Published stuff

My Stuff column this week digs into 5 crushingly inevitable consumer tech and gadget predictions for 2025. And because 2024 isn’t quite over yet, I looked into the good, the bad and the smugly of Apple’s previous 12 months. 

Also for Stuff, there was a small update to my best Apple Watch apps list and another airing for On the tech days of Christmas, my gadgets gave to me… Over at TapSmart, I wrote about the iPhone’s ‘hidden’ AI – AI and ML features that existed prior to Apple Intelligence.

Upcoming stuff

Stuff will soon post my annual ‘what I want to see from Apple this year’ piece. For TapSmart, I’ll ring in the new year with a mega-list of iPhone apps that can help you keep those pesky resolutions. 

Other stuff

There’s been a lot of talk about how AI and EU regulation could upend the tech landscape in 2025. But less prominent stories have been bubbling under. One that I forgot to write about last week is the UK Online Safety Act. This rocks up in March and, as you might expect, is in part well-meaning yet also a mess. 

From what I – and plenty of others I’ve chatted with – can tell, the requirements regarding risk assessment and accountability are likely to have one unintended consequence: causing many small-scale forums to close. That’s because they’ll now need time, money and someone to take responsibility for posted content – which won’t work for niche hobbyist sectors or outlets where forums are already a time and money sink.

My guess is this will result in yet more consolidation to the likes of Facebook groups and Discord. I’m not sure that will make things much safer for children either. But it’ll almost certainly further erode ‘owned’ content for organisations and outlets for hobbyists, which I think is a pity.

Published stuff

For Stuff, I wrote about how I learned smart tech can’t save dumb appliances. Or: my battle against logic and a Tado heating system. Also on Stuff, the final best upcoming Lego sets update of the year. Which includes a British pub. (Or at least what British people will customise into a British pub, because Lego does not do Lego beer pumps. Tsk.)

Over at TapSmart, I recommend apps for Christmas Day and outline my favourite iPhone apps of the year.

Upcoming stuff

Quite a lot is coming up on Stuff, including my traditional Apple year-in-review and ‘Apple next year’ pieces, a bunch of columns, and some other bits and bobs that I hope people will find interesting. I’ll keep writing weeknotes over the holidays, but otherwise am now on a break from work until 3 January. (After filing my last commercial piece yesterday evening, I felt a bit weird and giddy. Which suggests next year I should take things a little easier, where possible…)

Other stuff

The UK government is aiming to carve out a copyright exemption for AI companies, on the basis that their business models otherwise don’t work. Not sure I’d get away with “my business model relies on me plagiarising the entire history of human creative output”. And in some ways even worse, it is still illegal in the UK to even rip a CD you own to MP3. 

I pointed out the irony and imbalance on Mastodon, but John Walker put it best on Bluesky: “There is no greater evidence of the complicity of consecutive governments to the copyright lobbyists that they accepted every ludicrous expansion of the draconian rules, right up until they inconvenienced the corporations, at which point they become optional to those with the money.”

There is a consultation, which is worth filling in if you’re in the habit of screaming at walls/trying to hold back the ocean. I had a go, and just ended up hoarse and wet. Still, at least I have two weeks to recover.

Anyway, merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it – and happy ‘end of December’ to everyone else!

Published stuff

My column for Stuff this week talks about how dropping down an iPhone size made me ‘think different’ about giant phones. In short, I thought I’d miss the bigger screen – and I don’t. Also, my pinkie finger is much happier now.

For TapSmart, I wrote about my favourite Apple moments from 2024 and added MindNode to my classic apps series.

Other stuff

The central heating in our house was terrible. The wired thermostat was in the warmest room. Whatever we tried, we’d end up with an oven-like space there and freezing rooms elsewhere. We got a Tado smart thermostat and that immediately helped. Then we started adding Tado thermostats to the radiators. Which was great until this morning when one of them failed to turn on. Could be iffy Wi-Fi connectivity, a defective unit, or a message from the universe that I shouldn’t stay in bed on a Saturday. No idea which one yet. Technology!

Monument Valley 3 came out this week. It’s good, if very familiar, and I imagine many millions of people will want to play it. They can – if they pay for Netflix. And also keep their subscription active, because the current version ends with a frustrating ‘more to come at some point’ message. I’m starting to tire of game rentals and siloing, which increasingly resembles the fragmented TV landscape. It won’t be long before Disney gets in on this act – YouTube already has. That said, with the onset of free-to-play and all-you-can-eat, I’m apparently in a minority of folks who’d prefer to own rather than ‘rent’ games.

The Pi 500 has arrived. I really liked its predecessor, which for a long time piped lovely retro games to my TV. I liked how it was an all-in-one with a keyboard, marrying flexibility and compactness. It was subsequently replaced by an old Mac mini, which was more powerful. But I now wonder if it’s time for a Pi to make a living room comeback.

Published stuff

A quick note this time, because I’m buried in end-of-year deadline hell. 

My column for Stuff this week is I want more Nintendo mobile games like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll get them. My guess is that this pay-once take on a previously IAP-infested mobile title is Nintendo simultaneously making fans happy while extracting one final payment from them. But this version of Pocket Camp does also feel like the game it should have been from the start.

Also for Stuff, I wrote about the Sony PlayStation at 30 – and six of the best PS1 games to try. And instantly got a kicking for my games selection. But, hey, it’s my games selection. My aim with these round-ups is to give people a flavour of each system and ideally promote titles still worth playing today. Related: Vib-Ribbon remains underrated and excellent. And, no, I don’t regret including it over Tomb Raider, Wipeout and Resident Evil. Don’t @ me.

Finally, over at TapSmart, I wrote a deep dive for Carrot Weather. Carrot remains a unique app: feature-rich and hugely customisable weather, but also just great fun to mess around with. Hopefully, whether you’re new to the app or a veteran, you’ll discover handy tips within the article.

Published stuff

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Apple Intelligence. For Stuff, I wrote that Apple Intelligence is very Apple but not very intelligent. And for TapSmart, I ask: Are Apple Intelligence writing, notification and photo tools all they’re cracked up to be?

Thinking about it, I probably should have written those in the opposite order above, since one headline answers the other. Anyway, there is some good stuff in Apple Intelligence, and I’m glad Apple is being deliberate and cautious rather than stamping on creators’ faces. But I can’t help but feel all this effort could be put to better use – and that what this entire industry is delivering isn’t coming close to matching user expectations.

Elsewhere on Stuff, I made everyone feel old by celebrating the Nintendo DS’s 20th. I also updated the best upcoming Lego sets piece.

For TapSmart, I wrote about 16 iPhone apps that are even better on iPad and detailed how I’m using Reminders as my go-to to-do app.

Other stuff

On her Young Vulgarian blog, Marie Le Conte wrote an excellent piece on (some) people’s need to post on social media. For me, it’s always been about human connection. As someone who’s worked from home for well over 20 years, social networking has – at its best – been a great way to feel less isolated.

Where I diverge a little from Le Conte’s take is in her thinking on Meta. She argues that Threads is struggling because Meta didn’t take into account the “posting middle classes” and their needs. I just think Meta can’t help but be anything other than itself. So Threads wants to be different, but Meta’s culture forces it to be little more than another Facebook.

It was notable to see Meta’s Adam Mosseri reveal that the algorithm is being shaken up, presumably because people are getting tired of For You being full of engagement bait. But the ‘rebalancing’ he spoke of only served to annoy people who like For You as it is – and those who hate it. The solution is to give people the option in Threads to default to a chronological feed – or an algorithmic feed of their choosing. But Meta has never been about letting you see what you want to see. Meta wants you to see what it wants you to see.