The Ephemeral Scrapbook — Edition 2025-06

👤 Personal

1️⃣ I always put my actions in line with my beliefs. After a recent controversial post from the founder of 37Signals, DHH, the company behind HEY Mail, I will vote with my money. This coming October, I'm going to let my subscription expire. Praising Musk for what he has done with his companies is one thing, but praising him to do the same to the government, even if I'm not an American, it's another. You don't run a government like a startup. If the way Musk "processed" Twitter acquisition is any indication, it's time to show some resistance and say, enough. So, I have over six months to switch back to Apple Mail and switch a few accounts to use another email address. It's painful, but resisting is never easy.

🗺️ Discoveries

1️⃣ Every day since January 20, 2025, I'm discovering how fucked up we are, and how doomed the world is. I'm not calling any names, but you probably already know what I'm referring to. 2️⃣ Here's a sad discovery (via Gruber) about a software developer who succombed to his cancer: Martin Pilkington. We are not eternal; this is a reminder that we should always think to be ready for this to some degree.

👨🏻‍💻 Writing

1️⃣ You can read last month's blog post right here on Micro.blog monthly digest. 2️⃣ As someone of Generation X, I feel privileged and wanted to write about our unique position in recent human history. I shared some of my thoughts. It's unusual for me to write and share this kind of article on my main blog. I might try republishing it on Medium to see if it gets any traction. 3️⃣ Here is an excellent piece about writing. I’m following her on Micro.blog, and she seems like a funny person I’d like to meet in person to see if my mental model of her holds up in reality.

“Writing means you have to trust what you say has enough weight on its own to matter to someone who reads it.” — Annie Mueller

🌄 Photography

1️⃣ This week's photographer discovery on Glass is a profile from “jnnman”. As a passionate black-and-white photographer, this profile is simply sublime. I love her work—my favorite one. Speaking of B&W photography, here is another great photo from AOWS.

“Color is descriptive. Black and White is interpretive. My life is already too complicated, so I stick to Black and White. It's enough.” - Elliott Erwitt

🍎 Apple

1️⃣ It's been a few months since Apple acquired Pixelmator. So far, the company is still releasing updates for each app. As Gruber said, Apple tends to do right with acquired apps. Will it age well into 2025? 2️⃣ If you live in the EU, you are now able to get your hands on the first porn app, but you'll have to get it through the AltStore, not the App Store. Users enjoy it, but Apple is not enjoying it while wondering about kids’ safety in this dark world. Meanwhile, in North America, we have Apple Intelligence. Apple is happy about it, but users aren't enjoying it. Oh well. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 3️⃣ In this video from “ThisIsE”, someone visited Apple Park, or what is publicly possible to visit. It's another testament to this place's greatness and is on my bucket list if I ever return to California. I don't see that happening before 2028, thanks to the orange clown administration and politics against Canada. 4️⃣ Leaking information about unreleased products at Apple isn’t a good idea. A leaker had to share that he was sorry. The story fails to explain why Aude leaked information to the press. It would have been interesting to learn. 5️⃣ It's been a year since the Apple Vision Pro was officially available for sale. The following video paints a balanced picture of using the Apple Vision Pro for a year. I would get one if money were no object, but that's untrue. I still think it is a marvelous piece of technology at the wrong time. 6️⃣ I found this unknown (to me at least) interview of Steve Jobs over iChat, the precursor of FaceTime. The interview took place during what appears to be a Comcast business conference in 2008. Worth a watch. 7️⃣ Tell me if you remember iTools, and I'll guess your age. 😝

Aude’s apology, on X:
“I spent nearly eight years as a software engineer at Apple. During that time, I was given access to sensitive internal Apple information, including what were then unreleased products and features. But instead of keeping this information secret, I made the mistake of sharing this information with journalists who covered the company. I did not realize it at the time, but this turned out to be a profound and expensive mistake. Hundreds of professional relationships I had spent years building were ruined. And my otherwise successful career as a software engineer was derailed, and it will likely be very difficult to rebuild it. Leaking was not worth it. I sincerely apologize to my former colleagues who not only worked tirelessly on projects for Apple, but work hard to keep them secret. They deserved better.”

🚧 Special projects

1️⃣ I don’t have any meaningful projects at the moment. However, I have something in the works about privacy protection using Apple devices and services. I’ve had this project on my to-do list for quite a while. I recently decided to come back to it using the ChatGPT Projects feature. The idea is to upload PDF documents of Apple support articles and other web references around this subject and figure out an angle to write about this. My goal is to help other Apple users learn how to increase their awareness of security features so they can increase their security posture. I want this article to be easy to understand and accessible. I think this subject is not well-covered. 2️⃣ As I'm writing this, an idea came up: converting my digital legacy management template from Craft to Notion and selling it on the Notion store. Stay tuned for more on that one as soon as I hear back from Notion.

📱 Apps & Services

1️⃣ Tapestry 1.0 is finally out! I was one of the backers on Kickstarter, and I'm happy that they reached this milestone. I've tried Tapestry during the development phase, but the design is not for me. I prefer something like Reeder (the old and the new version). I might continue trying it to see if the design grows on me. Only time will tell. The reactions are vastly positive for the most part, with a few exceptions. Many are comparing Tapestry to Reeder, and for good reason: they bring a single feed by combining multiple sources. You can find reactions and comments from other people right here. 2️⃣ Is Apple's new “Invites" app a hint at what iOS 19 could look like? Probably for some first-party apps that require a more immersive experience like the Camera app. 3️⃣ Do you know about HyperDeck, an iPad and Mac app for creating presentations? I had it installed on my iPad, but the beta expired. The website is still up, but it was last updated in 2020. I think it’s no longer being developed, which is sad. HyperDeck and iA Presenter try to let the user focus on content, not the presentation formatting. 4️⃣ Micro.blog got a new third-party client for the iPhone: Micro Social. I like what I’m seeing. 5️⃣ I’m still a big fan of Inoreader, but I have a few wishes for it. 6️⃣ Don't be fooled, the ARC Browser is officially making it to the abandonware. Weekly releases mainly focus on updating the Chromium engine without any new features.

📺 YouTube

1️⃣ OpenAI is getting a new logo? According to this short video, yes. I like the visuals in this animated clip. It reminds me of a video from Apple a few years ago about “A thousand no’s for every yes". Sadly, the video is no longer available, but you can read about it here. 2️⃣ I recently spent some time cleaning up my YouTube channel subscriptions; I followed way too many YouTube channels, many of which became inactive. I’m trying to be more selective this year on many levels. This is one example. This channels management also clarifies which content I want to see and consume in Reeder, a feed reader that allows multiple sources like RSS or YouTube channels. 3️⃣ I stumbled on a video about another intriguing game called « Foundation ». While the game looks great, it does seem to require quite some reading and managing to get things going. It’s not for me, and I prefer to consider games like Tiny Glade. Civilization VII is in the « not for me » category, thanks to a demanding gameplay.

💎 Miscellaneous

1️⃣ According to a report from The Washington Post, the UK government demands that Apple create a global iCloud encryption backdoor (no link to paywalled content). Yep, you read it right. This is an unprecedented demand, and I wish Apple would get out of the UK market instead of giving up on this. 2️⃣ Another great wallpaper set from Basic Apple Guy. Worth downloading them all! 3️⃣ Is OpenAI turning slowly into Apple? Rumors about the development of its first custom-made silicon ship are true, and it might be the case, yes. Why? The idea is that controlling the whole technological stack, just as Apple does, brings many benefits. 4️⃣ There is Intel Inside stickers, and now there are Apple Silicon stickers. Available for purchase from Basic Apple Guy.

“Apple Watch is turning more into a fitness tracker that happens to show the time, and away from serving as a proper watch.” — John Gruber is his Apple 2024 Report Card.

🔮 Looking forward

1️⃣ A troubling possibility, right under the US citizens’ noses, by Dave Winer. 2️⃣ Is this the iPhone 17 Pro? Really? Why? Change for the sake of change?

I wish you a great week! ✌️ 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 💪🏻