★ Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino
Stunning takedown by John Gruber of the state of Apple with regards to Apple Intelligence.
I'm not in the same racket as him, but a few weeks ago I did my own post to see if is Apple Intelligence any good? Of the fetaures available, out of 5 I looked at only 1 was any good to me. Safe to say Apple Intelligence is low in usefulness and completeness. I also gave Apple the benefit of not having yet released a more integrated Siri, but I am not privy to anything other than marketing and reviews so I could only go on what I knew.
I'm also not really in the AI space and pretty sceptical on it because of it seems pretty unethical in how it all these multi-billion dollar models get trained. If I was Tim Cook, I would have put the hardware first and positioned those platforms as the backbone of desktop AI. Dear developers, go build amazing AI tools on our hardware. Then as a native solution, pick a partner and integrate it. Leave it at that.
No one needs Image Playgrounds. ChatGPT now integrates with Xcode. Anything Apple Intelligence can do, another service could have filled that hole and Apple could have spent a lot more time on things that actually matter.
Posted 13th Mar 2025 @ 09:05
Microsoft to retire Skype in May
I hadn't really thought to comment on Skype's retirement until I read this piece by John Gruber.
If I remember correctly, I used Skype at my first proper web development job back in 2006. Almost 20 years ago. I also used it for nearly all communication in my last role (2012-2020) as it rolled conversations and calling all into one.
We tried replacing the chat element with Slack in the mid-2010s but it didn't work when only our team used it in the organisation. We also had an internal chat tool, but Skype always won because of it's VOIP capability.
it never seemed Microsoft had any sort of plan for what to do with Skype
Gruber is totally right with this take, it's a shame because there was potential. Would it have been more prosperous without the acquisition? I doubt it, but there might have been a bit more strategy with regards to where it was headed.
Posted 4th Mar 2025 @ 16:21
Elon Musk Cold Open
They nailed it. If you're not up to speed (and not already wondering where the fuck America is heading), then The Wall Street Journal have a primer on Trump and Zelenskyy's relationship.
Posted 3rd Mar 2025 @ 15:07
ELEGNT: Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robot
Came across this on Daring Fireball, what a great demo of an expressive robot. Seriously, go watch the video!
So much personality in each of the tasks it takes on.
Posted 28th Feb 2025 @ 14:00
Google Puts Profits Over Privacy by Permitting User Fingerprinting
Nick Heer:
A law, please, with debilitating penalties for violations.
A thousand times this.
Posted 21st Feb 2025 @ 08:54
Perfect Headline: ‘Meta Warns That It Will Fire Leakers in Leaked Memo'
Go read the commentary, some kickers for what Meta's principles really are.
Posted 3rd Feb 2025 @ 10:42
UK Announces Digital Wallet for IDs and Driver's Licenses
Very excited for this, my Apple Wallet is packed full of stuff and the only thing I'd keep in an actual wallet that hasn't made it in yet is a form of ID.
This feature was announced about 4 years ago, so it's taken a bit of time but good to see it is on it's way. 4 years actually feels like quite a long time given how quickly UK banks rolled out Apple Pay compatibility.
Posted 22nd Jan 2025 @ 14:47
Nintendo Switch 2 – First-look trailer
My first Nintendo was the NES, followed by the GameBoy, the Nintendo 3DS and then the Wii.
It's been close to 20 years since my last purchase of a Nintendo console but I've been thinking about a Switch for a bit... With the Switch 2 on the way, maybe this is the year?
The bigger screen is not important to me at all, but the larger Joy-Con controllers looks great and would be more comfortable to hold when playing on the go.
I'd add it all to Good Gear Club but there's no pricing information available just yet.
Posted 17th Jan 2025 @ 10:44