Published stuff

This week’s column for Stuff: I don’t want more new tech gadgets where “there’s an app for that”. Enough with products solely reliant on an app to function.

For TapSmart, I wrote about accessories that transform your iPhone into a different gadget and an iPhone toolkit for better sleep.

Upcoming stuff

An article I’m very excited about is going live Monday afternoon UK time, apparently. I’ll be sharing on socials and also here in the next weeknote. (These days I’m mostly on Bluesky and Mastodon, with a smattering of Threads.)

Other stuff

Pixelmator got eaten by Apple. I’m thrilled for the team, but not so much for what this means for the company’s apps.

The Mac version of Pixelmator is an odd one. Although lauded by many on its debut, I gave it a hard time in the press, considering it to be clunky, resource-hungry and buggy. I suspect my initial reviews didn’t get me on the Christmas card list over at Pixelmator HQ. But over time, that Mac version improved and the mobile versions appeared. Today, Pixelmator for iPhone is a powerful mini-Photoshop of sorts, if one that’s barely ever updated. The company’s main app, Photomator, is a superb way to enhance your snaps, whatever your needs and skills.

It’s for the latter I suspect Apple bought the company. And time will tell whether this is a Dark Sky (buy; integrate some features; kill), Alchemy Synth (buy; add directly to another app) or a Logic Pro (buy; iterate; retain). If I had to guess, Pixelmator for iPhone is dead and Photomator features will be rolled into the edit interface of Apple’s Photos. But I’ll miss Pixelmator’s apps a lot. That’s something 2007 me would be very surprised to hear.