Notable

This year, the UK finally voted for adults to be in charge. Not perfect by any stretch, but a damning victory for some sense over division. America, unfortunately, did not get the memo and decided that a criminal and rapist deserved another shot at running their country.

Visiting the US was something I was lucky enough to do many times from the late 90s up until 2010. I haven't been back and the appeal just isn't there anymore. I have a soft spot for Hawaii, so I'm pleased to see they voted for Harris.

Maybe not enough people voted, or maybe Americans don't understand their elevated position in the world?

When you think about social media, and the internet in general, you're most likely going to be thinking about an American company or product. One that the whole world benefits from and should have brought us together. News is global. And yet Trump, and America it seems, are only willing to look at themselves.

Immigration, for example, will not change during his term, just as it continues to be a topic in the UK. This is despite the need for legal routes for refugees so that you can at least have a sensible approach to immigration. It's a part of life. We bring in highly-skilled people to do the jobs we don't want to do or that we are failing to train the next generation to do.

I don't think immigration should be unlimited but it's terrible thing to hang your hat on when the demons that immigrants are portrayed to be are the ones fleeing for their lives. If you take an anti-immigration position, you look and ultimately become intolerable of others. We see this with every right-wing politician across the world. It's always them, those foreigners who are stealing jobs and causing problems when the reality is that most of these people are only looking for a better life. Just as your own parents, grand parents or ancestors did at some point in history.

I am gutted with the result. I wanted nothing more than for Trump to fade into obscurity and for any subsequent coverage to be of him being fully convicted for all of the terrible things he has done thanks to the privileges he's enjoyed because of his riches. Unfortunately, it looks like neither will happen.

From a UK perspective, I hope he is shunned in every way possible. America should no longer be considered a super power but a threat to world peace until we see action that leads to the end of wars in Ukraine and Gaza at the very least and I have no faith that will happen in the next 4 years now because of this election result.

Posted 7th Nov 2024 @ 08:37

Posted 5th Nov 2024 @ 09:19

Honestly, the best video I've watched in ages. Exactly how I feel about networking and how gross it all feels. I'm happy to let my work and skills do the talking but in a room of louder people that means you can go under the radar quite easily.

I prefer to be kind before anything else and I'll try to be more generous too going forward.

Posted 3rd Nov 2024 @ 21:16

I genuinely love my iPad mini, it's been a fantastic device for me that I use daily. Combined with the 2nd-gen Apple Pencil has made it indispensable for note taking and for creative endeavours.

Today, Apple announced the 7th-generation iPad mini which is marketed as being "built for Apple Intelligence".

I won't be upgrading because there's nothing wrong with mine and to be honest, it was Smart Script that I was most interested and turns out the 6th-gen already got the feature in iPadOS 18.

The Apple Pencil Pro, however, is the best Apple Pencil. I used one once and it was a natural upgrade to the previous generation with its new pinch gestures. I also don't have hover support for the Apple Pencil. MacRumors have a good breakdown of the differences between the new and old and there's not a lot in it.

Posted 15th Oct 2024 @ 14:59

Despite being a big fan of Pharrell, I didn't really get why Piece by Piece was coming out and after watching this interview with Jimmy Fallon, I can't wait to see it.

Posted 14th Oct 2024 @ 09:14

Elon Musk:

It will be an age of abundance

Because that's what we need, more stuff.

The Cybercab itself actually looks pretty good and the minimal interior works better in my opinion for this concept but it looks like a bad take on the Lucid Air.

I find Elon repulsive and his stage manor awful, but he's yet again selling the dream...

Nearly 7 years ago, he promised the Tesla Roadster in 2020 but we're now 4 years beyond that date and still waiting for it to be shipped. Full Self Driving has long been promised and isn't here yet either. Maybe the Cybercab will be the anomaly and make it out in the wild outside of California and Texas but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Posted 11th Oct 2024 @ 13:04

Posted 19th Sep 2024 @ 07:36

I enjoyed reading through John Gruber's thoughts on last week's iPhone event:

My dissatisfaction flying home from last week's event is, ultimately, selfish. I miss having my mind blown. I miss being utterly surprised. I miss occasionally being disappointed by a product design that stretched quirky all the way to wacky. I miss being amazed by something entirely unexpected out of left field.

Personally, I was amazed by Camera Control button this year. I put my phone in a case so the overall shape and design don't make a huge difference. The camera, internals and software combine to make a compelling product. Last year, the Action Button didn't excite me. It was interesting, but not exciting. Camera Control is genuinely exciting to me and I can't wait to play with it. Sadly, this is not an upgrade year for me so I won't be getting a new phone but there's something I'll be really excited to get my hands on for photography in the future.

Overhauling the design of an entire product is not a small task so I appreciate these iterations but still believe they should come every other year instead of annually.

Dynamic Island + Action Button + Camera Control would make a pretty great feature set for an update, but rather than all at once they've rolled out over a 3-year period.

Posted 17th Sep 2024 @ 15:25

Posted 9th Sep 2024 @ 10:35

Apple are bringing Live Activities to their Sports app, so I'm eager to see how it matches up to a third party app like FotMob that has been doing this since Live Activities launched. If there's enough to talk, or gripe, about then I'll post up a comparison here as the season progresses.

Right now it doesn't look like there's any live sports going on so I can't test it until later it seems.

Update: I went back to look to see if the Champions League was included and it's not but further down was the following update:

Additional leagues will become available on Apple Sports over time, including Champions League and Europa League, beginning with the league phase in September.

So to me that reads that it becomes available in September for the mentioned leagues with more to follow.

Posted 30th Aug 2024 @ 08:29