Tag: technology
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What AI is and isn’t
Mandy Brown with a barnburning breakdown of what “AI” is and isn’t: “Artificial intelligence” is not a technology. A chef’s knife is a technology, as are the practices around its use in the kitchen. A tank is a technology, as are the ways a tank is deployed in war. Both can kill, but one cannot…
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A creative childhood? It’s about time
Ross Barkin ponders what kids of today lack compared to their 20th century predecessors: When I consider the geniuses of that era—or any, really, before the last ten years or so—I think of time. Talented children, until the incursion of the smartphone and immersive videos games, had much of it. One big reason for this:…
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The seven year etch, or why am I paper resistant?
In what amounts to a positively glacial pace, I finally managed to fill up the small pocket Moleskine notebook I’ve been carrying around for seven years: It was given to me by my friend Jason, an artist who founded Geocommunetrics and gave it this unique cover design: It was tucked in my backpack for most…
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This was my washing machine
Part of the This Is My series. This week we said goodbye to our washing machine, which according to its serial number was manufactured nearly 35 years ago in September 1990. For context: Goodfellas had just released in theaters, Saddam Hussein had just invaded Kuwait, and I’d just turned three years old. Time flies. Its sudden demise…
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Tools of the moment
An ongoing series Not YouTube watch history. When you turn off the watch history for your YouTube account (manage it here), your homepage becomes gloriously blank rather than cluttered with garbage served up by their algorithm. Not WorkFlowy. One day I decided I was tired of splitting my personal and professional note-taking, task management, and…
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The AI-powered typewriter
First published as an Instagram Reel just for funsies. Have you heard about the latest hot gadget? It’s called a “typewriter” and it has all the fancy, cutting-edge features you need: High-res screen — the writing surface looks just like real paper because that’s what it is Strong security — your writing is encrypted and…
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Podcasts of the moment
It’s been over two years since my last podcast lineup check-in, and as usual some things have changed while some things remain. Changes: Many of the shows in my last update have either stopped publishing or lost my interest, and I’ve stepped away from the political ones. I’m also thrilled I was finally able to…
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Tools of the moment
An ongoing series Not Spotify. The only reason I used Spotify was to listen to the Armchair Expert podcast, which was part of the unfortunate trend of podcasts going Spotify-exclusive a few years ago. But now it’s back out in the open internet, which means I can finally stop using Spotify! Not Disney+. Last year…
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Tools of the moment
An ongoing series Pretty much everything from my last update. Kindle Paperwhite. After years of holding out, we got one last Black Friday and I finally started using it. I wasn’t against e-readers before; I just usually prefer print or audiobooks. But the e-ink screen and appealing handling of the Paperwhite is quite nice. Safari…
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Live Text, Reader View, No-Signup Tools
Three techie things I’m loving. 1. Live Text Live Text, available in iOS 15 and beyond, feels not far off from magical. The ability to copy text from photos or through the camera app has completely transformed my book notetaking process as a print-book partisan but digital notetaker. I can just point the camera at…
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The Legend of Ball Under Table
The above is a screenshot from a video on my phone that’s come to be known in my family as “Ball Under Table.” Recorded shortly before the first COVID lockdown, the video documents a little game our (at the time) freshly minted one-year-old created. He would roll the little squishy soccer ball under our table,…
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My home screen
The funny thing is this looks similar to the last time I shared my home screen, despite having gone through a few different iterations since then. But I landed back at the black wallpaper and (even more) minimalist layout for a few reasons: My recent job change allowed me to delete several apps I didn’t…
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The Rockefeller theory of time travel
Morgan Housel: Charlie Munger was born in 1924. The richest man in the world that year was John D. Rockefeller, whose net worth equaled about 3% of GDP, which would be something like $700 billion in today’s world. Seven hundred billion dollars. OK. But make a short list of things that did not exist in…
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Tools of the moment
It’s been a minute since the last time I took stock of my notetaking/productivity apps, so here’s where I stand currently: I still use paper. The reporter’s notebook I got last Christmas is good for my occasional work-based bullet journaling. Feedly has been my RSS reader of choice for years now. To further declutter my…