Notable

The best Tiny Desk in a while. I feel like I knew but completely forgot that Nile Rodgers was behind the Coming To America soundtrack and what a reminder from the band.

Posted 1st Nov 2023 @ 16:34

Especially interesting to me as we've just recently come back from Rome where you can not only drink from the tap, but there are publish drinking fountains that constantly deliver water for everyone to enjoy.

Posted 1st Nov 2023 @ 14:28

I'm really looking forward to the Journal app. Hoped it was a surprise inclusion for 17.1 but looks like it will be part of the 17.2 release which I'd guess is a month away now.

Posted 26th Oct 2023 @ 18:13

Everyone is right to complain about how complicated the iPad and Apple Pencil lineup is now. Choice is great, but too much choice can be a burden.

John Gruber gives his thoughts on what he'd like from the lineup. As someone who struggled to decide between the 11inch iPad Pro (two generations behind it's bigger brother) and the iPad Air and then just gave up because the overlap in pricing felt weird I have some thoughts of my own:

• Ditch the Air from the lineup. Having a Mini, regular, Air and Pro makes the choice needlessly difficult.
• Ditch the 9th-generation iPad
• I don't have FaceID on my iPad Mini and it would be the smallest QoL improvement that I don't think it's a must for the cheaper models
• OLED screens and always-on displays for the Pro models

I can't believe I've had my iPad Mini for two years now. It continues to be something I turn to daily for work and for play. It's size is brilliant for everything although it can be a bit of a struggle in Procreate.

Speaking of which, I really should put together a long term review for Good Gear Club.

Posted 19th Oct 2023 @ 09:24

Always to get a refresher in selvedge denim.

Reminder that I've covered the topic before, is selvedge denim worth it? Oh and I've shared a few selvedge items over on Good Gear Club.

Posted 12th Oct 2023 @ 14:53

I waited until I had enough time to read this thoroughly. It's well worth a browse for the photos alone.

All in, it leaves one difficult photography problem that you have to solve that the stack of machine learning and three-axis optical image stabilizer cannot: framing.

Smartphone photography is at the ultimate sweetspot now. The camera, and pipeline, do so much work it's almost impossible to badly take a photo. It's down to you to make sure you're not taking a bad photo.

Also worth a browse is the section at the bottom titled Where Are You Coming From? It covers the jumps you can expect from a selection of older iPhone models.

Posted 10th Oct 2023 @ 15:01

As well as a great rendition of her own song, Little Things, Jorja Smith put together a great cover of As It Was by Harry Styles.

Posted 9th Oct 2023 @ 14:25

Full Frame continues to be among my favourite for reviews of cameras and this is a great video on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

If I had been buying an iPhone this year, I would have been torn. I knew back when I got the iPhone 8 Plus I was going to go big because I wanted the two camera system. I have no desire to own the biggest phone, but I really would have wanted to have the 5x camera so probably would have begrudgingly gone with it. I held the iPhone 15 Pro Max in an Apple Store last night and it wasn't heavy at all. In fact it felt about the same weight as my regular iPhone 14 Pro.

Oh and the state of USB C cables is insane. The whole standard needs simplifying... I would actually have backed Lightning getting USB 3 transfer speeds over the move to USB C. The simplicity of Lightning cables is too easily forgotten. One cable for charging and data, reversible. I know USB C opens up a whole world of options but only the top of the top tier pro users will ever make the most of it.

Posted 6th Oct 2023 @ 08:25

Absolute madness from FIFA, which is not a surprise.

Firstly, what if any of Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay fail to qualify? Or how do you rearrange their fixtures so that they can play a 'home' game?

Or will we just have 6 random teams playing in South America for three matches before flying them back over to Europe/Africa for the remainder of the tournament? How do, as a competing nation, even prepare for that?

If you need evidence of how bad this idea is, in the Premier League this weekend my club were on the receiving end of a massive lapse of concentration. The people at fault had flown back from the UAE just the day before after a bit of casual moonlighting. The demands on players and officials is so high, it's not a surprise that it might take it's toll in this way. Of course, the travel may not have been the issue, it may well be down to pure incompetence... but I choose to believe they were just tired and doing their best despite how I felt at the time.

Back to the 2030 World Cup. It's not like 2030 being the 100th year is a surprise to anyone. Given Uruguay made a joint bid for the tournament, I'm not sure why FIFA wouldn't take the opportunity to award to them? It will have been 16 years since the previous South American host.

As a fan, it's great to see so much football available to watch, but on the other hand you only want your own players to play a sensible number of games every year. There are already too many international games. Then you have inter-continental club games. The amount of travelling they do is not normal.

Posted 5th Oct 2023 @ 08:14

Sketchy rumour, according to MacRumors, but this is the obvious evolution of the Apple Pencil. I would love to be able to turn it over to rub something out rather than having to double tap, for example.

Just so happens that I recently reviewed the Apple Pencil 2 after 2 years of daily use.

Posted 3rd Oct 2023 @ 15:32