Federico Viticci reviews iOS 18 and also writes about how to balance his love of Apple tech and dislike of generative AI:
"Technology without people behind it is just an empty chat box. I want to write about the fun, flexible, frequently flawed things humans do with tech, and I want to be remembered for having left something useful behind me."
I love the illustrations by Scout Wilkinson for the review. For me, I don’t think AI has to be an all-or-nothing choice. It’s a useful tool, but we can also embrace what humans are uniquely good at. This was the thinking behind M.b’s audio narration too.
https://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-and-ipados-18-the-macstories-review/13/ https://www.manton.org/2024/05/24/161419.html
We’ve got a new episode of Core Intuition out today, longer than usual to talk about which iPhones we pre-ordered, thoughts on new features like the camera button, and a discussion of whether the AirPods 4 with noice cancellation are effectively a software unlock.
https://coreint.org/2024/09/episode-612-lets-just-say-im-skeptical/
Happy for Hacks finally winning. Love that show. It has been tough competition going up against hilarious comedy show The Bear. 🤪
Watching the Emmy’s. It shouldn’t bother me so much but folks The Bear still isn’t a comedy. 📺
As a quick follow-up to my post today about posting APIs, I should have linked to the latest Micropub specification. There is also a long list of clients on the IndieWeb wiki. I just added Epilogue there, which also uses Micropub to blog about books you’re reading.
https://micropub.spec.indieweb.org https://micropub.spec.indieweb.org
We’ve visited Dallas a lot recently. It sort of amazes me that Dallas has been able to develop extensive new light rail, and repurpose old rail corridors into great walking trails. Comparatively it feels like Austin has done almost nothing. Looking at the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas line, unused.
Toward a common posting API https://www.manton.org/2024/09/14/toward-a-common.html
Sean Tilley has a great live blog of FediForum over at We Distribute. Also includes my demo if you scroll back to yesterday’s coverage.
I got a lot out of FediForum this week. Mostly lurking this morning, can’t really participate. Some fantastic sessions yesterday. I helped lead a discussion on adapting client APIs for different platforms, with great points from folks on ActivityPub C2S and how to go beyond the Mastodon API.
I tried this AI-based social network Butterflies and it’s as bizarre as you’d expect. It’s more like a game. I don’t see this kind of thing taking off in “real” social networks. Infinite content will just reinforce the infinite algorithmic feed, which is unhealthy enough already.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/18/24181196/butterflies-app-ai-chatbots-social-media
Forgot to mention if you’re sending me your Threads username… You will have to go to your Threads account settings → Website Permissions to approve the tester invite for Micro.blog.
Micro.blog cross-posting to Threads is a bit in limbo because I’m not even sure how to submit the app for review. But we can have 500 testers! Reply with your Threads username if you’d like to be added. I will process any requests later today and “Add Threads” will show up on Account → Edit Sources.
Working with the Threads API reminds me of how frustrating it was to work with Facebook’s main app API years ago, and any silo API that requires manual approval like the App Store. The bureaucracy is at odds with Meta’s claim of supporting the open web and fediverse.
This blog post is a test for something new I’m working on. I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed that AI is everywhere right now. Personal blogs should lean in to the human voice. There’s a new play button on the permalink for this post on the web which will use a recording that I’ve uploaded.
Transcript
https://www.manton.org/transcripts/2024/05/24/1143.html https://www.manton.org/2024/05/24/this-blog-post.html
Google’s AI overviews are pretty hilariously not ready. Maybe they never will be. Generative AI is a powerful, transformative technology, but that doesn’t mean it should be used everywhere! Sometimes dumb code is better.
Tried the new Cajun place that opened a couple weeks ago, Lil’ Easy.
Humans in the loop https://www.manton.org/2024/05/23/humans-in-the.html
Micro.blog for iOS was updated today with some improvements and fixes. Here’s a quick demo video of the new uploads search for Micro.blog Premium subscribers:
Feeling deflated this morning after the AI drama of the last couple days. I got so much flack over it. Now that the Washington Post is out with their story? Crickets. 🦗
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/22/openai-scarlett-johansson-chatgpt-ai-voice/
Sky narrative wrap-up, for now https://www.manton.org/2024/05/22/sky-narrative-wrapup.html