Apple MacBook Air 15-Inch M3 Review
Yeah, pretty sure my next laptop will be a MacBook Air. My current Intel MacBook Pro is ageing, but the Air appears to be more capable. When it happens for me, the jump is going to be massive.
Week 340: The RE.UNIQLO Studio is incredible
Following my post earlier this month on how my selvedge denim was dong after 23 weeks of wear, I had an opportunity to drop my jeans off at RE.UNIQLO at one of Uniqlo's Regent Street stores. I wasn't holding out a lot of hope, as I hadn't given the attention they need soon enough.
The last photo I shared on Twitter didn't provide a good enough look at how they had deteriorated around the crutch. Each leg now had a hold that I had badly stitched up. It was good enough for a while, but didn't last.
Chile's Amazing National Parks
Flip Ironing Board Mirror
Week 339: inmyb.io
A couple of years ago I kicked off a project that had been sat swirling around in my head for about 10 years. Then last month I let the domain expire.
The real driver for inmyb.io was a service that anyone could use to really hone the SEO side of their online presence. Rather than just a single website, it was supposed to be a guided approach to how to define your various online personas. For a physical business (think local barbers or restaurants) you could also share opening and closing times and eventually things like price lists or menus.
"Deadpool & Wolverine" trailer
Milky Way Embroidery
'Oh the Humanity'
John Gruber:
Nest is an obvious exception, but Tony Fadell had a very atypical career at Apple.
...
the Nest did exactly what it promised, very well... Most importantly, Nest's thermostat took aim at replacing existing dumb thermostats, which were terrible. Nest's product really was something like 10× better than what it aimed to disrupt.
We have a Nest thermostat, which we picked over the Hive. It is fantastic and at least 10x better than a dumb thermostat.
My only gripe is the learning aspect of the Nest never hits the sweet spot for us. Either it's on too much or not enough. Not sure it has the concept of 'feels like' rather than relying on the actual temperature. Then there's 'away' functionality which is pointless because I don't want to come home and have the heating turn on. I want it to shut off when noone is home but turn back on before I return.
But the reality is that even those gripes make it so much better than we had it before. I despised our dumb thermostat. Genuinely hated it. The Nest delights 9 times out of 10.
While I'm interested in Humane's AI Pin, I didn't see as a device I'd covet. It's in the same territory as Google Glass for me. Interesting, but not for me.
More on the EU's Market Might
John Gruber:
Why not mandate that Springboard — the Home Screen — be a replaceable component?
When I last used Android, my cheap (~£100) HTC Wildfire came with HTC's own Android skin which brought a lot of bloat with it. You could turn it off, which I did, giving you the stock Android experience which was far snappier.
Then they shipped an OS update that removed the option to disable it. I ended up finding a different tool in the Play Store to manage the OS interface which was better, but I shouldn't have needed to disable or replace the OS interface at all.
On technology, the EU are getting a lot wrong. Cookie banners are pointless when they just ask for permission; tracking individuals should be illegal.
Now the DMA seems to misunderstand the operating system's role in the experience of using a phone. The hardware components specifically (phone, camera/photos, volume/power buttons and authentication modules) should remain tied to the OS which then allows other apps to leverage them.
I actually couldn't tell you what they're trying to achieve right now. Whatever it is, it's not what they think it is and certainly not what users are crying out for.
If tracking was banned and that spelt the end for Meta in Europe, I wouldn't shed a single tear. If the DMA implementation means that Apple pulls back from the EU I'd be pretty upset about that and wouldn't willingly jump to Android (assuming Google decides to stick it out in Apple's absence). Maybe being in the UK will spare me that fate but they really need to get some more informed people involved who know what they're talking about.
Week 338: I should use my DSLR more
For context, here's the first photo I took of a tulip back in 2016. The angle isn't great, but best I could do to avoid a terrible background. Composition is still something I need to work on a lot, but while it has lots of bokeh and a shallow depth of field, I wouldn't say it was the best photo of a tulip.
Week 337: Selvedge Denim Update
Almost two years ago, I wrote about selvedge denim. At the time, I had just brought a fresh new pair of jeans that needed breaking in.
I didn't do anything extreme with them, just wore them quite a bit over the past two years. They've got great whiskers and signs of wear. Unfortunately the inner-thigh area has deteriorated to the point where they're in need of professional repair and I have just taken in a new pair.
I've settled on Uniqlo as the reasonably prices source and they hold up pretty well day to day. This is what they look like after 23 months of wear:
Week 336: The price of film stock in 2024
I have a Canon SLR at home with a range of Canon and Sigma lenses and have been thinking about making use of it. There's a bit of film left in the camera, but not much, so naturally my first thought was to finish the film and get it developed.
It doesn't feel like I stopped using film all that long ago. In reality it's about 15 years since I had a roll of film developed. Back then, it was easy to find a roll of film in pound shops and super markets.
Week 335: Embossing ambitions
I have had a bit of a tough week (I might write about it at some point) so posting this pretty late on to keep the streak going.
Quite a while ago I came across this video about a rubber stamp shop in NYC, which looks like it's still going and it's somewhere I would love to visit.
One Of Every Porsche Road Car In One Place!
Hallelujah! Physical Buttons Could Make a Comeback Due to New Safety Regulations
The buttons on the dashboard of my car are close together with little separating them. They're more like toggles so I have to look at them as I would a digital button. The difference is that they consume 3D space so it's not just about tapping the right square, the square takes more space in the Z-index if we're talking about a 3D model and that alone makes it easy to use.
When it comes to something like a radio or AC controls that you might use often and build up muscle memory for then for me the physical world wins over the digital world here. Bring buttons back to cars.
The Ludacris Drink Champs episode
I've been a fan of Ludacris' music for years but towards the end of this interview he really cemented his place as an ultimately good force in the world of hip hop. You can watch the whole thing below or skip to
The only other episode I've watched all the way through is Pharrell on Drink Champs which is also worth a watch.
Week 334: Momento: the sports ticket scrapbook app
Every now and then, a new web app in the vein of Wordle comes along. On and off for a while now I've been playing Football Grid, a game where you guess the 9 different players who have played for a combination of two clubs or a club and a specific country.
I wanted to tweet a suggestion, only to find out the account had an app in the app store and I went to take a look.
Momento is a sports scrapbook that helps you keep track of the various games you have attended as a fan.
Week 333: Cities at similar latitudes
Something I had long planned to look into was cities of at a similar latitude because it always surprises me when I stumble across the fact that New York is closer in latitude to where the Mediterranean is rather than somewhere like London. Given New York gets snow I would have expected it to be higher than it is. This tweet made me want to finally take a look at it:
It makes sense when you realize that Europe is closer in latitude to Canada. Florida is as far south as Egypt. That said, Canadians use 800 kWh so they're still higher than the Europeans on that list.
View on twitter
Week 332: 3 Months with Apple Fitness+
Included with my Apple Watch Ultra 2 was a trial of Apple Fitness+, I waited a little before getting it going, but was keen to see what the service was like.
Overall, it is a great service but for my own body I pushing myself too hard with longer workouts on my exercise bike. I've had to take a bit of a break but the plan is to get back on it tonight.
The trainers are all very good, instructions are clear and the on screen graphics help to push you along. The full integration between devices is brilliant, Apple have nailed it as a non-line coaching set up. I really enjoyed lots of the workouts I did and there were plenty that pushed me well out of my comfort zone too.
Week 331: Swift Playgrounds on the iPad Mini
As I mentioned previously, I am diving into SwiftUI at the moment. It's both enjoyable and frustrating. Working with PHP is very straightforward, in my opinion. Errors are obvious, configuration is easy enough and it's extremely well documented. Not that SwiftUI isn't, but I am not used to the same types of languages so there has been a learning curve.
I don't know if it makes it harder or if the form factor is irrelevant, but I am learning mostly on my iPad Mini. The device is capable but the on screen keyboard makes it tough. You can only see a handful of lines of code and the previews are mostly obscured if writing an app or working on the preset Playgrounds.
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