It was reported over the weekend that Apple has purchased Pixelmator, the company behind a variety of image and photo editing products. As is the norm now, with acquisitions of...
If you’ve seen any Apple advertising recently it’s pretty safe to assume it was pushing Apple Intelligence. This is the marquee feature, or feature set, of the iPhone 16 range,...
[How can you not love the Kagi dog mascot?] One of the small pleasures, for me, about the web in 2024 is the sheer amount of interesting independent and niche products...
Space Karen Jr, Matt Mullenweg, has continued his scorched earth policy on his reputation with another strange post. This time defending his mother (which is admirable) against some pretty weird...
[IMG_0764.jpeg]I saw a post on Mastodon the other day, suggesting you post about the 20 games had a big impact on you. The challenge was to share one game a day,...
I’m pretty sure that my incessant blog hosting changes have lost me most subscribers to my RSS over the years, but for those of you still following, or for those...
Well, it looks like Matt Mullenweg of Automattic / Wordpress fame has finally achieved the illustrious title of lunatic CEO, joining the ranks of such infamous ding dongs such as Elon...
Despite the fact the title of this post is still a mouthful, and even bigger than the introduction posts title, here we are with the first post in a series...
[IMG_0863.png]As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time for The Denties, my now yearly awards ceremony highlighting some of my favourite things for the year. If this was The Game...
I only discovered Pika a week or so go, but I am absolutely in love with it. For those unfamiliar, Pika is a super clean, and simple, blogging platform from the...
[Image courtesy of some slightly odd generative AI from Bing] Hello internet. It’s me, back once again copying someone else’s fun post idea! A few weeks ago Matt Birchler shared...
I've enjoyed the Monokai colour scheme for a while and it was the inspiration for the colours used on my main blog. Well, the dark mode at least, though I...
There’s been a bit of an influx of news aggregators and feed manager type apps recently. One in particular I hear a lot about is Matter. At its heart it’s...
My blogging in 2023 has been essentially non-existent, but if there’s one thing that will take me out of my self-imposed isolation it’s a good blogging trend. So, when I...
[where-ive-been.png] Manton Reece, posting on his blog recently posted a short post about the places he’s visited in the past. This idea was then picked up by a lot of...
[IMG_0862.png]A very large part of my gaming time is spent playing competitive games such as Call of Duty, Overwatch 2 or Hunt: Showdown. Whilst I love these games, I also...
[I want to try and start sketching a few of these images …]I closed out 2023 with a pledge to myself to play more single player games. My aim...
[I don’t like these AI images to be honest, so consider this a placeholder. ] To paraphrase a statement I heard recently, the best time to start a blog was yesterday....
I’ve been giving Apple, and the Vision Pro a bit of a hard time since announcement. A big part of this is simply jealousy that I can’t get one to...
Federico Viticci is known for his love of the iPad, and he’s been exploring some fun accessories recently Of the three accessories he posted about in this recent article, the...
[Image]The folks at Apple have been working on the Vision Pro for a staggering 16 years and, despite my, and others, misgivings, they seem to have produced an incredibly...
[Image]A few days after The Browser Company quietly pulled their Arc browser companion app from the App Store, it appears they are back with the teased 2.0 release, now...
It was a very sad day when he who shall not be named pulled the rug out of the Twitter third party client community. One causality of this douchebaggery that...
I have been bearish on AI since it exploded with the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022. Despite this, I’ve not written it off completely and have been...
Completely unbiased tech reviewer, Mark Zuckerberg, discussing the Apple Vision Pro versus the Meta Quest 3: “"... And after using it, I don't only think the Meta Quest 3 is...
[Image]If there’s one thing that’ll take me out of my slump of not posting, it’s a fun new gadget and the Kobo Libra Colour certainly fits the bill there....
[apple_intelligence__ctd5n16vmioi_og.png] There is a strange phenomenon around Apple, and the 'fan base' that seems to preclude them from the usual pushbacks and scrutinies that other companies endure. Apple has done...
[Image]A lot of people enjoy art, or photography, and the like. I enjoy these things also, to a certain extent, but I’ve realised my favourite form of ‘art’ or...
[Image]When I ordered the Rabbit R1, the ‘AI Pocket Companion’, back in January 2024, I fully expected to be writing a post later in the year declaring it the...
[IMG_2420.jpeg] The title of this post makes it sound like I’m buying new PCs every five minutes, which is not the case, but I really couldn’t think of a better...
YouTuber MKBHD has just released a premium wallpaper app which is, apparently, something we’ve ‘all been asking for’. According to the App Store description, you will get access to: “…...
[IMG_0096.png] As a long time Apple user, one thing I never really found myself enjoying was macOS. I’ve had various Mac devices over the years, but I never really enjoyed...
I’m almost ready to launch The Dent 2.0 (or, is it closer to 9.0 at this point? I’ve created a new logo, moving away from the Apple aesthetic a bit. I’ve...
YouTuber MKBHD has just released a premium wallpaper app which is, apparently, something we’ve ‘all been asking for’. According to the App Store description, you will get access to: “… hundreds of high-quality, full resolution art pieces for your smartphone” By paying the MKBHD team the low, low price of...
The title of this post makes it sound like I’m buying new PCs every five minutes, which is not the case, but I really couldn’t think of a better title, so here we are. I’ve not posted for months at this point, so gimme a break won’t you? First things...
World of Warcraft (WoW) will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, which is a pretty incredible milestone for an MMO, or any game that people are still playing. Whilst I’ve had short breaks throughout, I’ve been playing WoW throughout this entire time. I’ve been playing it through leaving university, through...
When I ordered the Rabbit R1, the ‘AI Pocket Companion’, back in January 2024, I fully expected to be writing a post later in the year declaring it the worst bit of tech I’ve ever bought. The price point, unlike the Humane Pin, leant itself to this kind of frivolous...
A lot of people enjoy art, or photography, and the like. I enjoy these things also, to a certain extent, but I’ve realised my favourite form of ‘art’ or design is personal blog design. I can’t do it myself and, thankfully, with Scribbles, Vincent has provided a nice clean design...
There is a strange phenomenon around Apple, and the 'fan base' that seems to preclude them from the usual pushbacks and scrutinies that other companies endure. Apple has done such a good job of building themselves up on the pedestal of righteousness and honour that they are often given free...
If there’s one thing that’ll take me out of my slump of not posting, it’s a fun new gadget and the Kobo Libra Colour certainly fits the bill there. If you’re after a TL;DR for this post, here it is: I love this device. If that’s a little too succinct...
🤔 Thinking about super important things, like what I should categorise my 'micro' posts as on Scribbles. 'Shorts'? 'Micro Posts'? Decisions, Decisions ...
Completely unbiased tech reviewer, Mark Zuckerberg, discussing the Apple Vision Pro versus the Meta Quest 3:"... And after using it, I don't only think the Meta Quest 3 is better value, I think it's a better product period."Yes, that's right, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Instagram recently to share his thoughts on the Apple Vision Pro. Whilst...
I have been bearish on AI since it exploded with the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022. Despite this, I’ve not written it off completely and have been dabbling with it more and more. I’ve been using Microsoft Copilot for work, fairly sparingly, but it’s still not instinctively something I’ve been going to in the first instance. For my limited...
It was a very sad day when he who shall not be named pulled the rug out of the Twitter third party client community. One causality of this douchebaggery that hit the hardest to me personally was the loss of Iconfactory’s long running client Twitteriffic. Whilst Ged Maheux, Sean Heber, and the other lovely folks of Iconfactory still have other,...
A few days after The Browser Company quietly pulled their Arc browser companion app from the App Store, it appears they are back with the teased 2.0 release, now called Arc Search. The app only, seemingly, launched an hour or so ago, so I’ve not put it through its paces fully, so consider this a brief overview rather than any kind of review,...
The folks at Apple have been working on the Vision Pro for a staggering 16 years and, despite my, and others, misgivings, they seem to have produced an incredibly well engineered product. The device finally went up for preorder on 19th January. This should have been a huge week for Apple. One for them to bask in all of the positive attention...
I’ve been giving Apple, and the Vision Pro a bit of a hard time since announcement. A big part of this is simply jealousy that I can’t get one to be frank. Not only is it not available in the U.K., but I also don’t have a spare £3,500 laying around at the back of the sofa. It’s not all the green eyed monsters fault, however. In an attempt...
Federico Viticci is known for his love of the iPad, and he’s been exploring some fun accessories recently Of the three accessories he posted about in this recent article, the Edge Pro MagSafe holder really caught my eye. I’ve long been a sucker for iPad accessories, so couldn’t resist checking this one out. If you’ve not read Federico’s article...
I love photography. I love looking at beautiful works of art, on sites such as Instagram or EyeEm . On occasion, I also very much enjoy trying my hand at photography myself. While I may not be very good at it , it doesn’t stop me enjoying it. It’s my hobby. According to Dictionary.com, the word hobby is defined as: An activity or interest pursued...
My daughter started school back in September and, since doing so, her love of reading has grown exponentially. Now that she has started learning to read to herself, there’s no stopping her. Her school has started sending some simple books home for her, and her classmates, to learn with. The problem is, these books are a little too basic for her,...
Before I get started with this post, allow me to set the scene a little bit. I am, by no means whatsoever, an audiophile. My experience with audio equipment, especially headphones is limited to the extreme. Since I started buying iPhones I’ve been using the supplied EarPods and then the AirPods, since their introduction in 2016. I’m mentioning...
Back in February, I wrote a review for the, then new, iPhone Smart Battery Case for the iPhone XS. While I had mixed feelings about the case, I summarised my feelings thusly: All in all, I’d say if you really need an extra boost of life in your phone, you’d get no better quality and integration than Apple’s own case, though I wouldn’t recommend...
Greg Morris, writing on his blog gr36.com: I don’t need an iPad to be a working machine any longer; I need it to fill a gap of reading blog posts, my pocket feed and watching videos when I want to relax. So the iPad returns to its starting position. Nestled in among other Apple devices, and one I use to consume. Waiting its turn amongst threes...
A few days ago, John Gruber and Matt Birchler had a bit of back and forth about the iPad and it’s intuitiveness as a device. Both sides of the argument had some valid points, but I knew which side of the fence I sat. One line in particular struck a cord with me, from Matt’s original post on the subject: As I have to say in every one of these...
I’ve explained previously that I’m a big iPad user and, until recently, I thought it impossible to fall in love with it even more. Then Apple released iPadOS 13.4 and everything changed, again … The full trackpad / mouse support added in this point release has added a feature I’ve wanted for many years now, and the implementation of it has really...
The 2020 iPads Pro were introduced on 24th March, but for many people, including myself, ‘new keyboard day’ came just under one month later, when Apple released the intriguing new iPad Pro Magic Keyboard. As I’ve alluded to in the past, including in my recent piece about my current iPad Pro setup, I’ve long pined for a ‘docked’ iPad Pro...
I’ve been tweeting and posting quite a bit recently about my Apple based setups, so when an online friend of mine shared his recent post about a setup challenge I was very intrigued. The premise of his challenge is simple, you have to come up with your ultimate Apple product based setups at four different price points, namely $500, $1,000, $2,500...
Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a completely different answer to the age old question of: ‘Can you get real work done on an iPad?’ I’m not here to answer that question for you, but I have moved my own use case for my beloved iPad Pro to the next level recently, and I wanted to share a few thoughts about the software, and hardware, that has...
Ever since we were first introduced to iOS 14 back in June, I was excited about the prospect of Widgets in iOS. Since even the early days of the beta I’ve been struggling to get a setup I like with them, however, and that was before so many excellent third party widgets were released. My main issue hasn’t been that I don’t like the widgets, or...
Despite barely posting to my blog for months, I’m still weirdly precious about what I post there. I always feel like I should only post longer form posts or something that I’ve over thought. People like @ljpuk and @mattbirchler produce excellent content, every single day, and clearly feel comfortable just going with the flow and posting about...
So many of the larger tech podcasts I listen to no longer ‘spark joy’ so I’m going to have a full clear out and start fresh I think. I don’t remember the last time I heard a bit of information I care about on a podcast first, it’s generally regurgitation of facts I’ve already read about, or opinions that are repeated by the same small group...
Greg, writing on gr36.com: They don’t deserve to die and fade away once the newsfeed scrolls over them. Tweets don’t last, that’s part of why they feel so easy to write out. It’s why you feel so comfortable.Twitter is “just heading to yoga” it’s not for passing on your ideas. Place some value on your words, please. I’ve been debating internally...
I’ve written about this before, but given the amount of times I’ve moved my blog around, I think the post has now been lost. Some recent changes in the latest iOS 14.5 reminded me about it, however, so I thought it was worth revisiting. In the past times, before the pandemic, I used to have a long daily commute. At least 3 hours a day, usually...
A few months ago I switched from using Google as my default search engine to Bing. I’ve been surprised by the results, and have stuck with it ever since. While I value privacy and advocate for people to have more control over what data is collected from them and in turn used on them, this wasn’t the reason for the switch. I also fairly recently...
Isn’t it amazing what our brain decides is important sometimes? Instead of laying here at gone midnight getting some much needed sleep, I’m instead thinking about email. Or, more specifically, email services. Yes, I’ve hit peak exciting … If my timeline is anything to go by over the last few days, I’m not alone. It sounds like quite a few people...
Matt Birchler: … anyone who is shocked by these “revelations” is either not paying attention or is pretending to be shocked. I agree with every word in Matt’s post here and, of the above statement, I’d definitely say it’s the latter option. There’s a strange aura around Apple and it’s fandom where people faint like a Victorian in too tight a...
As I’m sitting here forcing myself to finish Ready Player Two, I’m already thinking of what to read next to clear my palette of this book. I don’t like to be negative about people’s work, and I can appreciate how much of a challenge it must be to write a follow up to such an original and popular book, but I am keen to get onto the next story. I...
There’s been a lot of talk in my timeline recently of people considering another move of service, or app, for their email usage. Because of this, it got me started on my own journey around the available options, and I think I’ve landed on a pretty revolutionary setup. There are so many apps and services at the moment, for the humble email. This...
I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time looking at email services recently. I really have no need for anything smart or clever when it comes to email, yet that’s not stopping me trawling through YouTube videos and written reviews of all that are available, yet again. I’ve been a Gmail user since day 1, and I have an iCloud account which,...
Almost every post I write at the moment seems to be prefaced with the statement ‘I’m an iPad Guy’ and it’s true. I love iPads, and my current 2018 12.9" iPad Pro has been my favourite Apple product I’ve ever owned. When Apple announced the amazing looking M1 iPad Pro a few weeks ago I instantly fell in love and knew I needed it … and then a few...
For years now, people have questioned why Apple hasn’t gone all in on gaming, and created a games console. Games are a big part of the Apple App Store, yet the games don’t have a console to thrive on. The thing is, Apple do have a gaming console. They have a load of them in fact, but no ones seemed to notice. Much as Apple has tried to ask...
Apple has released many products over the years, with many of them quickly becoming a pop culture icon. The iPod, the iPhone and now the AirPods. I’m a huge fan of the AirPod range and have some AirPods Pro and AirPods Max and use them daily. A few months back, Apple launched the spatial audio feature on Apple Music. This received some rave...
Michael Scott has his coveted Dundies awards. Upgrade has its Upgradies and, now, The Dent has … The Denties! Welcome to the first ever Denties Awards, where I will pick my favourite things from various categories that I’ve experienced throughout 2021. Some of my picks didn’t necessarily come out in 2021, that’s just when I got involved with it....
I’ve been a gamer for years, since getting my hands on the family Atari ST. My grandad killed that thing my ripping out it’s innards whilst trying to get a stuck disc out of the drive with a bloody great knife. He was a carpenter, so he was very gentle when he was working with wood. Anything more solid than that generally cowered in fear. I have...
Matt Birchler, of A Better Computer and Birchtree fame recently released another great video on his channel, posing the question Is the iPad exciting anymore? The video saw Matt, and a fantastic line up of known iPad power users, share their thoughts on the current state of the iPad and where this may go in the future. The question posed by...
I started The Denties last year as my answer to Michael Scott’s Dundies, and Upgrades Upgradies. In keeping with the new festive tradition, I’ve compiled a list of my favourite things from 2022. So, lets get right on with it shall we? Film of the year The Batman To be completely honest with you, I had to check IMDB for films released in 2022...
For some time now I’ve not only dropped off listening to tech podcasts, mainly Apple focused ones, but I’ve actively avoided them where possible. For some reason, I think mainly because I’ve not got a good audiobook on the go at the moment, I dipped back into a show I’ve enjoyed in the past. The hosts were talking about the whole Metaverse thing...
I love following small and / or independent blogs, so I’m slowly filling up my RSS client with as many sites as I can. I enjoy hearing diverse voices and learning about people’s equally diverse views and thoughts on things. Something that I’ve started to notice recently, however, is a lot of people virtually beating themselves up for using...
A long time ago I had the crazy idea of trying to write a daily review of every Apple Arcade game. I think I made it about six days before burning myself out. Whilst I don’t think it’s going to be viable to review then all I was keen to highlight some of the real gems, hidden or otherwise, of this great service. The first game I want to bring to...
I’ve read quite a few Stephen King book now, over the years, and one thing that never fails to amaze me is his ability to make even the most mundane setting thrilling, and completely blow away my expectations. The Long Walk is a good example of this. As the name suggests, it’s literally about a long walk, yet it’s an engrossing tale and, through...
I’ve written about my current obsession with competitive multiplayer games a few times recently, so excuse yet another gaming post. Quite a lot of my competitive gaming time has been spent in Battle Royale games. I think, at this point, I’ve played the vast majority of those with any popularity. I’ve spent many frustrating hours in Realm Royale,...
This post was inspired by this picture from Warwick Davis’ Twitter account. It was such a sweet post it got me thinking about good ol’ Queenie. I’ve always liked the Queen, and the Royal Family in general actually and I’m sadder than I thought I was going to be at hearing of her passing. She’s been a constant in my life and she always reminded me...
Greg Morris on Mobile Publishing: Publishing is my thing, and the fact I can do it all the time in situations where I might otherwise be bored or scrolling social media should be appreciated. I like this post by Greg not only because I agree and relate to the the overall message, but also that it’s nice to finally see a post from someone...
Matt Birchler, speaking in his latest video for A Better Computer: … I don’t think the Apple Watch Ultra is for everybody, but I do think it’s right for anyone who’s intrigued by some of the differentiating features it has that aren’t just applicable to people that do those extreme events. I couldn’t agree with this statement more, as I think I...
There’s been a lot of iPad related discourse in recent weeks, following a pretty disastrous iPadOS 16 beta journey. I’m not going to wade into that territory too much, but the renewed discussion on the device has made me stop and think a little about my usage of the device, particularly the iPad Pro 12.9”. I adore the iPad mini for its more...
I blow hot and cold on blogging and content creation quite a lot at the moment. As you would’ve seen if you follow my blog I will go some months where I will post a lot, and others that I will post nothing. When I’m feeling down or off blogging I actually find the idea of doing it a little cringy. I’m just a boring, greying, 30 something with...
The weblog.lol platform is going from strength to strength and every day it’s getting closer to being the perfect blogging platform for my needs. With the latest addition revealed this morning, Adam has added some lightweight, but helpful API support. There are a few features of the API, but a major one is of course the ability to post to...
Whilst Twitter continues to burn, I’ve found a move over to Mastodon far easier than I thought I would. I’ve found a really nice group of people to follow and interact with there and there’s very little I’m missing about Twitter at all. There is one thing, however, and that’s the public threads of people all talking about a single topic as and...
A very large part of my gaming time is spent playing competitive games such as Call of Duty, Overwatch 2 or Hunt: Showdown. Whilst I love these games, I also feel like I'm missing out on a lot of great single player experiences. A year or so ago I binged the entire Resident Evil series and really enjoyed breaking up the somewhat intense...
Manton Reece, posting on his blog recently posted a short post about the places he’s visited in the past. This idea was then picked up by a lot of the excellent micro.blog community so I thought I’d get in on some of the action as well. It’s always interesting to look back on things you’ve done in the past. 🏴 England (where I...
My blogging in 2023 has been essentially non-existent, but if there’s one thing that will take me out of my self-imposed isolation it’s a good blogging trend. So, when I saw the default apps Inspired by Hemispheric Views 097 - Duel of the Defaults!, I couldn’t resist. Well, that’s a lie actually. I did resist for some time. I looked over my...
AI placeholder Hello internet. It’s me, back once again copying someone else’s fun post idea! A few weeks ago Matt Birchler shared a post highlighting the new games he’d played in 2023. At the time I commented that I wished I had made time for some single player games instead of just focusing on competitive online games (that I suck at). I...
I've enjoyed the Monokai colour scheme for a while and it was the inspiration for the colours used on this blog. Well, the dark mode at least, though I use slightly bolder versions. I think it's safe to say it’s an acquired taste, and I have a feeling it might be a bit of a 'love it or hate it' kind of situation. Whilst Ivory has been my Mastodon...
Image courtesy of Bing Image Generator To paraphrase a statement I heard recently, the best time to start a blog was yesterday. The second best time is now. I think this has never been truer than today. With so many people, in my circles at least, seemingly feeling disillusioned with ‘big social’ like Twitter, Facebook and, to a lesser extent,...
As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time for The Denties, my now yearly awards ceremony highlighting some of my favourite things for the year. If this was The Game Awards, this is where I’d throw in 100 trailers and celebrity cameos, but it’s not, so let’s just jump right in. Film of the year Wonka This was the easiest pick for me, and it wasn’t even...
I want to try and start sketching a few of these images … I closed out 2023 with a pledge to myself to play more single player games. My aim was to finish at least one single player game amongst the hours of time I spend wasted on competitive multiplayer games and MMOs. We’re now half-way through January so it’s time to see how I’m getting on,...