Photoshop is now on iPhone. I’m not sure I want it after all. In my column for Stuff, I conclude that the dream was for apps like Photoshop to come to mobile years ago. They did. Adobe didn’t. Now I’m not sure Adobe being on iPhone is relevant for most people.

The iPhone SE was small and relatively cheap. The iPhone 16e is neither. I wrote about this for TapSmart. Honestly, I think the branding is just marketing spin from Apple. It’s absurd from a tech standpoint to talk about a phone being part of the iPhone 16 family when it doesn’t look like it nor have features to match. The lack of MagSafe is especially baffling.

Given current politics, people are looking for alternatives to US services. The linked site outlines European options for the likes of email, search engines, and so on. Also, while people on Bluesky won’t want to hear it, that’s a US organisation too. By contrast, Mastodon is decentralised and based in Germany. I’m not suggesting quitting Bluesky (I won’t be), but I am gently suggesting more people – and organisations – give Mastodon another shot and use both.

Speaking of the US, a story broke about a German tourist being held by the CBP. I’ve fortunately never had that happen to me, but it did remind me of a surreal encounter I had when travelling to WWDC. And bear in mind I play life with a cheat code when it comes to the US – white man with Home Counties (ish) English accent.

LOK Digital is a great puzzle game, like a crossword puzzle where the creator got drunk and mashed keys to fill the gaps. I added it to my best Android games list, but it’s also available for iPhone, iPad, Windows and Mac.

Speaking of games, I updated my best one-thumb games for iPhone feature for TapSmart. It’s always amazing to see what game creators can do with the most minimal of player interaction models.

It’s actually sunny in the UK. Time for a spring clean? I wrote about how you can use your iPhone to help.

Lego made a T. rex fossil set almost as big as an actual dinosaur. OK, slight exaggeration. But it’s a metre long. I love Lego, but where do people store this stuff?

Apple finally killed the Home button with the iPhone 16e. I won’t miss it. Much. But as I wrote for Stuff, there are still things it did better than anything else. And its replacement is dreadful.

Adobe Photoshop has turned 35. I remember first seeing a copy at school, in a new graphics building that had a handful of tiny Macs. And I’m sure I could have written something sensible about this landmark, but I instead wrote something far more fun for Stuff.

People are wearing their Apple Watches on their ankles. So I asked whether you should. And immediately recognised having set off the Betteridge’s Law of Headlines klaxon. Still, it was an interesting thought experiment. 

AI is blurring facts and fiction. For TapSmart, I explored ways to use an iPhone to unmask truth in an age of AI.

Speaking of AI, Ai Pin is dead. And the ‘important update’ for customers is a doozy. My favourite bit: “We understand this transition may be difficult.” Note that the actual ‘transition’ is from a working product (after a fashion – Ai Pin was shit) to a piece of e-waste that you’ll barely be able to do anything with beyond checking the battery level. Looks like I wasn’t far off back in 2023: “I worry AI Pin is a feature wrapped around an ideology, masquerading as a product.”

New Lego never stops coming. My best upcoming Lego sets feature for Stuff got some new entries recently, including a massive new Ninjago set and a brick-built take on van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Which, despite being Lego, is still marginally cheaper than it would be to buy the original.

Apple R&D made Luxo Jr. Ish. Over at Stuff, I write about how Apple robots need to be charming and useful, but can’t prize being adorable over utility.

In 2003, Ulysses reimagined writing apps. It’s now the latest entry in my iPhone classics series, which includes an interview with Ulysses co-founder Marcus Fehn. 

Want to sell your old tat? For TapSmart, I cover apps for selling things using your iPhone.

What is the iPad for? Matt Gemmell digs deep into this in Back to Mac, which inspired my own piece about how the iPad fits into my life.

Mega City Comics is saved. The owner was retiring, which threatened the existence of the much-loved Camden Town comics store. Forbidden Planet has bought it. I imagine that will change its vibe (hence a recent firesale of back issues that FP doesn’t care about stocking). But it’s great to know the shop will survive in some form.

Ian Dunt argues journalism is collapsing in the middle of an information war. Why? Money, mostly. A combination of people being unwilling to pay and analytics driving what gets eyeballs on sites has eroded quality media. But, as I wrote about for Stuff over ten years ago, this goes wider than hard news and politics. The message remains the same: support the media you want to exist, or it soon won’t.

Kagi has made a subscription people won’t hate, by crediting you when you don’t use the service. Simple. And I hope it’s effective. It’s the subject of my column this week for Stuff.

Grid Legends: Deluxe Edition recently arrived for mobile. It’s deeply impressive AAA gaming on a phone and shows what modern mobile hardware is capable of. I added it to my best iPhone games list for Stuff.

The best camera app for iPhone is a personal subject. My latest round-up for TapSmart explores a range of products I personally think are great.

Overcast can power up podcasts on iPhone. It’s the latest entry in my deep dive series for TapSmart.

The absence of press kits for apps and games continues to astonish me. It’s a key reason I write less app coverage these days, because shooting images is time-consuming and frustrating. On Mastodon, I outlined how developers can quickly create a press kit and the best format to use. TL;DR: do what Marcos Tanaka did.

Domain renewals are like birthdays for projects that never happened but that you keep kidding yourself one day will. Another came in this week for a new music project. I last released an album in 2012. Maybe one day there will be another.

Design Thinking responded to Disney using AI for an MCU movie poster. It’s a great cartoon that lays bare the problem. Do we give this kind of rubbish oxygen and thereby draw attention to it, or ignore it and let corporations get away with such actions? Feels a bit lose-lose.

Lego has been slammed for being anti-LGBTQ+. Albeit by right-wing press seemingly simultaneously attempting to provoke anger about Lego, ‘wokeness’, marginalised people, the Science Museum, and more. Fortunately, PinkNews cut through the bullshit of this particular story.

Google open-sourced PebbleOS. Pebble’s founder is now looking to resurrect the much-loved wearable in a form that takes a more focused and sustainable approach than today’s leading smartwatch brands. I discuss this in my latest Stuff column: Why I’m excited about a new Pebble smartwatch – and what Apple could learn from Pebble’s rebirth.

Apple Intelligence has stopped serving up fake news.Over at TapSmart, I argue it should never have started as part of a column looking into this whole sorry episode.

Journaling can boost mental health. But if you lack the time or don’t fancy digging out a paper journal and a pen, what’s the alternative? For TapSmart, I outline tips, apps and hardware for journaling using an iPhone.

The new series of Severance started recently. Given how much I loved the first one, I found it surprising to watch the ‘previously’ catch-up and realise how little of it I remembered. With more time, I’d have binge-watched the entire series before tackling the new one, but I barely have time to watch more than a few hours of TV a week these days. So new episodes only it is.

January is done. Good. It wasn’t a great month for all sorts of reasons. Hoping that February brings with it a little more cheer as daylight returns.