The Nintendo Switch 2 had a reveal so quiet it was barely a whisper. The response has been… divisive. I provide my thoughts for Stuff in Nintendo Switch 2 shows not all video game sequels are a bad thing, during which current Craig gives previous Craig A LOOK for something he wrote last year.
The Mac mini turned 20 last week, and that got the Stuff magazine ‘Random Access Memories’ back-page treatment. And just about made it online on the 11th. I may have used the column to also gripe about how much the new Mac mini’s upgrades cost. Never miss an opportunity, etc.
Beyond Ynth is the latest addition to my iPhone classics series. It’s such a smart game, mixing puzzling and platforming as you guide a bug through horizontally scrolling levels by way of tumbling boxes.
Steph Thirion has returned, in a manner that even John Gruber would allow a “finally”. Thirion’s Faraway is now on Steam, with a planned release in 2025. It was originally announced something like 15 years ago, as a follow-up to the amazing and much-missed Eliss. (If ever there’s a game Apple should resurrect for Apple Arcade, it’s Eliss. Perhaps by 2040.)
I wrote a Halide guide for TapSmart to help newcomers get started with this pro-oriented camera for iPhone and iPad. I’m surprised the default iOS camera hasn’t eaten the lunch of these pro-grade camera apps yet. Perhaps Apple is keen to keep things simple. Or at least relatively so. (Note that Halide isn’t tricky to use, but more features = more features.)
It’s cold in the UK. With daytime highs below freezing, I’m now at the point where two pairs of socks and lined slippers aren’t enough to stop my feet from being in pain, even inside a heated house. Getting older sucks.
Threads is dead to me. That network too often felt like a gaslighting exercise. Threads head Adam Mosseri would patiently explain why the network wouldn’t implement certain features. But when Bluesky gained traction, suddenly Threads lined up many of the things Mosseri previously dismissed. And now Zuckerberg is licking Trump’s boots and obliterating meaningful protections for those that need them, Threads can suddenly push political content, because the network is all about ‘free expression’. Sure. In the sense of throwing the vulnerable under a bus.
It’s also disappointing because Threads promised to federate and this could have been a great step towards decentralised social media. At least Mastodon mods who pre-emptively blocked Threads can now justifiably say, “We told you so”.
I won’t be deleting my social media accounts. I’m not keen on removing information from the internet. There are too many broken links as it is. But I also don’t see any way back for certain networks, and so will focus on the good ones. Right now, that’s Mastodon and Bluesky. If you want to get in touch for some reason, I’m active on both.
I used a Lego minifig scanner and it worked. I like Lego and write about it forStuff. I despise blind buys. But I always want a few minifigs from each collectable line. That’s a problem. But you can now scan QR codes to see what’s inside a box. Which for me meant no wasted money and being able to support my local toy store rather than buying already opened figures on eBay or Bricklink. Win-win.
The snag: I then did my usual thing of making a big list of possible items to buy rather than actually buying anything. But Ruark kindly sent over an R3S for a few weeks, and it’s been great. Since the review, my family used it over the holidays for CDs (including new ones!), radio and Bluetooth. The review unit will be going home shortly, and I’ll without doubt then buy my own to replace it.
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.
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.)
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!
