Published stuff

After a long break, I returned to Wired this week, with a deep dive to ask: Is Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro good for games? I’ve long been an advocate for iPhone gaming, but Apple in recent years has made bold claims about its devices being suitable for AAA. I spent many hours separating fact from fiction and even exploring whether you could ‘consolise’ an iPhone, making any nearby Switch look on, aghast.

Speaking of the Switch, my Stuff column this week is: I hope Nintendo Switch 2 loves old game cartridges, not just old games. This is a response to the announcement from Nintendo that Switch software will run on the console’s successor. No mention of carts, mind. I also added Arc Search to the best free Android apps round-up.

This week for TapSmart, I wrote a deep dive on GarageBand. If you’ve ever fancied playing loops on your iPhone – or composing your own – have a read!

And for this blog, I wrote about the ongoing battle for vestibular accessibility on iPhone, on Android and beyond.

Other stuff

Apple released a bunch of new Macs this week. Some of the best coverage is over on Six Colors. I was particularly happy to see Jason Snell mentioning sustainability in his iMac review. You used to be able to use old iMacs as a display for another Mac. That went away long ago. It’s a feature Apple should bring back if it gives a damn about being green.

This week has seen another exodus from X. But I still see people worried about moving on – and a lot of folks getting angry about those who are sticking it out. I can understand why people remain on the site, but suspect there’s no saving what it once was. When an owner is so directly influential in a site, it becomes a reflection of them. Still, when I removed my presence there last summer, it was nonetheless gut-wrenching. I had amassed a wonderful collection of follows and followers over the years. But many of them have long gone now or, at most, shifted to ‘broadcast’ mode. So there’s no going back.

My take these days is there’s nothing that replaces X, but there are plenty of options online for those who’d like to have something broadly similar. I recall David Allen Green referring to Bluesky as Twitter cosplay, and that’s fair enough. But it is marrying familiarity with robust tools that improve the user experience in meaningful ways. Beyond that, Mastodon is chugging along, and there’s Threads for people who want to chat with Pizza Hut. 

Also, if you or someone you know is reluctant to leave X because it’s good for news, I’d caution against staying for that reason. The algorithm is too aggressive. Instead, look into RSS and create your own feed of sources you care about. This can include major news outlets, indie blogs and even accounts on the likes of Bluesky, Mastodon and YouTube. My favourite RSS reader is NetNewsWire, but there are many more. If you’d like to get started with NetNewsWire, my colleague Tom Rolfe wrote about that for TapSmart. And I wrote an iPhone toolkit for staying informed – without the need for X.

Incidentally, if you are looking for a new online home and head to one of those networks, do say hi. I’m active on Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon.