Notices by James Thomson (jamesthomson@mastodon.social)

This is not a new thought at all, but I am frequently reminded of it. If you like a thing that somebody has made, be it art, apps, food, or whatever, consider telling them.

This post brought to you by the number of times I have told an author that their book means a lot to me, and they seem visibly moved. Turns out, creators are actually people too!

On the other hand, if you don’t like something, shut the fuck up.

One of those days when you look at a newspaper and think “how much news have I missed?”.

I think for the first time in around 30 years, I'm not going to have my apps ready for day one this time around. I've spent the last six months dealing with an ongoing family health crisis, and I've not had the time or energy to work on too much code during that time.

I feel really bad that I’ve not been as productive as normal, so I would like people to tell me I'm a complete idiot for thinking that way.

Genuinely, most interesting thing in this whole keynote is the hearing aid support in AirPods Pro.

And this is how you know I am in my 50s.

I'm working on an updated version of my screensaver for @relay's St. Jude's fundraiser. You can get it by backing by at least $60, and choosing the right reward.

It includes this new racy module!
https://relayfm.social/@relay/113040008863784730

@Gargron @viticci Most appreciated, thank you!

It's official, I didn't get Sherlocked :)

https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/12/the-apps-that-apple-sherlocked-at-wwdc/

This is your regular reminder that many people are silently going through shit that you don’t know about.

I’ve been playing around with the iPadOS 18 calculator, and some of the stuff is neat, but I think it’s probably more of a threat to Soulver and the like, than it is to PCalc.

It doesn’t do RPN, custom layouts, user functions / conversions / constants, multiple memories, hex/oct/binary, visual themes, and a lot more that PCalc does. It does have nicer expression based entry, which is something I want to add.

The Math Notes stuff feels like it’s a separate app.

Also, no bananas whatsoever!

Genuinely, if you are rolling out generative AI features, and not talking about the ethical or environmental implications of them, you have entirely failed to change the industry in a way that only Apple could.

Privacy is great, but that's just one piece.

Write an advert where Mother Nature appears to say all this Apple Intelligence stuff is carbon neutral.

Producers producers producers.

Looking forward to the skit at the start of the keynote with all the third party developers in a hydraulic press.

Regardless of what happens in the keynote today with calculators, I wanted to say that I’ve been dealing with a serious family health crisis for the last three months, and I’ve spent a lot of that time around hospitals.

So, please don’t add to my stresses today by tagging me in a million things about getting Sherlocked because, genuinely, even if Apple destroys my entire business today, it’s not going to be my biggest concern.

@ChanceHMiller I think there are two main scenarios: “we fucked up a software update” or “we got hacked”. I would very much like to know which!

Like many people, I had my Apple ID locked last night, and it was a big hassle trying to get it unlocked and working again.

One tip - when you go through all the rigmarole to get it going again, one thing that doesn't switch on by default is receiving iMessages or FaceTime calls via your Apple ID. So, like me, you will probably be missing messages until you reenable those in Settings. Also, if you send somebody a new iMessage it will default to your phone number which may not be what you want.

Oh no, Instagram is down, time to complain on Discord about that!

I’ve got a great product idea for Apple. It’s a market that can bring in recurring revenue through consumables. One that has a variety of existing poor products with bad user interfaces, buggy software, and privacy issues.

Printers.

Working with an editor is a great way to improve your writing, except for the part where they want to change your undeniably perfect sentences.

Looking forward to everybody wearing early Vision Pro prototypes.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/apple-neurmancer-series-william-gibson-1235925640/