Published stuff

For Stuff, I wrote On the tech days of Christmas, my gadgets gave to me… – an ode to navigating the inevitable holiday storm of festive chaos, packed full of tinsel, misbehaving technology and tears. This took far too long and I was stupidly happy when I got all the tech headlines to line up with the carol. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

I also feature in a piece on the Stuff team’s favourite gadgets from 2023.

Over at TapSmart, I wrote about what RCS means for you and compiled my favourite Apple moments from 2023 as relating to mobile.

Year in review

As 2023 lurks by the emergency exit, I thought it’d be fun to dig into my favourite articles that I wrote over the past 12 months. Hopefully you’ll find something interesting to read while stuffed full of turkey and wrapped in tinsel!

The big two: Space Invaders and fitness streaks

My number-one article from 2023 was for Wired: The Space Invaders Creator Reveals the Game’s Origin Story. I’ve written dozens of pieces for Retro Gamer and others about classic games. But I’d never had the opportunity to quiz the creator of the first game I remember playing about how the game came to be. So this was a special privilege and a real treat. Thanks to Chris Hill for helping make the relevant connections, to Jeremy White for commissioning the piece, and Naoya Raita for her translation work and endless patience.

Also check out two related pieces for Stuff on the Space Invaders Quarter Arcade: a making-of and Why I think Numskull’s Space Invaders Quarter Arcade is the best retro gaming gadget ever.

A close runner-up and my most-shared piece of the year was for Stuff: I lost my Apple Watch streak – here’s why it should have more humanity. I stand by every word of this, and believe Apple and others should think more carefully about how gamifying activities can knock people’s wellbeing rather than lift them up.

Also check out my friendlier streaks apps for iPhone piece for TapSmart.

Retrospectives

Being an old git, I spend a lot of time donning rose-tinted specs and exploring the past. Here are my favourites from 2023:

• 20 new entries to my classic iPhone apps series (TapSmart)
• Life before Google: 7 retro services that helped us survive, from Altavista to Hotmail (TechRadar)
• Get six classic games running on Mac (iMore – my debut there)
• Look backs at Apple’s App Store, Apple iMac G3, Apple Lisa, Microsoft Word, Nokia N-Gage, Sega Dreamcast, Space Invaders, Tetris, ZX81 (all Stuff)
• As GoldenEye comes to Xbox and Switch, here are 007 more movie tie-ins I wanted back – until I played them (Stuff)
• The greatest gadgets from 300 issues of Stuff (Stuff)
• My attempt to crowdsource the original App Store day-one apps (a spreadsheet!)

Gaming

I write less about games than I used to, but here’s what happens when an editor lobs me a ‘continue’:

• iPhone 15 Pro was pitched as the ultimate gaming handheld – but can Apple really take it to the next level? (iMore)
• Another Super Mario Bros. movie? Put these retro games on the big screen instead (Stuff)
• When iPhone games are retro, will you be able to revisit them like NES and Amiga classics? (Stuff)

Apps

Since the iPhone’s inception, I’ve spent more time than is reasonable buried in apps. These pieces include best-ofs, a deep-dive into Yousician, and explorations of the app ecosystems we really need.

• AltStore interview (TapSmart)
• Upgrade your Home Screen (TapSmart)
• Interactive widgets (TapSmart)
• Do we really need $0.29 apps? (TapSmart)
• 30 days with Yousician (TapSmart)

Apple commentary

Much of my tech commentary is about the big A. Here are my favourites from 2023:

• Air today, obsolete tomorrow? But my ancient iPad still has value (Stuff)
• Dumb things my iPhone does (and that I do) that could be fixed by AI (Stuff)
• Enter the touchscreen Mac multiverse (Stuff)
• I want a new iPod Touch for my kid. The world wants her to have a phone instead (Stuff)
• Why spatial video is more than a gimmick (TapSmart)
• Why we need and won’t get Pencil for iPhone (TapSmart)
• macOS Sonoma features I want on iPad (TapSmart)

Tech commentary

And occasionally, I even write about non-Apple companies and tech events too. These two stood out from my 2023 columns:

• Samsung wants your fridge to be a generative AI art piece. I want mine to keep food cold (Stuff)
• The CES 2024 I want to see – and the one I’ll probably get (Stuff)

Only a few weeks to go now before we find whether that last one comes to pass. In the meantime, I hope everyone reading this has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!