Not-summer in the UK continues. Hoping at some point the rain and cold might stop. In the meantime, send canoes. And fleeces.

Published stuff

Given that it’s the summer holidays and I have a nine-year-old, I’ve been battling Screen Time. So I wrote about it for Stuff: Screen Time = scream time. Parents need more human device tracking.

The latest issue of the print magazine is out, which features my round-up of last-minute holiday apps, a primer on animation with a phone, features on creative kit for illustrators and musicians (which includes my review of the oddball CMPSR joystick thing for making noise), and a fond/snarky look back at the very first Chromecast.

Over at TapSmart, I – with some irony – dig into barbecue apps, and I pit Apple Maps against Google Maps. Issue 281 of our sister mag, Swipe for iPhone, is also out, if you’d like to support our little indie venture.

Upcoming stuff

Next week, I’ll be fully immersed in the murky waters of beta operating systems, as I start work on my annual overviews for what’s coming to iPhone, iPad and Mac. Expect grumbles as I discover Stage Manager still doesn’t do quite what I’d like it to.

Other stuff

A stark reminder, today, about the nature of social media. I read through my Mastodon feed, which was pleasant, chatted to friends on Messenger, and caught up with Threads. Then I opened X/Twitter, and the first DM was from someone who told me to “get f——ed” for some article I’d written. I’ve no idea which one. I suspect it was probably this one.

I do miss what Twitter was, but I don’t care for what it’s become. Musk is making it easier and easier to cut ties with the service, even though many friends still post, and quite a lot of work came my way through it. I don’t have anywhere near the same level of outreach elsewhere (my Threads follower count is tiny). But X feels so angry all the time, and I don’t want to have to deal with that anymore.