Andy Ihnatko

Friday Thing for May 2, 2025

Commotion Of Links

Commotion of Links (Apple) for week ending April 29, 2025

The EU slapped Apple with a half-a-billion-dollar fine and BOY did they ever deserve it. Perplexity released a new iPhone app that made lots of folks wonder why Siri isn't nearly as good. And the humans join the koalas as the only two mammals fascinated by eucalyptus trees.

Music

♫ "Mister Cellophane" (Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville Original Cast Recording)

Smartphones and social media have inflicted so many changes upon Society that it's easy for many of them to pass by unnoticed. Even one as tectonic as "having parents (and grandparents) whose lives are extremely well-documented." Those of us in the Millennial and Gen-X camps are

Social Media

Social media recap for week ending April 25, 2025

Bluesky Watching "It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" and, as I have done every time since I was like 14, envying Woodstock's birdhouse bachelor pad. [image or embed] — Andy Ihnatko (@ihnatko.bsky.social) April 20, 2025 at 1:15 PM When Cardinal Bergoglio became

Friday Thing

Ihnatko Dot Com Friday Thing for April 25, 2025

Social media recap for week ending 4.18.2025

Bluesky A public service announcement: THERE IS NO LINK IN THE BIO AND THERE NEVER WAS EVERYBODY ON THE MAGAZINE'S SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM IS HAVING A BIG LAUGH AT YOUR EXPENSE — Andy Ihnatko (@ihnatko.bsky.social) April 13, 2025 at 5:27 PM I wrote my first program

A Commotion Of Links (Apple) for week ending 04-22-25

Yay, Earth Day! It's the international holiday in which we remind ourselves that anybody who thinks we're ever going to colonize Mars is kind of an idiot, so maybe we should treat this class-M planet we've been given like it's the last

Music

♬ ”The Man Who Sold The World” (ChangesNowBowie Version)

David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World" serves up a trifecta of emotional experiences. First, obviously: Joy! Because it’s just so freaking wonderful. It’s also Very Bowie, which is not even true of every David Bowie song. When a David Bowie song is Very Bowie,

Apple

A Commotion Of Links (Apple) for week ending on 4.15.25

Yup, tariffs remained the unwanted gift that kept getting regifted. Also, separate reports from The New York Times and The Information indicate that Apple's failures in keeping the development of Apple Intelligence on schedule is largely due to the design of the company's spaceship campus: because

Social Media

Social media recap for week ending 4.11.2025

Bluesky Put the kettle on the stove this morning and forgot to flip the little whistle thing back down over the spout. My water was ready but I didn't know it. Yes, even when I'm using 100-year-old steam-powered technology, I get bitten in the butt by

Music

♬ "You Be My Baby" (Ray Charles)

I'm undergoing a kind of Ray Charles Early Catalogue Immersion Therapy at the moment. I dunno what the medical indications are for this treatment but I fully intend to keep faking the symptoms long after I feel cured. Long, long after. I blame my local public library. Rather

Ihnatko Dot Com Friday Thing for April 11, 2025

TED

TED2025: And I Don't Think Very Highly Of His Shirt, Either

TED2025 is taking place in Vancouver this week. It’s entitled (eyeroll emoji) “Humanity Reimagined” (sigh emoji) (Gen-X and thus too detached to use the actual emoji emoji) The public doesn’t have access to the presentation videos yet, but one of this year’s presentations already has me super-excited.

Apple

A Commotion of Links (Apple): April 8, 2015

The big news this week was Trump's tariffs and I'm already sick of even thinking about it. Apple also won a major battle in the war against the UK's order to add a backdoor to iCloud encryption. Tariffs [Financial Times] Apple and other US

Material #495: "Lazy Holiday Cards"

Material #495: Lazy Holiday Cards - Relay FMCan AI help make up for the fact that you forgot to set up the family Christmas card? Maybe someday.Relay FMRelay FM AI image-generation was very much on our minds this week. Flo talked about using Google's and Apple'

MacBreak

MacBreak Weekly 952: "Everything Smells Like Fresh Paint"

Everything Smells Like Fresh Paint | TWiT.TVBlackmagic debuts a new 3D camera to capture video for the Vision Pro, which gets Alex Lindsay very giddy. King Charles III visits Apple’s headquarters in the U.K. What doesTWiT.tv Blackmagic announced its long-anticipated URSA Cine Immersive camera, aka "the

Apple Links

Apple Links of the Week for December 18

Apple

The Magic Mouse is Apple's best worst product

Mark Gurman's latest subscribers-only newsletter says that Apple's developing an update to the Magic Mouse. I'm told that Apple's design team has been prototyping versions of the accessory in recent months, aiming to design something that better fits the modern era. Gurman

Google

Google needs a Chief Humanity Officer

We really need to talk about Google’s new promo video. It ties into the Olympics in a way that’s really quite horrifying. Can I just start by saying that Google has released some truly wonderful and heart-touching promos in the past? Like the “Dear Sophie” video. Remember that

Politics

Biden Drops Out

I'm disappointed and relieved.

Link

Farewell to the Quick Brown Fox [readlink]

God bless Jonathan Hoefler. He's an actual design pro and he came to a belated realization: none of the dummy text we tend to use when evaluating a font aren't very helpful.

Writing

Readlink: "I Tried to Finish a Dead Man’s Novel"

He agreed to try to finish Jim's novel, sort of as a mitzvah. No contracts, no deadlines, no expectations. Just a briefcase, in his closet, that's always there.

Linux

Making room for Linux in 2024

I regard Linux the same way I regard healthy eating and regular exercise: I admire it, I acknowledge its importance, and I'm excited about embracing it just as soon as the fundamental concept evolves to become less of a hassle and a lot less work. Also: I'

Culture

Needs More Dots

"Beetle Bailey" reminded me anew that the march of progress is unstoppable and the impacts of evolving technology upon Society are myriad, deep, and impossible to predict. As any reader of Josh Fruhlinger's excellent "Comics Curmudgeon" blog can attest, comic strips that continue to

Yellowtext

This Is Zero.

Beginnings can be anticipated, I find, but they can't always be planned. The best ones just sort of Happen, as a perfect afternoon just Happens.