The Ephemeral Scrapbook — Edition 2024-40

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! ✌️👋🏻