguing. This poster of exoplanets found on Colossal is superbly done. I want one! I could spend hours on this website. 2️⃣ I was on the private beta for the new Reeder app, the successor of Reeder Classic, the venerable RSS reader. The new app offers another take on content consumption, with a single feed merging all feed sources, including RSS, YouTube, Mastodon, Blusky and audio feeds. For testing purposes, I'm subscribing to most of my publication feeds (I like to subscribe to my own feeds). One thing that stands out in the new Reeder app is that you can assign a tag to a post, and Reeder generates a public feed for that tag. I'm testing this feature by selectively assigning a tag called “Highlight” to some of my posts that I want to be highlighted for potential readers. You can get the public feed here (this link might break in the future). Reeder is a direct competitor to Typestry, another app developed by the Iconfactory guys, the same one who did the Mastodon client named Ivory. Tapestry isn't complete yet, but my preference goes to Reeder, for now.

📖 Reading

1️⃣ The audio reading experience on Medium using a web browser is excellent. The only thing is that reading using audio requires more attention than reading the text on the computer screen. This is true of any spoken podcast, in my case. 2️⃣ Anil Dash: How Oprah will screw up the AI story. Mr. Dash is not confident in the upcoming Oprah show about AI. He sounds a little too quick with his assertions. Reminder: I don't think Oprah targets the scientific community in AI or the thinkers.

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

1️⃣ The Blaugust 2024 blogging festival has concluded in early September. Participants had to post at least once a day for August. That's a significant feat for those who can achieve this! I applaud everyone who could do it! As much time as I spend on my creative hobby, that's insufficient to warrant participation in such a challenge. I write pretty much daily, but I don't share each day. Special mention goes to Lou Plummer for posting close to 8 times a day spread on four blogs for the month. 👀 3️⃣ I like this blog post from Eric Gregorich, where he writes: writing is thinking. This explains why I wrote so much. I need to think and writing helps me achieve this goal.

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ That image caught my attention because I like big structures against natural settings. AOWS photographer keeps impressing me with the quality of his images. 2️⃣ Another great image, this one found on Reddit, in r/itookapicture. The scene, the point of view, the composition, the tones and the colours all contribute to this magnificent photo. 3️⃣ Dragos Bradu is my newly discovered photographer on Glass who shares excellent photos using a style and a selection of subjects that are reminiscent of mine. I see myself in his images.

Dragos Bradu on Glass Photography Community

Dragos Bradu.

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ M4 Mac mini rumours are getting more and more interesting. The latest points to a configuration with 5 USB-C ports, of which two are in the front, which woulc be very convenient. Gone are the USB-A ports! The power supply should stay integrated even if the mini decreases in size. This mighty box should arrive in November after a rollout in October, with other M4-based Macs. I shared a more detailed take here.

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ WordPress will spend human resources to migrate Tumblr’s backend to WordPress’. I don't know if it will move the needle. Who's still using Tumblr these days? 2️⃣ Matt Birchler shared a video about apps that he really enjoys using. I discovered that Whisper is coming to an iPhone near you (it's the iPhone version of Mac Whisper, a transcription app I use to create subtitles files for my YouTube videos). I also discovered “Track My Domains,” but sadly, a display bug makes it impossible to use with iOS 18 beta 8. The purpose of this app is to keep track of domain name renewals. 3️⃣ If you are a Synology NAS user, you might wait before upgrading to version 7.2.2 of their operating system. The following video explains it all. In short, if you depend on the Synology Video Station app or use video surveillance with your NAS, stop now and watch that video. The cause of this drama: Synology will stop paying for H.265 codec licensing costs. 4️⃣ Reeder is out with a small but pivotal update with a name change: Reeder Classic. This name change is mandatory because a brand-new app could replace Reeder Classic as a whole or in part. There is a little more info here. MacStories has a detailed article on the upcoming Reeder app. 5️⃣ iA Presenter 1.3 was released and includes support for inserting images from Unsplash. I don’t use iA Presenter as much as I would like, preferring Craft Presentation mode when I need to do some presentations while doing YouTube videos. I still keep an eye on iA Presenter, though. I'm using it for an upcoming video presentation. It's a weird app, but I like it a lot.

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ I produced two videos about Craft; the first one was about Craft Objects and Craft Style. So far, reactions are mostly positive. The second one is about configuring Craft from scratch, primarily destined for new Craft users. That one is not faring very well. 2️⃣ iJustine video with Becca Farsace, who used to be working for The Verge but is leaving to do her own things is interesting from a content creator perspective. iJustine indeed represents what it means to be a creative and prolific YouTuber. She's not exactly my type of YouTuber, but I admire her long streak of doing this and the energy she's putting in each of her videos.

💎 Miscellaneous

1️⃣ Matt Birchler is out with an interesting article: “Reviewing my iPhone 15 Pro review”. I find it interesting to revisit a review written a year ago. For my part, the only thing that I would say is that I rarely use the action button. It is currently set to run a multi-purpose action, but I seldom invoke it even with this. For the rest, I love the fit and finish of my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I was uncertain about the device size; this was my first Max iPhone, but I quickly became used to it. For me, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is my best iPhone ever. I don't expect to upgrade in 2024, but I will wait until next year with the iPhone 17. 2️⃣ I like the reMarkable Paper tablets for their general design and focus. I have a colleague at the office who always carries one with him, just like I do with my iPad Pro. I took a close look at the device and the screen and was seduced by the look and feel of the writing experience. The iPad is great, too, but the paper feeling is best on the reMarkable Paper tablet. The Verge reviewed the latest edition, the reMarkable Paper Pro. iJustine made a sponsered video too. 3️⃣ The making of two new icons from Information Architect, the maker of iA Writer and iA Presenter. I love those behind-the-scenes looks exposing the thinking that went into redesigning those apps icon.

reMarkable Paper Pro

reMarkable - “Replace your notes and printed documents with a digital notebook that feels like paper.”

reMarkable

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ Next week is the September 2024 Keynote. New iPhone and Apple Watch are wildly expected, coupled with new operating system releases, most of which are marking the beginning of the slow Apple Intelligence rollout. I'm looking to get a new watch this year, skipping Series 9 last year. According to my informal survey, some people are excited for this next Apple keynote.

I wish you a great week! ✌️👋🏻

Newsletter Past Editions

📅 Meta

I bought my first Mac mini in November 2020, right at the beginning of the Apple Silicon transition. I first hooked it to a 4K LG UltraFine monitor, but I later switched to an Apple Studio display when it came out. Together, they form a tremendous but aging computing duo. The time has come for an upgrade. I’ve contemplated getting a Mac Studio with the M2 processor in the last few months. Since recent rumours point to an M4 Mac mini instead, I think this is a better (and cheaper) solution.

The next Mac mini would be the third generation of mini form factor; the second generation dates back to 2010. The design would be a smaller Mac mini, close to an Apple TV in shape, size and design, but still using an aluminum casing. Gone is the USB-A port, but five USB-C ports would be offered, two of which would be located on the front. Even with a smaller form factor, the new mini would still include an integrated power supply, keeping the essence of the mini form factor. An HDMI and headphone jack will still be included. Some unknowns include the SD card slot like on the Mac Studio (slim chances, IMO) and the starting memory size configuration (probably 16 GB). The most exciting part would be the inclusion of a powerful M4 processor. I plan to get the best performance boost and future-proof configuration with the M4 Pro edition, but pricing might force me to go with the non-pro version.

My Mac mini adventure marked the end of the all-in-one Macs for me, and I couldn’t be happier. Having the flexibility of combining the proper display, keyboard, and mouse is convenient. It took me a while to finally get it (having an iMac from 2007 to 2021), and I wouldn't go back. It's time for me to write the next Mac mini chapter. And the time seems to have come if rumours are any indication. Rumours are pointing to an exciting, mighty Mac. This package could represent the best compact Mac ever created, one that perfectly fits my needs and the little space I have for it on my home office desk.

With the M4 Mac mini on the horizon, the anticipation is palpable. This little powerhouse is rumoured to deliver an unparalleled blend of power, efficiency, and versatility in a compact, elegant design. It's not just about the hardware specs, though; it's about how this potential dynamo will fit into and elevate my everyday computing life.

This morning, I added a guestbook to my blog. Please, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while or if you just came by, take a moment to sign it! 🙏🏻

The updated navigation structure on numericcitizen.me. This blog is hosted on Ghost.org.

For those who didn’t know, I maintain a description of all the apps and services that I use on “My Complete Content Creator Toolset And Some More” page.

Windows and balconies.

JF Martin on Glass

The following is my sharing activities summary since the previous newsletter edition.
👨🏻‍💻 20 posts 😃
🏞️ 12 photos shared 😃
🎙️ One podcast episode published 😃
📺 No YouTube video published 😔
This edition covers a two-week period: from 2024-08-18 to 2024-08-31.

👤 Personal

1️⃣ Today, I posted something on Facebook; and honestly, it felt weird. I can’t remember exactly when I last wrote on Facebook. I also had this symptom of missing out on things from my old colleagues and friends just by glancing at my timeline for a few minutes. It felt heavy. My post was about telling my “Facebook friends” about the two sites where I share my photos online: Glass and Pixelfed. I don’t know if people will take time off their busy lives to visit or even bookmark the sites. I shouldn’t care about that. Those who pay attention might even notice a link to my digital hub, where I share all my other sites. Because I’m curious, I’ll return back to Facebook in a few days to see if I got some comments. I’ll report back here in any case. This text also was shared as a narrated post here.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ It's not exactly a discovery, but my time spent on Medium in the last two weeks is more like a rediscovery. Many things have changed on Medium since October 2022, when I shared my previous article, essentially about how they achieve their goals for writers. 2️⃣ The prolific writer MG Siegler has a newsletter tagged as “from afar" on his Ghost-powered website. Here is one edition example. This newsletter is interesting and familiar, as it is similar to mine. We both share many links and quotes and organize the content in sections. 3️⃣ I discovered this super helpful blog post listing many different resources for bloggers like me. It is so good that it is now on my personal creator dashboard page as shown below.

📖 Reading

1️⃣ I came across this State of Medium article while reading the excellent MG Siegler’s above mentioned piece. I’m delighted with Medium announcements and find their platform principles to resonate with me to the point of making a comeback. 2️⃣ The future of the Internet and trust, according to Craig Hockenberry, is a provocative yet lucid take on what is coming next for the Internet.

“Rich kids being able to do art for a living may be a reflection on their privilege but it seems to me like a reflection on the fact that a human that doesn't have to worry about money will often choose art. everyone is an artist until rent is due. i wish we all had that right.” — Amanda for @TheCoolIssue

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

“Writing is part of lifelong learning that keeps us awake, clear and connected.” — iA blog

1️⃣ My first real article for my Medium comeback is “Considering Becoming a Freelancer.” I made this article part of my publication, which is also available on Medium, “Numeric Citizen Journeys.” If you want to know more about this project, please continue reading. 2️⃣ I closely follow MG Siegler’s Spyglass website, where he writes about tech, Apple, AI, media, etc. In “More or Less,” Siegler announces changes to his writing habits and content sharing. I realize that things are constantly moving and morphing into something else. For example, in this edition, I lament that I should have named this newsletter around the concept of scrapbooks because, overall, it's pretty much what it is. Why not consider renaming this newsletter, then? What is actually preventing me from doing it? Here is a title that I'm currently thinking about: “The Ephemeral Scrapbook Newsletter — Edition 2024-34”. Scrapbooking is about capturing artifacts to build memories and document experiences. This is not what this newsletter is about. I consider its content much more ephemeral, hence the name “Ephemeral Scrapbook.” What do you think?

“Writing helps me clarify and even form my own thoughts on various topics” — MG Siegler

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ The 2024 iPhone photography awards winners were announced. As usual, there were many gorgeous images. The grand prize goes to Erin Brooks from the United States, who used her iPhone 15 Pro Max to shoot the winning photo. A few comments are in order here. Beyond the top winners, many awards go to people from China; I found this notable. Two winning photos were shot using an old iPhone X, and others were taken using an iPhone 6s and the iPhone XS. Those images have a unique visual texture to them. The landscape category is my favourite. 2️⃣ Two people visited the same place at two months intervals and took a photo. This is so cool. 3️⃣ Something scary is happening in photography on Google's Pixel 9 series phones with this Reimagine AI-powered feature. This article from The Verge should be enough to convince you that starting now, you should never trust an image shared online.

In an attempt to inject some normalcy in my feed, here is a photo from a long time ago - re-edited with new tools, new knowledge, and a better underst…

Om Malik on Glass

re-edited with new tools, new knowledge, and a better underst… — Om Malik on Glass Photography Community

🎙️ Podcasting

1️⃣ I ordered a Rode Wireless Me microphone for my audio recordings and wanted to test it out on a narrated post on Micro.blog, which was syndicated on my podcasts channel. I talk about posting on Facebook feeling weird. According to this short video review, it should provide some noticeable improvements to my recordings.

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ It might take a while before Apple adds Genmoji and image generation to Apple Intelligence, and this 9to5Mac article explains why. Apple takes a cautious approach when introducing new products and features (but they aren't mindful enough when releasing ads because when they do, they often mess things up). 2️⃣ The Next Apple event has been announced. It will be on September 9th, 2024. I have low expectations for it as I explained here. Get a preview from the following YouTube video showing iPhone 16 mockups. I don’t expect too many surprises from that event, which could be the most boring iPhone release ever. 3️⃣ I asked what's in this picture of Steve Jobs in his home office, and got many answers.

🚧 Special projects

1️⃣ After discussing my professional life with my wife this week, I thought becoming a freelancer might be a great way to spend the next ten years. It would be something that would put me out of my usual comfort zone, but I want to take the time to think about it and what it would entail. In the next few weeks or months, I will start a project and use Craft to support my work on this. I'll consider as many aspects as possible: financials, logistics, upsides, downsides, etc. I need a way to write about this, take notes, and do some calculations, too, and Craft seems perfect for this. 2️⃣ Writing about this new project is mandatory. As mentioned above, I chose to share any future articles on Medium under a new Medium publication I created for the occasion. You can reach the publication by following this URL: https://medium.com/numeric-citizen-journeys.

“Hobbies primarily benefit the creator, while side projects are aimed at serving others.” — Manuel Moreale

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ If you are like me, I take many screenshots on my iPhone and iPad for many purposes. Until this week, I relied on the famous Apple Frames shortcut. The shortcut broke with the iOS 18 beta, and I cannot rely on it anymore. It's no longer an issue with Shareshot, an iPhone and iPad app. Shareshot is a native app, which makes the shortcut useless. Shareshot is fast and offers many more customization options. You can select the padding size and background and add a lighting effect. I wish there were a way to save a template format to retrieve export settings quickly. For me, it's an instant buy, an oopsy subscription. Sadly, there are no lifetime licenses or a Mac version (yet). I updated my subscriptions page accordingly. 2️⃣ Glass, the photo-sharing service, increased its subscription price recently, now at 50 CAN, There is a Patreon subscription tier at 180 CAN$, but it asks too much. I keep it. 3️⃣ Procreate developer says NO to integrating AI in their products. Good call, and the messaging timing is spot on. In my previous newsletter, I wrote that I was getting fed up with AI everywhere. I'm not a user of Procreate myself, but I applaud the move. 4️⃣ I discovered Series, an app that combines photos into layouts like diptychs, carousels, etc. It's useful to show two photos side-by-side for comparison purposes, which I like to do occasionally. The app is available for the iPhone and iPad. 5️⃣ I decided to dump Pocket Cast and use the Apple Podcasts app to save money. I don't listen to podcasts often enough to warrant a dedicated third-party app.

Shareshot — Frame Screenshots and Add Backgrounds

A beautiful and fun app for wrapping screenshots with perfect-fitting frames over pretty backgrounds. Comes with powerful Shortcuts Actions for creating Pro workflows.

Shareshot — Frame Screenshots and Add Backgrounds

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ Another great video from Tiego Forte and his wife. It gets so personal. I chose this video because it shows how important striking a balance in life is important. Yes that might be at the close of being the number one, but the equilibrium is more important to me and value those who aim toward that goal. 2️⃣

“The only review that has any value for me is when the person reviewing something bought it with their own money.” — Jane Doe

💎 Miscellaneous

“Everyone alive today has grown up in a world where you can’t believe everything you read. Now we need to adapt to a world where that applies just as equally to photos and videos. Trusting the sources of what we believe is becoming more important than ever.” — John Gruber

1️⃣ I wish I had called this newsletter "The Digital Scrapbook” from the beginning because some editions really look like scrapbooks. No worries, starting with the next edition, the name will become “The Ephemeral Scrabook Newsletter.” 2️⃣ This deepfake on TikTok of Elon Musk is uncanny and troubling. We cannot trust anything we see and hear now; I wonder how bad this is for societies. 3️⃣ Don't miss my Micro.blog posts monthly digest that came out on September 1st!

Creativity is made, not generated. — The developer of Procreate

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ I upgraded my iPhone 15 Pro Max to iOS 18.1 beta 3 to test Apple Intelligence on my primary device. I'm looking forward to experimenting with Photos Clean Up and intelligent notifications. 2️⃣ Now that my Medium Publication is live, I look forward to sharing more of my experiences.

I wish you a great week! ✌️👋🏻

Creative Summary Newsletter Editions Index

📅 Meta

As the season turns, so does Apple's product release cycle. September is traditionally the month when Apple unveils a series of updates, with the iPhone typically taking center stage. But will the spotlight remain on the iPhone this year? Let’s delve into my expectations and see if they align with the usual fanfare.

The iPhone — the king of all

The iPhone is seventeen years old; it is getting old and mature. Low-hanging fruits are a rarity these days in the smartphone space. Beyond being thinner, faster, with longer battery life, and a slightly bigger screen, what else should I expect? A foldable iPhone is not one of my expectations, not this year, not in ten years. I hope Apple won’t waste too much of their resources trying.

MacRumors’ summary of what to expect is informative but cannot be more exciting than the actual rumours. Each year, Apple shuffles things around by adding features previously only available on Pro-line to non-Pro devices. The action button is coming for non-pro devices this year. The telephoto lens on the 15 Pro Max will reach the non-Max iPhone. It's so predictable. Rare exception: the capture button is coming to all models this year. Are you excited? Could a new camera lens assembly design come this year? Lens alignment will go vertical for the non-Pro devices, just like the iPhone X. The "bump” design fundamentally stays the same. Boring.

A faster iPhone, a bigger screen (in a slightly bigger device), faster charging, improvements to the camera, and faster at everything. What else? It is hard to get excited, even for an iPhone photographer like me.

While waiting for the iPhone 16, this article from MacRumors offers a helpful comparison between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16. While glancing at the article, I must say that a glossy titanium frame (instead of the brushed one of the iPhone 15 Pro line) would be a regression; I love the 15 Pro brushed finish! We will see soon enough.

My boredom might be partly due to not upgrading my iPhone 15 Pro Max this year. I have other plans. Continue reading.

The Apple Watch — the eternal iPhone companion

It’s been ten years since the launch of the Apple Watch. The iPhone’s companion, the Apple Watch, is again set to receive an update. Are we going to see an Apple Series X sporting an entirely new design, like the iPhone X was? How would we call the Series X? Series “Ten”? Series “X”? Remember when people were confused with the iPhone X naming? Anyway…

Last year, when the Ultra 2 came out, I contemplated switching to the Ultra, but I never liked its design. I don’t expect this to change this year. Enters the Apple Watch Series 10, with a rumored bigger screen while sporting a thinner design. How much thinner remains to be seen, but I’m really looking to upgrade to the Series 10. This is where my (relatively mild) excitement resides this year.

But beyond a bigger screen, what else? I would take better battery life over anything else. My Apple Watch Series 8 barely reaches 5 PM under watchOS 18 beta 8 without a recharge. I don’t expect things to improve much with the official release. There won’t be a new sensor, either. What else? I would love to see different metal finishes and tints.

I almost forgot: with each new watch model comes one or more new watch faces. Until Apple enables selling third-party watch faces on its App Store, the only way to get excited is to wait for Apple each year. The watchOS 11 release doesn't bring new watch faces, but a few were redesigned or tweaked, such as the Photos watch face, which now depends on machine learning. But, again, what else?

The (usual) software story

Apple always times its biggest OS releases with the new iPhone launch in September. This year, iOS 18 is bringing small and significant improvements across the board. The only thing is that Apple Intelligence obliterates everything because of the current hype surrounding AI in general. Apple is no different here, but their approach to AI integration is different. But what comes next will probably make us forget about the iPhone 16 fit and finish.

Apple Intelligence Inside™

Expect a lot of references to Apple intelligence during the keynote, just like Apple did with 5G a few years ago. Apple Intelligence is Apple's next sales driver. The problem is that the Apple Intelligence rollout is slow and will come after the iPhone 16 becomes available. The former is expected to start rolling out later this year. Moreover, the best of Apple Intelligence will come after iOS 18.1 and maybe iOS 18.2. This brings us into early 2025, at the earliest. In other words, for Apple, the most challenging part is yet to be overcome.

It will be bizarre to announce the new iPhone marked as “ready for Apple Intelligence” while the actual rolling out of Apple Intelligence is much later. Even worse, for those like me living outside of the US, in Canada, for example, and wishing to use their iPhone in French, we shouldn’t expect Apple Intelligence to be available sometime next year. This alone is enough for me to patiently wait for the iPhone 17, which should be even more powerful and capable of performing on-device Apple Intelligence tasks. Again, it’s bizarre timing. I’m not the only one who thinks it’s odd (search the referenced article with the keyword “aiPhone”.)

What about the Mac?

I don’t expect the new rumoured M4 Mac mini to launch in September; it would create too much noise for the same event. Apple likes to focus on a few things. Yet, I can’t wait to put my hands on a M4 Mac mini (I’m still using the M1 Mac mini, bought in late 2020).

All in all, my expectations are relatively low this year. Apple is still sailing with a tailwind, but the winds are slowly turning; until now, they haven’t had to try too hard to keep selling a boatload of iPhones. And this is where the problem lies if you ask me. Apple is no longer the underdog; they don’t feel enough pressure to think outside the box like the Nothing company with its Nothing Phone. While Nothing won't dent Apple's sales, pressure will come from regulations and a decline in developers’ sentiment for creating great apps. Exhibit A: the Apple Vision Pro is the biggest flop since the Apple ///. But that is another story.

A friend recently asked me, "When and where are you going to show me your photos from this summer’s trip to Croatia?" I told him "soon," even though I didn't have an exact plan. I knew Pixelfed wouldn't be the best solution—most people don't want to follow a daily feed and look at photos one at a time. When friends ask to see your photos, they usually want to see them all at once. So, I had to think of a different approach.

Knowing my friend uses a Nixplay digital frame, I considered using its built-in feature that allows users to send pictures via email directly to a specific Nixplay frame. This would require creating a dedicated album on my friend's Nixplay account and sharing the corresponding email address. However, he dismissed this idea because the digital frame is too far from him to fully appreciate each photo. So, I needed another solution.

I then thought about using iCloud public albums, but I was reluctant to import my finished photos into iCloud. Additionally, since I utilize Apple Advanced Data Protection, sharing photos via icloud.com wasn't an option.

Finally, the simplest solution was to create an iCloud-shared album, select my best images, and invite my friend via iMessage. As I worked on this, I decided to expand the invite list to include more friends and family, all of whom are Apple ecosystem users. This way, no one was left out. The "Activity" tab in Apple Photos shows everyone’s comments, transforming the album into a micro and private social network. It's a pretty cool way to share and interact over my summer memories.

The best solution is often right in front of us.

Bye bye Hookmark, apparently my current subscription ended. I cannot justify subscribing to this app just to be able to browse hookmark files created when my subscription was active. I’ll need to update some of my Craft templates to remove all my hookmark file references. Tedious.

I spent some time this morning to update my content creator toolset mini website. It was long overdue.

For long-time readers and followers, they know that I own a few websites or publishing places, but a reminder is always welcomed. With so many places to publish to, you might wonder why not use only one big website. Well, I’m glad you asked. You’ll find most of the answers in the following diagram.

As you can see, each place fills a different role. Think of them as publishing channels. I prefer to have many focused places with content directed to a specific crowd over having a single channel full of seemingly unrelated posts. But there is more to it: I love using different tools and services. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and a specific set of features. That’s what drives me the most to use different publishing platforms.

This article is about how I’m using Craft and Things 3, which is behind any short or long article I share online. Here is what happens when I get a new post idea.

1. In Things 3, Create an entry and set priority and desired or expected date of publication if known.
2. In Craft, I create a new document, set the title and then copy the document’s deeplink to the clipboard.
3. Still within Craft, I move the newly created document to the appropriate folder.
4. Still within Craft, I update my private creator dashboard document optionally.
5. Back to Things 3, and I paste the deeplink into the note field. It’s handy to jump from Things 3 to Craft with a single tap.

At this point, I can start my research, writing and editing of my article or blog post in Craft. Now, here is what happens after publishing my article:

1. Mark the to-do item as done in Things 3.
2. I update my private creator dashboard document by converting my deeplink to a new permalink that I put in the Recently Published section.
3. I monitor the appropriate RSS feed for quality control. See this article about subscribing to my own RSS feeds.

There you have it. Craft plays a central role in my blogger workflow¹. This blog post exposes what happens at the beginning and at the end of a new post idea. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe learned something.

❗Short announcement: I made some changes to my megafeed hosted on FeedPress by adding Blips RSS feed and this metablog RSS feed. If you want to get everything I share via a single RSS feed, this is what you need to subscribe to in your favourite browser. All updates to my digital presence are posted on this changelog page. Now, returning to normal programming. 📺

I recently got a few comments and questions from some followers on Micro.blog about my use of Scribbles versus Micro.blog blog hosting services. One guy couldn’t figure out why I was using Scribbles to write very short posts using a one-word title while I was using Micro.blog for longer posts, most of them without a title. I replied with a short answer, but I think I should elaborate for those who have been following me for some time or for those who just got here.

I use three distinct sites for posting written content. My main website (https://numericcitizen.me ), which came first, is currently hosted on Ghost. Next is my Micro.blog site (https://blog.numericcitizen.me), and, more recently, I added another small website hosted on Scribbles https://blips.numericcitizen.me. Let me explain each site’s purposes.

My main website is for posting longer articles like tech reviews (like “Five tools for efficient bloggers”) or for sharing long takes on a specific subject (like: “Five Steps for leaving Twitter”). My publication velocity is about one article per week. This is where my weekly creative summary newsletter gets published, thanks to Ghost’s built-in newsletter capabilities.

My second website is my daily blog, called “my blog,” and is where I post comments and thoughts about Apple, tech, photography, apps and services, and many other things. My blogging site is part of Micro.blog, there is a small community around it, thanks to Micro.blog fediverse support. Somehow, Micro.blog replaced Twitter for me, more than my presence on Mastodon did. I usually post around 10-20 weekly posts on Micro.blog. I like this place a lot for so many reasons.

I recently started using Scribbles, a small blog hosting service I like and want to support. I’m using this service to post short thoughts using a single-word title. These posts are then cross-posted to my Micro.blog timeline with a link going back to my Scribbles site. You can see an example of such a post appearing on my Micro.blog timeline in the following screenshot. Each post sports two emojis to help me spot them in my timeline. One thing I try to do is not to be too clickbait with my single-word title. The chosen word must be evocative or related to the post content.

The post on Scribbles gets cross-posted on my Micro.blog timeline by using one of the coolest features of Micro.blog: cross-posting of content coming from RSS feeds. This is shown in the following screenshot.

Micro.blog picks up posts from the Scribbles website RSS feed and will post content on my timeline, as well as cross-post it to Mastodon and Bluesky. This is POSSE in action. I’m a believer.

When I first thought about writing this article, I wasn’t sure where it would end up being shared. However, as the article grew in length and covered my blogging habits, it became obvious that it would go on my meta website, which is another one of my websites. There you have it.

Have you ever searched the web for an article where you couldn’t see when it was published? It happens to me quite often. I don’t understand why such important information isn’t communicated to the readers.

In a fast-moving numeric world, the publishing date helps the reader gauge the content’s relevancy. I set the publication date on all my websites because it adds context to the content. When I created Numeric Citizen I/O, I used a post slug format that includes the publication date. The path to the webpage is shown in search results, which makes searching the web a more useful experience. Below are examples of URLs to my websites.

https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/03/07/about-those-webp.html

https://numericcitizen.me/2021/02/27/porting-office-work-a-bad-idea/

Update 2022-11-15: Sadly, since moving to a Craft-based hosting solution, the URL can no longer include the publication date. If you are a business plan subscriber, the workaround is to set the document as a separate website individually.

Update 2024-03-15: I realized that when I moved from WordPress to Ghost, I lost this notion of date in the URL. All previous content is still accessible using the old URL format, but newly published content no longer contains the publication date in the article’s URL. We cannot have it all, I guess.

This article was first published on 2021-03-17.

I decided to disable cross-posting from my Glass feed to Bluesky and Pixelfed. This should fix the photo duplicates on your Micro.blog timeline each time I post a new image on Glass. Sorry for the inconvenience. The problem was simple: Let’s say I share an image on Glass, Micro.blog picks it up and cross post to Bluesky and Pixelfed. Micro.blog then detects a new photo from my Pixelfed feed and cross posts that to my Micro.blog timeline for the second time. Hence the duplicate.

If you want a peak at my current reading notes management workflow, you might find this video interesting (Craft, Bear 2, Omnivore, Readwise).

🔗 Mobivention announces its own iOS App Marketplace

As detailed by the company in a press release, mobivention’s App Marketplace will let developers distribute B2B and B2C apps to their customers outside the iOS App Store. “The mobivention App marketplace is primarily aimed at business customers who are looking for an alternative solution for distributing their apps,” mobivention explains.

Tired: there is an app for that. Wired: There is a marketplace for that. 🤓

Let’s say I stumble on an article I wish to read and process. I’ll follow the following steps, covering the collection and archival stages.

1. Save the article in Omnivore¹,².
2. Set tags in Omnivore.
3. Read the article, highlight text as needed and write comments if required.
4. Summarize the article using Raycast AI. I have a Keyboard Maestro macro for that.
5. Copy and paste the summary into the Omnivore notebook accompanying the article.
6. Archive the article in Omnivore.
7. Export the Readwise highlights (done automatically from Omnivore syncing).
8. Import the created markdown files into Bear.
9. Adjust tags if required.

I realize this workflow is essentially for the Mac. Nothing like this can be done on the iPad without a major tweak or two.

You can find this article on the “My Micro-Workflows Explained” website.

Each week, I use this template in Things 3 to help me out with my planning. Each Sunday, I duplicate the whole project and rename it accordingly. I love Things 3[^1]. [^1] I tried to do this in Apple Reminders but I prefer Things 3 experience.

Today I added a new global changelog¹ page to my metablog. The changelog will cover all the changes applied to my digital publishing space.

I encountered my first few hurdles in transposing my content from a Craft document to a Micro.blog. Craft enables rich document content and supports block types like JSON output or command line examples. Posts containing these need special Markdown attention. Thanks to some help¹, I figured that out, so the output looks ok. Next up are documents with images like screenshots. When exporting from Craft to Ulysses, images are inserted in Ulysses as references to Craft’s backend storage. When posting on Micro.blog, the images are not uploaded on Micro.blog’s backend. I need to manually download each image and insert them in Ulysses so they get uploaded to Micro.blog and be self-contained there. If I ever drop Craft, I want the images in my post to stay valid and display correctly.

Circumventing Ghost’s limited posts management capabilities.

I recently decided to spend some time editing past articles published on my Numeric Citizen Space website. I first thought that by going to my Ghost admin page, I could quickly browse past published articles by month. I couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, Ghost offers limited post management capabilities, thanks to its limited content browsing capabilities. I cannot go back, say, list articles published early in 2023. I can sort by ascending or descending order, but from there, I have to scroll through a long, dynamically created list of posts. It’s not very effective for a website with 600-plus posts. I had to find a different option to locate a post for an update. This is where Ghost’s content APIs come into play.

The following API request doesn’t do the job (API key voluntarily removed!):

curl -H "Accept-Version: v5.0" "https://numeric-citizen-introspection.ghost.io/ghost/api/content/posts/?key={APIkeygoeshere}&fields=title,url,published_at,updated_at&filter=published_at:>2024-01-01%2Bpublished_at:<2024-02-01" | json_pp

Let me explain what is this API request.

First, I’m going to the request using the macOS command line, hence the curl command. Next, the whole query follows in quotes. I query the content/posts API endpoint. Next, I pass my API key, followed by a field selection (&fields), and next with the filter using the published date between two dates. Finally, I pipe the results in the pretty JSON print macro (is this a macro?) so the output looks like this:

jfm@CraftingMAChine ~ % curl -H "Accept-Version: v5.0" "https://numeric-citizen-introspection.ghost.io/ghost/api/content/posts/?key={API-key-goes-here}&fields=title,id,url,published_at,updated_at&filter=published_at:>2024-01-01%2Bpublished_at:<2024-02-01" | json_pp
{
   "meta" : {
      "pagination" : {
         "limit" : 15,
         "next" : null,
         "page" : 1,
         "pages" : 1,
         "prev" : null,
         "total" : 9
      }
   },
   "posts" : [
      {
         "id" : "65b6a09840566000015b0d37",
         "published_at" : "2024-01-28T13:50:19.000-05:00",
         "title" : "My Weekly Creative Summary for the Week of 2024/03",
         "updated_at" : "2024-01-28T13:50:19.000-05:00",
         "url" : "https://numericcitizen.me/my-weekly-creative-summary-for-the-week-of-2024-03/"
      },
      {
         "id" : "65b6540640566000015b0cf7",
         "published_at" : "2024-01-28T08:23:26.000-05:00",
         "title" : "Special Message to Paying Subscribers",
         "updated_at" : "2024-01-28T08:23:26.000-05:00",
         "url" : "https://numericcitizen.me/special-message-to-paying-subscribers/"
      },
      {
         "id" : "65b16e25bc7fde0001314ccb",
         "published_at" : "2024-01-24T15:09:24.000-05:00",
         "title" : "The Mac Turns 40",
         "updated_at" : "2024-01-24T15:09:24.000-05:00",
         "url" : "https://numericcitizen.me/the-mac-turns-40/"
      },
      {
         "id" : "65ad35418532ae000169ddd2",
         "published_at" : "2024-01-21T10:22:33.000-05:00",
         "title" : "My Weekly Creative Summary for the Week 2024/02",
         "updated_at" : "2024-01-21T10:22:33.000-05:00",
         "url" : "https://numericcitizen.me/my-weekly-creative-summary-for-the-week-2024-02/"
      },
   ]
}

Next, I copy the post ID of one article and paste it my browser for edition using this special URL:

https://numeric-citizen-introspection.ghost.io/ghost/#/editor/post/652e6eedb8a2650001ad9c5b

This URL brings me directly into the Ghost editor, provided that i was already authenticated with my account. That’s pretty much it. It could be much simpler. For this, I miss WordPress.

You can find the Ghost API document right here.

This blog is a Micro.blog hosted version of the Craft-hosted version. I’m currently in the slow process of copying my content over here.

As much as I love Craft, its current version is unsuitable as a read-later solution. I do keep a list of bookmarks within Craft, but the article’s content is not fetched and saved into Craft, something Notion is able to do. This list is kept for other purposes, like helping me build my newsletter and other long-form articles. I need a better reading solution.

Reading is something that requires the least distraction possible. Safari reader mode is great. I use it quite frequently to remove the noise from a webpage, but it lacks the highlighting feature of Instapaper or Pocket. Using a shortcut to save a text highlight is possible but distracting. This is where an app like Instapaper or Pocket comes into play. But which one is the best? For me, it is Pocket¹, here is a quick comparison of both solutions.

• Pocket design is richer, while Instapaper’s is minimalistic, which could be seen as an advantage. Yet, Pocket is still frictionless for reading.
• Pocket updates are more frequent.
• Pocket is more expansive than Instapaper.
• IFTTT support is more extensive with Instapaper than it is with Pocket.
• Instapaper allows quick notes to be created next to the highlighted text. This could prove useful. Think of it as meta-highlighting.
• Instapaper seems stuck in the past when it was created by Marco Arment.
• Instapaper allows you to organize bookmarks into folders, something I wish Pocket would support. I’m a bit compulsive about organizing my content.
• Pocket supports iOS widgets, not Instapaper.
• Share sheet allows tagging with Pocket, which makes me more efficient.
• Page rendering seems better in Pocket.
• On the Mac, Instapaper Safari extension doesn’t work. It keeps asking me to authenticate with the application, which I did. See next observation.
• Both Pocket and Instapaper don’t support Sign in with Apple within the macOS application; only on the website. Because of this, the Instapaper is useless on the Mac, while Pocket supports creating a password for the account, which fixes this issue.
• Pocket offers a public profile page where article recommendations can be shared.
• I have more confidence in Pocket’s future and sustainability than in Instapaper’s.

The following screenshots are page rendering examples of the same article from both services.

If Craft is ever updated to extract an article from a website, allows tagging and highlighting, I’ll probably reconsider my use of Pocket. For now, I’m a very happy user of Pocket, a service which helps me read more and better.

My Pocket profile. My Matter profile.

In recent days, I’ve been working on a proof-of-concept to replicate Numeric Citizen I/O website currently hosted on Blot.im into Craft. I’m happy to report that the main portion of my work is completed. You can have a look at the end results here (Craft link). Now, the only missing part is the support of custom domains and notifications. The former will help mask the Craft URL behind a more user-friendly URL. The latter will let me know when someone is dropping a comment on the website. For the time being, I’ll update both versions in parallel. Enjoy.

Moving content from one platform to another isn’t easy. And it shouldn’t be that way.

The problem: I want to migrate a few dozens of posts from my Numeric Citizen Blog to my other website, Numeric Citizen Introspection, hosted on Ghost. Easy, right? Think again. The Ghost migrator plugin doesn’t support posts selection; it’s an all or nothing tool. How can I migrate a subset of my posts in that context? By assigning a specific category to each post, I can use the WordPress export tool to export these posts. Next, those posts can then be imported into an empty WordPress instance. From there, I could use the Ghost Migrator plugin. The issue is that I don’t have an empty WordPress instance sitting idle. Using WordPress.com, I cannot install the plugin in a free instance (it’s part of a Business plan, which I subscribe to for my main blog). The solution, was to use my Synology NAS to install an empty WordPress instance locally and proceed from there. Let’s see what the workflow looks like.

1. Turn off post update in the WP to Buffer Pro plugin to prevent flooding your Buffer queue
2. On the source WordPress instance, update posts category that you want to export
3. Install the “Export media with selected content” plugin (which is needed to export images as well as text content)
4. Export content to an XML file with the plugin
5. Install WordPress on Synology NAS with all required dependancies
6. Configure a WordPress website that will be used to host exported content in transit to Ghost
7. Install “Export media with selected content” in Synology WordPress instance (not really required)
8. Install the Ghost Migrator plugin
9. Delete the default post and unneeded page from the WordPress instance, as well as any images from the media library.
10. For each post to export, add the export category of your choice (in my case it was “PhotoLegend”.)
11. Export posts using these options from the WordPress Tools menu

12. Switch to the WordPress instance running on the Synology NAS
13. Select Import from the Tools menu
14. Select the XML file created from the Export step earlier
15. Set the author for the imported posts

16. Set the Download and import file attachments to bring in images
17. Click Submit and wait for the process to complete (it takes some time, depending on the number of posts and images to import)
18. Verify if all posts are listed in the Posts section (check creation date, author, etc.)
19. Check for Media Library to verify if images are imported
20. Open a few posts to see if content is correctly formatted
21. Edit posts with back links or other elements that need to be updated before importing content into Ghost
22. Edit tags according to the destination website requirements
23. Edit post slug and post title according to destination website requirements
24. Export using Ghost Migrator plugin, select the JSON format since ZipArchive module isn’t installed with this version of WordPress and PHP

25. Import JSON file created in the previous step
26. Check for imported posts issues. This is where I hit the wall. Missing photos, content imported as HTML blocs, etc. Not great at all.

27. Turn back on the WP to Buffer Pro Post Update option

This workflow doesn’t meet the goal of migrating WordPress content to Ghost. I ended up deleting the posts on the source WordPress instance and kept a copy of them on my Synology instead. I don’t know what I’ll do eventually with these “archived” posts.

Observations

Some observations are in order. This whole story brought many observations that I think you should consider if you’re attempting something similar.

• The Ghost Migrator plugin is very limited, which make it hard to build an optimal migration workflow.
• Images migration is close to impossible or very unreliable, forcing to use a manual export and import process.
• Image optimization plugins on WordPress could make the migration harder than necessary.
• Website optimization plugins on WordPress could add tags that are probably hindering the migration process.
• Ghost import feature is still a work in progress can there is no way to select which post to import after reading the JSON file.
• Testing the migration with a single post would most likely help identify issues faster, instead of importing all the content on the first try.
• It doesn’t help to convert the WordPress post to use the block editor before exporting the content.
• Migration efforts are time-consuming, making sure the content still has value to your reader is a good idea. I ended up deleting my 23 posts after spending hours of migration efforts. The positive side of this story is that I learned quite a lot.
• Even if I couldn’t use the ZIP file for the Ghost Migrator plugin, I don’t think it would have made a difference in the migration quality. I tried to add ZIP Archive to the PHP installation, but the WordPress installation within my Synology NAS is hard to customize. After spending a few hours trying, I dropped the ball.
• Data portability is really an issue these days. Even with export or import plugins exist, there are other problems that are inherent to each platform or CMS.

One thing that I gained from this experience is that by using WordPress on my Synology NAS, I can export content from my online WordPress to my Synology NAS for archiving purposes. That’s cool. Other than that, the problem of data mobility across content platform is real.

My previous blogger workflow update was in March 2021. Quite many things have happened since then. It’s time for another update. Buckle up because this is a big one, and enjoy the ride!

What’s in

For 2021, I was expecting a year without many changes to my blogger workflow, and yet, I was in for quite a few surprises.

• Probably some of the most important additions this year are Toggl, Timery, and Focused Work to track my time while creating content (consider bookmarking and reading “Why and How I’m Tracking Time With Toggl” if you want to know all the details.) Tracking my time does take some time, but I like the results.
• Hello Ghost (again)! I started experimenting with Ghost during the 14-day trial period, during which all features were available for testing. I started building automation with the Zapier integration. After the trial period ended, the integration with Zapier stopped working for some reason. I quickly found out that many features like custom themes, custom integrations, and commenting support are only available with certain subscription tiers. Commenting on each blog post isn’t available by default unless I’m on the Creator tier and customize one of the provided themes. To use Commento, I needed an API key, as well as a custom theme and a custom integration. And moreover, a custom version of Casper with some script invocation was added to enable Commento integration. Forking such a built-in theme requires staying in sync with the official theme, as Ghost updates them from time to time to benefit from all Ghost’s additions. Finally, I visited Google Search Console to add my Ghost website for better SEO management and optimizations. I became a subscriber at the entry-level tier for $9 per month, but I quickly realized that the $25 was the one I needed (consider bookmarking and reading “Moving From Substack to Ghost–My Experience” for more details.)
• iPadOS 15 introduced support for Safari extensions. Working on the iPad now feels less and less a compromise, as Grammarly support and many other extensions are now available. For people depending on the iPad, it is a much-welcomed addition. Unexpectedly, in 2021, my workflow shifted towards the MacBook Air (read “Coming Out of a Rabbit Hole and Buying Two MacBook Air”).
• Pocket made a comeback in addition to Readwise (consider bookmarking and read “Instapaper vs Pocket — Which Read Later Service Is Better for Me”). Pocket is well-known and doesn’t need much introduction. According to Readwise website: “Readwise makes it easy to revisit and learn from your ebook & article highlights.” Resurfacing previously highlighted text snippets is fun and helps build a lasting memory of past readings. I added Readwise as a source to my weekly newsletter built using Mailbrew.
• Using the Readwise sharing feature to repost quotes on Twitter is handy. I don’t use it too often, though.

• WordPress plugin: I’m using the paid version of “WB to Buffer” for reposting previously published posts to Buffer. With another WordPress plugin named “Feedzy” it imports RSS feeds from Substack and Microblog and creates “Also on my …” type of blog posts automatically. It didn’t generate much traction and added too much noise to my original content feed. This was disabled after a few months when I moved out of Substack.
• I unexpectedly started using Matter when Matter officially became public. Matter seems to have gained some traction over Pocket as the best read-later service. Compared to Pocket, it creates great link posts that can be saved or shared online, just like Readwise and Pocket.
• I became a subscriber of Typefully (typefully.com), a web application for writing threads on Twitter. Some features of Typefully are similar to Buffer’s, like being able to schedule tweets. I use it to write threads to complement some of my articles. The latest example of things to watch in 2022. Finally, Typefully brings great engagement analytics.

What’s out

• My experience with HEY World didn’t last long. I’ve been moving out of HEY World to go to Substack for my Friday Notes* and Photo Legend* Series (consider bookmarking and reading “Migrating My Content From Hey World to Substack”). I can say the same thing about my Substack experience. These services, while attractive, didn’t stick in my workflow.
• HEY is no longer on the workflow diagram. HEY doesn’t really contribute to my blogger workflow. Most of my readings don’t happen there anyway, even if HEY provides newsletters dedicated feed, one of the tent pole features of the mail client.
• As mentioned earlier, Substack is out. The popularity of a platform doesn’t guarantee the popularity of your content.
• I closed my Telegram account. Read more here to learn why. I’m contemplating Signals instead.
• WordPress Plugin: Coblock was disabled to remove overhead in webpage processing. It didn’t make a difference, though.

In progress

• I do spend more time maintaining my digital garden in Craft all year long. You can find a lot of stuff in there.
• I’m still trying to figure out how to use Apple’s Quick Notes feature in iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey. I may end up having no use for this after all, which is too bad because, on paper, the idea is cool.
• I’m always thinking about using Apple’s Reminders in my workflow. Reminders have improved quite a lot over the years, but occasionally, I think Craft could take over if table support was better (sorting, tagging, etc.). The more things I’ll do with Craft, the more synergy it creates. I’ll watch Craft’s evolution in 2022, and maybe make a move.

Things to improve

• Adding text clipping in Craft would be so helpful. There are shortcuts that work with Craft that do just that, but I don’t find the experience very satisfying.
• Speaking of Apple’s Shortcuts, I do find more use cases for them to speed up a few key tasks, like setting up my work session after logging into my account on macOS.
• Templates in Craft to kickstart the creation of a new article would be very handy. It is expected in 2022, in an upcoming update in 2022 or via an extension.
• As much as I would like to see the addition of tags in Craft, implementing this feature could be tricky. Where should we be able to tag things? In a page’s properties, inline in the page’s content?
• I have to work on my reading workflow and decide what I’m going to do with Pocket, Readwise and Matter. Pocket will probably go as it is entirely covered with Matter.

Miscellaneous

• My usage of ** Craft ** has significantly increased this year. It is becoming my second brain (Fun fact: find out the name of my MacBook Air). Lately, I decided to use the Craft calendaring feature to prepare a weekly plan containing my content creation objectives. As the week progresses, I keep it up-to-date and check items off the list. It’s a satisfying experience, trust me.
• I’m still using Notion to keep my old data and connect Matter to Notion to save my reading highlights automatically. As soon as a Craft extension allows me to pump my data out of Notion, I might be done with Notion once and for all. Notion is not shown on my workflow diagram but will be in an upcoming post covering my reading workflow.
• Twitter Revue: I had a Revue account before Twitter bought them. Now that it is integrated into their platform, I experimented with it (read a sample issue here). I love Twitter Revue, but I have yet to find a unique and useful use case for it. I currently have five subscribers.
• Furthermore, I should consider closing my Flipboard account. I never go there; it’s not what it used to be, and I don’t get any traffic from this platform.
• Google News, where I cross-post my main blog content, could also go down the drain. I don’t get any traction there.
• Finally, Tumblr is another place where I cross-post content. Tumblr has become a ghost town in recent years, and it doesn’t help at all. Even if cross-posting is done automatically using WordPress’ built-in feature, I should consider stopping using this platform.
• In my previous workflow update, I considered moving my Photo Legend Series to Hey, which I did for a short while. Now, it is hosted on Ghost, along with my Friday Notes Series and monthly newsletter. I like consolidating stuff sporadically.
• Since getting a MacBook Air, my iPad Pro usage significantly dropped. The Mac is the power user tool. I cannot be as productive on an iPad.
• I worked a lot on my WordPress blog to improve its score on Google’s PageSpeed Insights, as documented here. Did it make a difference? According to my blog visitor statistics, the answer is no. Here is a strange thing: if I run PageSpeed tests twice in a row, the final score is quite different. Usually, the second try gives much better results. How much trust should I put in these results? Another observation: my score for this blog, a static website, is the worst. Is Blot hosted on a low-end performance tier in the cloud?
• I’ve been using Commento with Blot to add comments support on this blog. I never got a single comment! It’s a high price to pay for a service that nobody takes advantage of. Maybe it will be a better fit with my newsletter website on Ghost? Time will tell.
• IFTTT still plays an important role in my publishing workflow as it works with Buffer to help me control the cross-posting flow. Each day, I spend some time managing the Buffer queue to spread out posts to be published. I also use IFTTT to cross-post anything I post on Reddit to my Twitter channel on Buffer. Buffer has a new calendar view that helps you see a timeline overview of all future publishing. Buffer isn’t cheap, but I like what it does for me. Cross-posting content does help create traffic and improves engagement.

Well, that was a long one. I want to walk you through my reading workflow for an upcoming article. I read a lot of stuff online, and many applications and services are involved here. Reading is the source of my inspiration for most of my work as a content creator. I think there are some interesting things to write about. Stay tuned, and see you in 2022.

Digital nomads. The flavour of the day. Looking for a better digital experience? Every reason is good to move from one place to another in the digital world. It’s about having some fun.

I recently came across this blog post from Greg Morris where he writes: “I look at blog designs like Birchtree.me* and think to myself “I want a blog like that” and then go out and try to build one.”*. I often tell myself the exact same thing. But then, not long after, I came across another blog post , but this time by Andy Nicolaides writing on his blog, The Dent:

“I’ve just gone through yet another blog migration, moving from Micro.Blog to Ghost (again). I was happily posting to Ghost a year or so ago, saw a nice looking blog on Micro.blog and jumped ship. I then sat there, not posting for half a year, before I saw Greg Morris’ updated site over on Ghost and my blog envy kicked off again. Let’s not even mention how incredible Matt Birchler’s Birchtree looks right now!”

Ghost has always been a source of curiosity for me, coming back to it from time to time to look and see how it is evolving. Following those two blog posts, I got back to one of my articles about a past experience with Ghost for photo sharing. At the time, it didn’t go well. Furthermore, I started using Substack to host my newsletter for unknown or clearly defined reasons. So, this time, I returned to Ghost to look at it as an alternative to Substack. Why? After all, I was quite happy with Substack. And yet… If I look at Substack and Ghost, there are many things that made me dubious of my choices.

• I don’t get any subscribers from Substack Discovery because Substack is very popular these days.
• I prefer the way Ghost handles the publishing process and the distinction between having a CMS and a newsletters publishing platform within the same platform.
• Ghost’s API supports text editors like Ulysses, which would help speed up the process of creating newsletter issues. By working directly with Ulysses, each new issue would be much easier to put together, as Ulysses supports templates, while Substack doesn’t. Since the basic structure of my newsletter stays the same each month, using a template makes perfect sense.
• Substack offers some visual customization options, but they are quite limited. On the other hand, Ghost offers themes that help make a more personal-looking website.
• Ghost supports Unsplash, which is a must for me.
• Ghost provides better support for photos than in Substack with photo galleries. This could prove to be useful for my photo legend series, among other use cases.
• Integration of plausible analytics is easy, but it is not possible with Substack. Another must-have for me.
• Stripe integration, which I already use for Medium payments, if I ever choose to add a paid tier to my newsletter.
• Commenting is possible by tweaking the theme and adding some integration code. Yet, I wish there was a better and easier way to add this to a website. In the future, I could try to set up Commento for comments using this procedure. Ghost theme customization is available only on mid-tier and up-paid plans. This feature could replace the thread feature available on Substack.
• Good integration with Buffer via Zapier. IFTTT integration is possible only via RSS feeds. As a paying member of IFTTT, I chose the latter.
• Better RSS feeds support posts, tags, and pages just by adding /RSS to any URL. On top of that, it is possible to customize the webpage referring to a tag by adding a header image and a description, just like here for the Photo Legend Series.
• Selecting a fully featured theme is challenging, as Ghost doesn’t provide an easy way to filter themes by supported features.
• I’ll leave my Substack account active for the Substack Reader feature.
• Easy migration path from Substack to Ghost using this procedure.
• Should I import my content? After a short test run using the 14-day evaluation period, it was clear that I had to.

How Ghost could be improved for me?

One of the Ghost editor’s most powerful and useful features is the ability to create and reuse content snippets. If you’ve ever used an email client with saved replies, this will be immediately intuitive.

• Integration features and custom themes for the entry-level paid plan (access to the API admin token).
• A customizable dashboard.
• A native client on Mac or iPad.

Steps to move from Substack to Ghost

1. I exported my data from Substack, which took less than 10 minutes to complete. Substack makes this super easy.

2. Import my subscribers list into Ghost’s members list.

3. Download Xcode from the Mac App Store and launch it for default configuration (required for the next step).

4. Install Homebrew to be able to install NPM modules later (importing content into Ghost requires Node.js and NPM modules): https://treehouse.github.io/installation-guides/mac/homebrew

5. Install Node.js and NPM: https://treehouse.github.io/installation-guides/mac/node-mac.html

6. Follow this procedure to import articles into Ghost CMS. This is done via the command line.

   `migrate substack numericcitizen-export-2021-11-14-m9k19kr99s/posts.csv –readPosts numericcitizen-export-2021-11-14-m9k19kr99s/posts –url https://numericcitizen.substack.com –useMetaImage –useMetaAuthor –drafts false

   `A lot of my decision to switch depended on the success of this step. If content was successfully imported without too much required tweaks, I would consider this a success and go with the next steps.

7. Import the created zip file (the migrate command generated a 230 MB zip file ready to import). This file was then imported using this procedure.

8. Configure site pages and tags Once the import is complete and without error.

9. Review imported content and set tags according to each post’s content. That step was tedious but was mandatory to recreate the same content structure currently on my Substack website.

10. Configure and write a contact page so that users can click from the bottom portion of my Ghost website to contact me.

11. Connect my Ghost account to my Stripe account just in case, even though my newsletter is free—you never know!

12. Configure Ulysses publishing options to publish content from within the application to Ghost. After all, this was one of the main reasons I switched from Substack to Ghost, right?

13. Do a test run with a fake article and check RSS feed content generation.

14. Configure the support and reply-to email addresses.

15. Set up Plausible analytics and add it to my Ghost website using the customization feature in the header section.

16. Update all my IFTTT automations for cross-posting to Twitter via Buffer when a newsletter issue comes out.

17. For mid-tier paid plans only: Add Twitter Revue new sign-up to Ghost via Zapier (this requires the Admin API token, which is not available in the entry-level paid tier).

18. For mid-tier paid plans only: Add Ghost cross-posting to Buffer via Zapier (this requires the Admin API token unavailable in the entry-level paid tier.)

It took me about a day of work to accomplish all this, from the trigger to the final announcement post on Substack. I’m super happy with the end results.