Published stuff

It’s been chilly out. This inspired my latest toolkit for TapSmart, which is all about using your phone to keep safe in winter. I also added the masterful Galcon to my classic apps series. This run is planned to continue into 2024, and I’ve already got a few cracking interviews lined up for the apps side of things.

Incidentally, if you’d like to support our writing, please download the Swipe app for iPhone/iPad. Free trial. Cheap as chips subscription.

Over at Stuff, I wrote an Apple Arcade explainer and with Matt Tate expanded our list of best Apple Arcade games. The best upcoming Lego sets piece got its final update of the year too.

My column this week: I’m thinking of buying Blu-rays again, and it’s all Sony’s fault. If you’ve not heard the news, Sony’s deleting from user libraries a bunch of TV shows people paid for. It’s yet another reminder of the transient nature of digital-only content.

Upcoming stuff

I’m now buried neck deep in end-of-year round-ups. And I’ll get it in the neck if those deadlines whoosh past my ears.

Happier news: I received the new Quarter Arcade today: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’m planning to shoot another lightning fast YouTube Short tomorrow, since the previous two retro ones did pretty well for the time they took.

If this third one lands similarly, I’m going to explore more regular shorts next year – perhaps a scrappy one-minute review series. YouTube isn’t something I’m ever going to make a living out of, but I originally trained in video at uni and so have an itch to scratch. But I also lack time. However, if I can write, plan, shoot and upload something in maybe half an hour that people will find useful, I figure that’s a workable format.

Other stuff

Mostly, I’m knackered. Too many deadlines. Not enough hours. Such is the way when you hit Christmas crunch, with deadlines being compressed. I’m hoping for a break over the holidays.

Despite working all hours, I have kept up with the tech news. And the big thing that caught my eye this week was Beeper Mini. This app/service claimed it had figured out how to circumvent Apple and get iMessage working on Android. Tech YouTuber Quinn Nelson released a video that said it would be really hard for Apple to respond. Cue: endless breathless articles regurgetating that ‘fact’.

I online urged more caution and caught flak for it. Because, apparently, I didn’t know what I was talking about. Yet just days later, Apple killed Beeper Mini. Even if it figures out a workaround, the result will be a cat-and-mouse game at best, which isn’t any way to run a paid subscription service.

Honestly, this isn’t a case where I’m happy to be proved right. But it is another excellent example of how tech journalists need to be more guarded in what they write – and to not criticise those who are.

Finally, a cheerier piece of news: World of Goo 2 is coming out next year. I adored the original on iPad, and sincerely hope the sequel comes to Apple’s tablet. Regardless, it looks as joyous and imaginative as its predecessor.

Published stuff

Over at Stuff, I fret I’m turning into my dad in Spotify Wrapped and Apple Replay were my wake-up call to listen to more new music. I also wrote about the Moto G turning 10, remembering the smartphone that brought quality specs to the masses, and the Sega Dreamcast turning 25 – along with six of the best Dreamcast games.

For TapSmart this week, I grumbled that although Apple Music Classical for iPad is great, it shouldn’t have taken eight months to arrive. If Apple can’t get its bum in gear regarding cross-device apps, why should developers?

Upcoming stuff

So. Many. End. Of. Year. Wrap-ups.

Other stuff

I was concerned when our local McColl’s newsagent recently closed. It housed our town’s main post office and had a great selection of magazines. It’s now reopened… as a Morrisons Daily.

The print section is approximately one eighth of its old size and the magazine selection has been stomped into near nothingness. Depressing.

That leaves WHSmith as the last holdout for magazines where I live. At least that store, while slowly reducing the space given to magazines, continues to maintain and sometimes even expand its range. But I fear how this ongoing erosion of print outlets will affect what’s left of the industry – especially if WHSmith closures spread.

Over in digital, things were also not ideal this week, when I received a surprise £134.99 invoice from Yousician. Now, it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise – I did subscribe to the service a year ago. But I received no communication whatsoever from the company about the renewal. Bad form.

I rattled off a support request, citing the 14-day cooling off period (which applies to the original contract and any subsequent renewal). Expecting to hear nothing back for a while, I instead got two emails almost instantly.

The first was a ‘higher volume of traffic’ BS email. The second was a clearly automated 50% discount offer, which made a mockery of the email that had arrived seconds beforehand.

I’m still mulling over what to do. Yousician is a good service, but I’m properly annoyed about how this was initially handled. Companies should do better. For example, Rebellion Publishing sends subscribers an email three months before their 2000 AD subscriptions are due for renewal, and then one more email every month until the payment is made. It wants you to be aware of the upcoming payment, rather than sneaking it through and hoping you won’t notice.

Published stuff

Retrogaming week over at Stuff, as I checked out the new Space Invaders Quarter Arcade and the Atari 2600+.

Why I think Numskull’s Space Invaders Quarter Arcade is the best retro gaming gadget ever is the title to the first piece, and speaks for itself. The diminutive cab feels like a love letter to my first videogame experience, recreated in near-perfect miniaturised form by Numskull. It’s so good.

Atari 2600+ review: slots of fun or gaming relic? has me explore a new take on the similarly ancient Atari 2600. I admit I had difficulty with this one. Mostly, I’m not sure who it’s for. Currently, the unit isn’t accurate enough to be authentic, and yet its not user-friendly enough for people who just want a quick nostalgia blast.

I liked it a lot – notably, the chunky buttons and using old carts. It feels very analogue. But objectively it’s a tricky sell – hence the disparity between the rating (which I spent a long time mulling over) and the more positive verdict. I am glad Atari’s doing things like this though.

Elsewhere, my browser games list got a bump due to the wonderful Puzzmo, and I wrote I was right about Nothing Chats. It’s time to stop thinking ‘move fast and break things’ is OK. This followed up last week’s piece on iMessage on Android, where I predicted “Nothing Chats will amount to nothing”. Although I fully admit I had no idea the level of disaster the app would be.

It was a busy week over at TapSmart too. Check out my gift guide for iPhone owners, a list of the best iPhone apps to run on your Mac, and device sharing hacks for iPhone and iPad. The last of those looks into how best to share devices between multiple people. Step one is mostly to only share them with people you really trust.

Upcoming stuff

Looking at the next couple of weeks, I’m in full-on end-of-year mode. I’ll be looking to update features about using gadgets to help with the holidays, and delving into the best of Apple in 2023 – and what I’d like to see next year. Time to copy and paste my gripe about the Home indicator…

Other stuff

Over on Threads, senior CNN reporter Oliver Darcy is annoyed about cross-posting. This was in response to an app that lets you crosspost to several social networks. He argued: “No one needs to post the exact same thing across multiple social platforms. Pick one and stick with it!”

I mostly agree with the first part of that. I don’t think every post needs to go everywhere, but I do post my weeknote to Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky and LinkedIn, and often post my columns to multiple networks.

I vehemently disagree with the second part: “Pick one and stick with it!” Why pick one social network? Even when Twitter was at its height, I dabbled elsewhere. Nowadays, no alternative has anywhere near the convenience of Twitter, where the biggest advantage was the crossover of communities.

Right now, Mastodon has many of my dev and tech friends, a smattering of academics, and a few other random folks. Threads has a smattering of Twitter/X ‘refugees’. Bluesky is where the Twitter comics community and most authors went. If I decided to ‘pick one and stick with it’, I’d lose multiple communities because none of them will ever be like Twitter once was.

So I’ll never just pick one and I will continue to crosspost some things, because my Twitter community fractured and I don’t want to lose even more pieces of it.

By the way, if you’d like to follow me on any of those places, there are links over at my Linktree page.

Published stuff

Addressing green bubble fury and recent news about iMessage and Messages, my Stuff column this week is I want iMessage everywhere – even though Apple wants to keep it all for itself.

I also reviewed the new iMac (“the i stands for incremental”), and updated my feature about best upcoming Lego sets.

A quiet week over at TapSmart, but I found time to add QuadCamera to my ‘bring back’ series.

Upcoming stuff

I’m currently immersed in all things retro. Next week there will be pieces from me on the Atari 2600+ – a slightly shrunken replica of the original console that plays original cartridges – and the Quarter Arcades Space Invaders cabinet.

On the latter, I threw together a seven-second video and duly uploaded it to YouTube. Which simultaneously showed why I don’t have a proper YouTube channel and yet why I should probably do more short videos, given that this got 1.5k views in no time at all.

Other stuff

I was in Spain for a week in October. I love it there. The climate in particular aligns with what makes me feel good. Warmth. Sunlight. The ability to go for walks. Naturally, my Icelandic wife reminded me two of those things exist in the UK.

So since we’ve come back, I’ve changed one of my streaks. Instead of a six-weekly exercise goal (which is so ingrained I now hit it unless I’m ill), I have a thrice-weekly outdoor walk target. Really, this means that if it’s not raining in the early morning, I exercise by going for a brisk walk rather than hopping on the elliptical trainer and watching TV.

It’s been great. I live quite near to a large pond bordered by trees, and so it’s a pleasant place to go. But it cements the fact I’m solar-powered. So I’m going to see if I can stick this small change out over the colder winter months.

Elsewhere this week, I had another reminder about technology that goes beyond mere utility. Alas, it was because one of my uncles passed away. But through the normalisation of online funerals, I could still watch the service remotely and be there in spirit.

For all of the new bells and whistles on a new phone or a great new sound system, for me it was this ropey web feed that felt truly magical. We take such things for granted today. We probably shouldn’t and should be more grateful when technology is shown to have a meaningful impact on our lives.

Pain, pain, go away, (don’t come) again another day.

Published stuff

This week for Stuff, I write about the latest wearable on the street: Humane’s AI Pin won’t replace your smartphone – but I think phones should steal its best ideas. I also reviewed Apple’s new flagship laptop and may have had a hand in Stuff’s 2023 mobile app and game of the year awards.

Over TapSmart way, I delved into my favourite StandBy widgets.

Upcoming stuff

I’m currently putting the M3 iMac through its paces, while cursing that Steam’s overlay apparently no longer seems to work. (This after last week in discovering the widgets system in iOS is still flaky as hell, although at least an iPhone restart was all it took to get new ones to show up. But seriously, Apple, why doesn’t this work better?)

Other stuff

As I wrote about in my Apple Watch Series 9 review, I had a bad fall on holiday. At least nothing’s broken was my thought at the time. I’m now wondering if things were broken, just not badly; because everything still hurts. Although perhaps that’s just getting older. (If things don’t improve soon, I’ll ask about an X-Ray, but the state of the local NHS services now is such that our local surgery sent out an email inferring they don’t want to hear from anyone unless they’re basically dying.)

My HomeKit issues from two weeks ago resolved. All it took was going to Spain. During that time, Steam Guard also stopped being useless. So my default tech fix recommendation to everyone now is – if you can afford to – go for a week’s holiday. Maybe that won’t fix your problem, but at least you’ll have a nice break.

Finally, my iMac helpfully informed me it doesn’t have enough space to hold my entire photos collection. Which isn’t that big. And yet the Mac has a 1TB SSD. Turns out I have a lot of junk stored. And everywhere else.

I have a ‘paranoid’ back-up system. I run Time Machine on my iMac. Weekly clones to SSD, to two drives that I swap. Ongoing Backblaze. And when I change my main computer or upgrade to a major new OS, I take and store a full clone. So I have multiple copies of anything important. But can I get to them? Can I heck.

So my next problem during a magical period when I actually have free time is to figure out a local ‘archive’ (or, as friend and ex-colleague Chris Phin refers to it, ‘vault’ – which is much better). I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do as yet. I’ve had various recommendations, from full-on Synology systems to buying a Mac mini and plugging drives into it. I quite like the second of those, because it’d give me redundancy if the iMac conks out.

More thought needed.