This Is My Last

• 30 Aug, 2026 Did I Mention We Have AI In This New Release?

  The one thing that I am pining about old software: there is 'no need' to upgrade the software ever so often, because there is no always-on internet. Or heck, no internet. And you don't get viruses so long you practice safe diskette sharing.

  (Yes, I am that old.)

  Nowadays, software gets updated and suddenly, there is a whole new user-interface to learn. And new features to ignore. And buttons start blinking, and marquees start popping up, inviting (and interrupting) you to AI this and AI that. Or do a app store review.

  ~

  Link: Why Old Software Sometimes Feels Better, by Nick, Dead Parrot BBS

• 30 Aug, 2026 Sharing Ups and Downs

  When i am sad or down, sharing on blogs is probably not high on my agenda list. If you notice the periods when I am writing less, it's probably because I am low-spirited.

  The same is probably happening to many other people you follow on personal blogs and social media.

  But we probably don't notice. We read in aggregate. If one person stops posting, others fill in the void.

  ~

  Link: What Twenty Years of Social Media Has Done to Our Memories, by Kathryn Jezer-Morton, The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything, adapted and excerpted by The Walrus

• 29 Aug, 2026 "Strong for Everyone"

  There are so many things we are still not doing enough.

  Syarafana Shafeeq:

  Giving people space to struggle without writing them off is not about excusing them from adulthood, said Sarah.

  It is about giving them a way to remain part of it, she said.

  ~

  Link: A Mother Lost Her Son to Suicide. Now She Fears What Being 30 and Unemployed Means For Her Other, by Syarafana Shafeeq, Straits Times

  ~

  If you or if someone you know is suicidal, please do not hesitate to seek for help. Here is a list of hotlines around the world..

• 29 Aug, 2026 "Lost Access to All The Good Accessibility Tools"

  If a tool is not reliable, that it doesn't just work, is it still a tool?

  ~

  Link: AI Ruined Some of My Most Precious Accessibility Tools., by Strayblog

• 28 Aug, 2026 Living a Life

  There isn't a single correct way of living one's life.

  What my experience tells me is to never let other people defines what is success, and what we need to achieve. We have to, each of us, decide what we want to achieve, what we can let go, and what plan B looks like if we cannot achieve what we want.

  Or, Nikhil Lodha:

  Do not fret over what you couldn’t achieve. It is pointless if you do, and pointless if you don’t. There are people in our lives we have to take care of. You don’t need a lot for that. Everything else is you mimicking someone else’s desires.

  ~

  Link: The Peak Does Not Exist, by Nikhil Lodha

• 28 Aug, 2026 Links for Aug 28, 2026

  Do enjoy some reading pleasure before the weekend commences.

  • Does Computer Science Need Computers?, by Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine
  • In Hilbert Space, All Things Are Quantumly Possible, by Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine
  • The Restaurant Is 118 Years Old. The Merch Is New., by Charlotte Druckman, Grub Street
• 28 Aug, 2026 “Strict Etiquette Could Perhaps Be Forsaken”

  Or, new etiquette norms need to be created for abnormal situation.

  ~

  Link: Please Don’t Rearrange Our Shoes When We Turn up, Paramedics in Japan Urge, by Gavin Blair, The Guardian

• 27 Aug, 2026 Unfolding a New Chapter

  Apple event on Sept 9. Unless the company has moved April Fool’s Day to September, this has got to be announcement of new iPhones.

  What’s interesting, to me anyway, is that the tagline Apple uses for this event is translated quite differently across different languages across different countries and regions. Note, for example, the taglines for mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are all translated differently.

  ~

  Links:

  • Apple Event Announced for September 9: 'Surprise and Shine', by Juli Clover, MacRumors
  • Apple's iPhone Event Tagline is Different in Every Country, by Juli Clover, MacRumors
• 27 Aug, 2026 New Features Are Coming to NetNewsWire

  I am no longer using NetNewsWire, the original RSS reader, on a daily basis, but I am still keeping this app on all my devices as a backup.

  But this is definitely a good app with many fans and users.

  Brent Simmons had declared, since taking back the development of this app, that it is now in a good position to add new features. Good news indeed.

  ~

  Link: After Fixin’ the Bugs, Brent Simmons, Inessential

• 27 Aug, 2026 “Moment of Zen and a Source of Joy”

  Ben Nadel:

  But now that it's my hobby, not my profession, I don't have to justify any of it to anyone but myself. And I'm hoping that this clarity will bring me a new type of joy.

  ~

  Link: Programming as a Hobby in the Age Of AI, by Ben Nadel

• 26 Aug, 2026 Just Finished Reading: The Ending Writes Itself

  Just finished reading: The Ending Writes Itself, by Evelyn Clarke.

  This novel is advertised as a mystery. "Debut mystery", no less. Well, I am not sure what genre this novel fits in, but I don't quite see this as a mystery. Yes, the identity of the murderer -- there is a murderer, and you can tell there will be a murderer just by looking at the book cover, so it's not really a spoiler -- is not revealed until the last chapters. But the story doesn't seem to invite the reader to figure out who the murderer is. Instead, the questions I have in my head while reading are these: is this really a mystery novel, or is there a twist coming? Are there clues and red herrings, or (as the novel admitted, I think) is there really just one big obvious clue that we all pretend doesn't matter? (No, no, no, and, if I am not wrong, yes.)

  But, nevertheless, I am entertained. The world-building is mostly believable, and I do care about some of the characters. I will definitely recommend this novel if you are looking for a fun and entertaining read. But don't go in to look for a mystery. I don't think there are much of a mystery genre.

  For a novel about writers, one of them famous, and another very up-and-coming, I am glad we don't get much of an excerpts of any of these novels-within-the-novel. It will be very hard to pull this trick off. (Example "The Plot: A Novel", or the television show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip".) I am glad the author didn't try to write much of these excerpts and proclaim why they are great.

  And, yes, this is the novel I am reading where the young up-and-coming writer claimed that she doesn't know what is a MacGuffin. It took me out of the novel for a minute. Seriously? A novel writer doesn't know the term? I don't quite believe that.

  Side note: Do we need some AI to generate more and more plot devices for authors to use so as to keep cell phones out of stories, for, otherwise, there will not be much of a story? But then, I just realized, gen AI are not famous for being innovative nor creative, and we will have the same plot devices recycled over and over again, so… on second though… forget about what I say about AIs.

  Oh, a second recommendation here: go read Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". It's great. (And it's legitimately a mystery novel.)

  P.S.: This is not, strictly speaking, a debut novel.

• 26 Aug, 2026 "Small but Significant Crisis"

  Bridges were definitely burnt.

  ~

  Link: Tech (Or Political?) Choices, by Rodrigo Ghedin, Manual do Usuário

• 25 Aug, 2026 "Crippling Fear of Failure"

  Pei-Jeane:

  The only way out is through. I know this.

  ~

  Link: Sitting in My Discomfort, by Pei-Jeane, Pretend Typewriter

• 25 Aug, 2026 New Mac mini (M5 Pro and M6), Mac Studio (M5 Max and M5 Ultra)

  

  Faster chips, higher price, same look.

  If you are in U.S. or the other 29 countries and regions, you can pre-order while Mr Tim Cook is still the CEO, and the computers will start to ship when Mr John Ternus is CEO. Specifically, staring Sept 22.

  Also, according to Mr John Gruber, Apple confirmed that the new computers will ship with macOS 27. So, asked will macOS 27 also be released to the public by Sept 22? "Apple just sort of smiled and said they had no comment".

  And, no, I am not making any purchases.

  Links:

  • Apple Introduces M6 and M5 Ultra for a Big Leap in Performance and AI Compute, by Apple
  • Apple’s New Mac mini, Featuring M6 and M5 Pro, Delivers a Massive Leap in AI Performance, Supercharging the Leading Desktop for Always-On Agentic Computing, by Apple
  • Apple Introduces New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra — the Ultimate Desktop for On‑Device AI and the Most Extreme Pro Workflows, by Apple
  • Apple Unveils M6, M5 Ultra Chips and Updates Its Desktop Macs, by Jason Snell, Six Colors
  • Apple Introduces M6 and M5 Ultra Chips, in New Mac Mini and Mac Studio, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball
• 25 Aug, 2026 Links for Aug 25, 2026

  Links. We have links. Links are back.

  • Imagine an Organism, by David Lobina, Inference
  • When My Husband Died in a Surfing Accident, Life As I Knew It Was Destroyed. Ten Years On, This Is What I’ve Learned About Grief, by Hannah Richell, The Guardian
  • The Curious Case of the Missing Couscous, by Arthur Asseraf, Vittles
• 25 Aug, 2026 Apple Reverses Decision on Hide My Email Changes

  Apple has reversed its decision to move Hide My Email addresses to a separate private.icloud.com domain that would have make it easier for others to differentiate between ‘real’ and pseudo email addresses.

  Why was this even considered, from a company that prides itself on privacy for customers? No idea, but according to John Gruber sources, it wasn’t anything like an unanimous decision inside Apple, and customer feedback has helped pushed Apple to not go ahead.

  ~

  Links:

  • Update: New domain for Sign in with Apple, by Apple
  • Apple Reverses Planned Hide My Email Domain Change After User Pushback, by Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac
  • Apple Rethinks Plan to Merge ‘Hide My Email’ Domain Name With ‘Sign in With Apple, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball
• 25 Aug, 2026 Earthrise

  David Nield:

  Six decades on, the view has lost none of its impact.

  ~

  Link: Five Images, Six Decades: Capturing the Iconic “Earthrise” Photo, by David Nield, Nautilus

• 25 Aug, 2026 Watching Movies in Cinemas Seems Complicated (And Expensive)

  3D? ScreenX? Ultra AVX? WTF?

  ~

  Link: Movie Theater Headache, by Ariadne, Noisy Deadlines

Older posts continues at the Archives.