Jarrod BlundyModify

2024-12-03 22:51:00

Benjamin Mayo, writing at 9to5Mac on Apple’s latest rendition of the wildly popular personal music trends feature that Spotify debuted in 2016 with Wrapped (but also kind of 2015 with Year in Music):

The Apple Music year-in-review montage for 2024 is now available. View yours now at replay.music.apple.com for Apple Music subscribers. New for this year, in the Apple Music app on iOS 18.1 or later, users can also tap through to watch their Replay without leaving the Music app.

An unreserved finally is due here. For a company that touts the advantage of native apps, it sure took them a long time — they only got their offering together in 2019 — to break Replay out of the web. We all know Apple’s famously strapped for cash and developer talent, though, so who can blame them? 🙃

(But has it really broken out? As far as I can tell, the Music app is just opening a web view of the same stuff available at replay.music.apple.com. It doesn’t really offer anything new or different in the native app. Whatever, I’m calling it a win.)

Here are my top artists for 2024:

Maybe next year Apple will do something more inspired, but for now I’m just happy I don’t need to log into a web app with a decidedly long subdomain just to see some cool graphics. 🤷‍♂️

Someone should probably tell MacRumors though:

For easy access to your most-played tracks, you can add your Apple Music Replay 2024 playlist directly to the Music app. However, unlike Spotify’s Wrapped feature, Apple Music Replay remains a web-based experience, with the Music app only able to play the curated playlist of top songs once added through the website.

😬

HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

2024-12-03 14:47:00

I haven’t written a whole lot about politics since the U.S. election in which we, as a nation¹, elected the convicted felon and treasonous Donald Trump back into the presidency.

Suffice it to say that I’m profoundly disappointed in, ashamed of, and embarrassed by the lack of moral character in this country that has led us back here.

But I’ve been hearing a lot of quips from liberals lately that have me worried.

“I guess I need to focus on taking care of me and mine for the next four years; I simply can’t be up in arms about every disaster.”

Isn’t that the behavior that has gotten us here? People neglecting to care for the rest of humanity and instead paying attention only to what affects themselves?

“Democrats need to take a page out of the Republican playbook and say whatever is necessary to get elected, and then just do what they think is right.”

Aren’t Republicans convinced that what they’re doing “is right”? “Whatever is necessary” sure leaves a lot up to interpretation. And when their actions are motivated by hate and fear, we have seen firsthand that the results are disastrous.

I recognize that these things are said out of a sense of defeat. What we’ve tried obviously isn’t working, so we need a new approach.

Right on cue, here’s Manton Reece, writing today after President Biden pardoned his son, with a subtly different sentiment:

Democrats need to rethink the old rules. Democrats need to say and do what’s right without giving a fuck what anyone else thinks. This pardon might be the first step.

My initial reaction is to pump my fist and give an enthusiastic “Hell yeah!” to what Manton proposes. To jump aboard the idea that we need to stop overthinking, gnashing our teeth, and fretting over every decision. Good on Biden for taking executive action where he sees fit. It’s what we elected him to do.

“Just do what’s right” seems like a simple and solid approach. Who could argue with it?

But I fear this “throw caution to the wind” attitude can lead us down a dark path. A slippery slope. The same one that MAGA/Republicans/Conservative/right-wing folks travel. One where we, like them, act out of self-interest rather than public interest. That we let fear and hatred of those across the aisle motivate us rather than love, kindness, and compassion for our fellow citizens of Earth.

We already call each other “monsters”. Villify each other. Refuse to see the humanity in each other. Do we really want to add another similarity to that list? That we, too, would say whatever it takes to get elected and then abandon any campaign promises to act solely on our gut?

I want to believe that if we all just do what’s right, we’ll make our way out of this mess to a better future. But without some consensus on “what’s right”, I fear we all start acting out of self-interest. And I just don’t believe more people acting in self-interest is going to do more good for the world.²

It’s late, and this turned more philosophical than I intended. I don’t feel like I’ve come to a strong conclusion, either here or within myself. More thought is necessary.

HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

2024-12-02 22:37:00

I doubt I’ll switch to The Browser Company’s new AI-infused-and-focused Dia browser when it debuts next year. But I can’t say I’m not impressed with their latest video. The meta angle of explaining the structure of this recruiting video within the recruiting video was a creative move. Their whole company is quite creative, really. Their Arc browser is nothing if not a bunch of creative new ideas about the interface for a web browser. One that didn’t click with me, but I can see why it clicks with so many other people.

I also think they’re dead-on when they say that AI isn’t going to be a bunch of different apps or buttons within every app. It’s going to evolve into a layer on top of everything we do with our devices. But I think that layer is going to be most useful at the operating system level, not contained to the web browser.

Still, if you don’t have an operating system to play with — and there are only a few in the world that matter — the web browser is the next best environment. While it doesn’t have access to all the other apps and data on your device (which is why plugging into the OS’s AI system is going to be most effective), a whole bunch of what people do on their computers is done in websites and web apps in the browser. And that percentage is growing, not shrinking.

Putting generative text features behind the text cursor is a genius move. I hope more products jump onto that UI. It now seems so obvious that the cursor (caret) is exactly where those capabilities should live.

The browse-for-me/take-action-for-me approach is a familiar idea. It’s what the Rabbit R1 is supposed to do. On one hand, I like the approach because it means interfaces can continue to be built and optimized for human use, and the computer just needs to learn how to work its way around the human interface. On the other hand, it seems pretty inefficient when the alternative is for sites to provide APIs for the computer to tap directly into, rather than fake its way around an interface.

I don’t know which is going to win out there, but building the ability to “click around” a human interface will always be a good backup for sites and services that don’t provide APIs.

The Browser Company is certainly one to watch in our next phase of computing. They’ve already earned a loyal fan base with Arc. That’s the toe in the door to becoming a more pervasive influence in the tech world.

Those fans — and others like me — will try out Dia just because of their reputation. If it’s great, we’ll tell our friends. Enough people switch from the big browsers, and there’s some real disruption to the current computing landscape.

Especially now, in this tumultuous time when Google has been directed by the Department of Justice to sell off its Chrome browser, The Browser Company seems poised to be a bigger player in the next chapter of the web.

HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

2024-12-02 11:13:00

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ I think you’ll know where this video is going once you see the first few seconds, but see it through. Like most things from Cabel Sasser, the payoff is good. [🔗 Cabel Sasser // cabel.com]

2️⃣ Want to wear a literal emoji? Now you can because Jose Wong produced a shoe based on Apple’s sneaker emoji. 👟 [🔗 Andrew Liszewski // theverge.com]

3️⃣ 365 marathons in 365 days. £1 million raised for hospice care. It’s a happy tear jerker. [🔗 Great Big Story // youtube.com]

4️⃣ Far too many good quotes here about how running helps writing to pick just one. [🔗 Brendan // semi-rad.com]

5️⃣ I wouldn’t mind getting guided on a tour by a Boston Dynamics Spot robot powered by an LLM. [🔗 Boston Dynamics // youtube.com]

6️⃣ DMVs aren’t always bad places. This one was affirming for Lisa Melton. [🔗 Lisa Melton // lisamelton.net]

7️⃣ Simon B. Støvring has made a little utility for himself to decorate his macOS dock with holiday lights. I, for one, hope this gets released to the public someday. It’s so festive! [🔗 @simonbs // mastodon.social]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

2024-11-26 10:28:00

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet. Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ A great reminder from Rick Rubin, via Steve Ledlow. [🔗 tangiblelife.net]

2️⃣ Loved Fleabag. Definitely love it in Lego. [🔗 Trevor Carlee // youtube.com]

3️⃣ Follow this Mastodon account and it’ll automatically reply to all your posts with an image with an alt-text description of it, making them more accessible to folks who use screen readers. [🔗 @altbot // fuzzies.wtf]

4️⃣ @heymikli on Threads has an absolutely stacked shortcut for their Action Button to do different things based on the phone’s orientation. I’m gonna try it out. [🔗 threads.net]

5️⃣ This guy seems awesome. I hope I see him climbing at the Gunks someday. [🔗 Eric Bates // youtube.com]

6️⃣ This example site renders everything in a monospaced font grid. It’s beautiful. [🔗 Oskar Wickström // owickstrom.github.io]

7️⃣ I’m super diggin’ this new (to me) podcast. Super short, super interesting little stories. The first episodes are kinda macabre, but fascinating nonetheless. (Via 99% Invisible) [🔗 the memory palace // overcast.fm]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

2024-11-13 06:11:00

In all the hubbub back in September wondering how Apple was going to advertise its new iPhones with Apple Intelligence when Apple Intelligence wasn’t even shipping on the new iPhones yet, I don’t recall anyone speculating how Apple Intelligence itself would be advertised. Well, we have our answer, and it’s not great.

From the first Apple Intelligence ad, something didn’t sit right with me. Let’s watch it together:

Did you catch it? No? How about another:

What about that time? Do you need another? Here:

Clearly, you caught it that time, right, especially since my lede is in the title. I think this is the first time Apple has actively encouraged us to lie to one another in one of its ads.

Worse yet, it’s all so avoidable. You don’t have to deceive your friends and coworkers. Be honest with them and say you forgot to read the email, that you remember your last meeting but not their name, or that you need a little time to catch up on the prospective. Then use Apple Intelligence to get your work done faster. Don’t pretend that you know something that you don’t, or did something that you didn’t. Don’t do whatever the hell this guy is doing. And, for crying out loud, don’t be so fucking awkward about using your computer as that guy did in the last one.

LLMs (and AI by extension) have been called “bullshit machines” because they spout out anything and everything they think will next most likely word in response to your query. Not because it “knows” the right answer, it’s just going to bullshit its way to an answer. Fake it till you make it.

Apple Intelligence isn’t all that different in that regard. I expected its LLM-powered features to bullshit me. I didn’t think they would shown off, by Apple as enabled by Apple Intelligence, to deceive one another about the status of a project or our memory of our last meeting together. Almost everything they’re showing off about Apple Intelligence is a way to make it seem like you’re more thoughtful, attentive, and prepared than you really are.

And that just doesn’t seem right to me. Show a parent and child imagining a story together, with Writing Tools helping them to adapt the story to the child’s every fanciful whim, and Image Playground bringing it to life with otherworldly illustrations. Show people building study quizzes with AI based on notes they’ve taken and lecture transcriptions. Show movie memories being made with unlikely themes, generated from your photos and videos based on an imaginative prompt (but not thrown together at the last second and then passed off as a thoughtful gift).

In fact, this is probably the only good Apple Intelligence ad I’ve seen so far:

The guy was able to get his frustrated emotions out by typing an unhinged email. He used Writing Tools to tone it down so that he wouldn’t be an asshole to his coworker. They even showed him perhaps learning how using kind words both got him his pudding back and earned him the respect of the thief. All good stuff, humorous, and legitimately useful. Who among us hasn’t typed out a nasty-gram only to delete it and then have to write more professionally? Apple Intelligence can help in that situation, saving us time, just as computers have always been designed to do.

I’m not the only one who has noticed this disheartening new direction for Apple’s marketing. Here’s Anil Dash on Threads:

It’s not important at all, but it’s interesting to note that Apple has made another recent ad that’s as bad as the hydraulic press one where they destroyed all the instruments. In this one, it shows their AI tool being used by someone who didn’t do their work to fake their way through a meeting. Apple ads used to always show their users as experts or creative thinkers. Now they’re workplace liars.

And hapax, who wrote so succinctly about this that I’m going to quote them in full:

My wife and I have been watching Parks and Rec a lot lately. Every ad break it seems like one of Apple’s ads for “Apple Intelligence” comes up. These ads feature someone suddenly realizing that they’re unprepared: a wife realizes that she forgot her husband’s birthday; a lawyer realizes that he forgot to read an important document; an actor realizes that they forgot to read a pitch for a show. The unprepared person is able to quickly “save the day” by using Apple Intelligence to generate a summary of important information, or in the wife’s case, to generate an animated slideshow of sentimental photos.

These ads consistently leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Obviously, everyone is unprepared sometimes. Everyone occasionally forgets an important birthday, or shows up to a meeting without having prepped. That’s part of being human. The myth of AI is that we can eliminate human fallibility, that we can smooth out our rough edges with enough technology. News flash: more technology won’t make us more perfect. The more we expect “perfection” from others, the less grace we will have with them. The less space we leave for forgiveness and understanding.

Show us creating something new, more, and better with Siri, empowered by Apple Intelligence, as our helpful assistant. Don’t encourage us, in a time when we’re already far too mistrustful of one another, to deceive our friends, family, and colleagues with the click of a button.

One of my favorite videos that Apple has ever put out was this one.¹ In it, they profess, “Give people wonderful tools and they’ll do wonderful things.” It’s a sentiment that I took to heart, and that I truly think they, as a company, believed at the time. Today, a version of that video might instead read, “Give people bullshitting tools and they’ll do bullshit things.” Come on, Apple, do better.

HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.