The Comfortably Dumb - Om Malik follows up in his post about his growing discomfort with embedded tech from the big companies in “smart” devices.
This is fascinating - there’s a new visual language evolving around doing drama in vertical videos:
Chinese vertical dramas made for phone viewing show the future of mobile video
Random discoveries via navigation apps
Lovely, random experience this evening. Apple Maps brought me an unexpected route home, showing me a bunch of villages and towns a short drive from where I lived that I’ve never seen before.
At least two of them are now on my “to visit" list for the near future, and another will be the first place I take Hazel on our summer holiday “adventures”.
I’m with Om on this. I’ve replaced our Alexa device with a HomePod as I’m no longer willing to give Google or Amazon audio access to our home:
Well now. I did a vlog from Scotland. Vlogging is really not my thing. What do you think?
ln defence of selfies - an interesting take on the social context of photography and sharing.
The Decline of Historical Perspective - Neil hits the nail on the head here. And yes, it’s worrying.
New Microsoft Store at Oxford Circus
Microsoft opening a new store right on Oxford Circus in London today. Nice clean lines - but it feels terribly generic.
Settled up my second payment on account with the taxman. Slowly, but surely, breaking the habit of doing everything at the last minute.
Catching up with the MacBook news. Prices finally getting down to where they need to be, but a new keyboard would be the icing on the cake.
However, depending on how iPadOS shakes out, I may well be done with MacBooks.
Trapped in the attention farm
Ever notice that mostly what people post on Twitter is designed to get attention for the author. I think that’s due to the award incentive of the system. Flow == more followers == power and prestige.
Yes. It’s the big and dangerous trap of Twitter, especially for journalists. Twitter increasingly rewards attention-seeking behaviour, rather than useful behaviour.
After a productive day in front of a screen (or three), I have just treated myself to 40 minutes with a real, paper hardback — Tom Cox’s 21st Century Yokel — and a glass of whisky.
Perfect end to the day. 🥃📖