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2025
Finding out
A few thoughts on the incident that happened last week regarding a problematic developer's continued involvement in Micro.blog.
Tumblelogs
This site isn’t the traditional chronological blog with long-form posts. It's not a microblog with short snippets of text. It's not a photo blog, link blog, or a digital garden. I think it's all those things rolled into one.
Trying something new with music in 2025
I've decided to try buying and maintaining a proper music collection this year rather than using a streaming service, mainly Spotify, for obvious reasons.
My 2024 media recap
I usually put together several lists of the things I enjoyed most this year, but I've run out of time. Instead, I'm going to rattle off a few games and books I enjoyed this year. So, in no particular order, here are my favourites from this past year.
2024
App defaults 2024
It's that time of the year again. There weren't many changes to my list this year, but the things that did change significantly impacted my workflow.
Marvel rebooting Amazing Spider-Man again in 2025 with Joe Kelly, Pepe Larraz, and JRJR
The people running the show at Marvel as it relates to Amazing Spider-Man have been doing so for far too long. Dan Slott, Zeb Wells, Joe Kelly, John Romita Jr., and most of the names you still see on the Spidey books have been involved since Brand New Day in 2008.
Suicide Squad shutting down January 2025
Rocksteady confirmed what I think many people assumed for a while: their live-service Suicide Squad game is done.
The indie web search engine
Earlier this year, I wondered what a search engine for the indie web might look like, but I never circled back to the idea. Now, I think I've found the answer.
Please don't buy an Echo Show
Investing in a smart display should make your life easier, not be a constant reminder of how little your time and attention matter to the company that made it.
Give us the games
Sony’s 30th-anniversary celebration of the original PlayStation feels like a disappointment. Releasing PS1-themed controllers and a reskinned console that cannot play PS1 games feels tone-deaf.
Minifeed
Minifeed is a new aggregator from Rakhim that pulls updates from the small web into a personalized reader. It's a fantastic idea—one I've kicked around before. I think there are a few things about it that could be better and some challenges [...]
Do your thing
This might sound obvious, but I'm going to say it anyway. The internet has no shortage of opinions; some helpful, and some not so much. If you spend too much time worrying about what other people think of what you do, you’ll end up stuck, s [...]
We've grown numb to service decline
I wish we weren't so quick to accept the things we use getting shittier, with higher prices and fewer features. It's troubling how we've, myself included, grown numb to decline in the services we use. Marie Dealessandri for GamesIndustry.bi [...]
What Nintendo does
As news broke yesterday about the latest bed Nintendo has decided to shit in, targeting a longtime fan with DMCA strikes for sharing videos featuring their games, I was reminded of a few things. Unfortunately, this kind of hostile behaviour [...]
The Browser Company's second act
Today, the browser company announced they're working on something new. Arc hasn't reached the critical mass they'd hoped for, so they're taking another shot at it with an entirely new browser that's simpler for the average user to understan [...]
Hands-on with Apple Intelligence
I've had some time with Apple Intelligence, using 18.1 for several weeks and now 18.2 for most of the day. I like the notification summaries. Likewise, I've had a few instances where, just by glancing at my phone, I can see and even underst [...]
Oh good, a new ongoing Carnage series
Samantha Puc for Comics Beat: In February 2025, writer Charles Soule and artist Jesús Saíz will team up for a new ongoing series appropriately entitled Eddie Brock: Carnage, in which he serially kills serial killers. Paying his debt to soc [...]
Netflix shuts down gaming studio "Blue"
After only a few years, Netflix is shutting down its AAA gaming studio, which is run by former Halo, Overwatch, and God of War alums. Netflix's gaming division has never made sense to me. It's always seemed like less of a business and more [...]
I Still Don’t Understand Why ‘Waypoint’ Needed A Remake
Much has been said of the empty husk masquerading as a new version of the much-beloved Vice site Waypoint, but this article in particular is a perfect encapsulation of why bringing the site back is a bad idea. The article, written by Dwayne [...]
Home screens: 10/24
I haven't done one of these in a while and figured it was time. I keep my devices fairly tidy, so I think I can get away with covering both my iPhone and iPad, since there's a lot of overlap in the two. iPhone and iPad ReederReeder is quic [...]
Instagram moderation is broken
Umar Shakir for The Verge: On Tuesday, I loaded Instagram and learned Meta had disabled my account. The alleged reason was that I was under 13, the minimum age for joining the site. It gave me 30 days to appeal before the account was perma [...]
Threads still sucks
Against my better judgment, I decided to give Threads another shot. Unfortunately, it’s only slightly less painful than I remembered—which isn’t much of an improvement. The main “For You” feed is a chaotic mess of generic, uninteresting, an [...]
Cloud Imperium still sounds like a super shitty place to work
A new report has come out claiming that Cloud Imperium Games, the studio that's been working on Star Citizen for over a decade, is mandating several seven day weeks for employees in the lead-up to CitizenCon. This news should not come as a [...]
Startup culture
My friend sent me a post by a guy who works at a semi-local startup. In it, he talks about how tough but rewarding it is to be a part of a demanding, fast-moving, chaotic startup. He confirms what many in the tech community here have assume [...]
The WordPress drama
Earlier this week, at WordCamp US, Matt Mullenweg declared war on WP Engine. I won't get into the nuts and bolts of it but essentially he's upset with how WPE has been using the WordPress trademark and how little they've been contributing b [...]
Thoughts on the Rocksteady layoffs
Here are some quick thoughts on this situation and broader layoffs across the gaming industry. If I’ve missed or misunderstood something, please let me know. I’m happy to be wrong. Rocksteady is a studio known for its single-player games. [...]
WWDC24 and Apple Intelligence
I found WWDC24 to be a mixed bag. I’m excited about the quality-of-life updates across Mac and iPhone, including the new Passwords app, updates to Mail, and continuity from the phone to the computer. I’m also interested but cautious about s [...]
Zenless Zone Zero'd
Zenless Zone Zero is a game I’m excited to play, but things have changed recently. During the last round of beta testing, I was banned for trying to run the game on my M1 iMac. If you’re not aware, one of the stipulations of beta testing ZZ [...]
Yeah but Windows
Microsoft is rolling out new Surface laptops they claim can outperform Apple's MacBook Air, which is all fine and good. Convincing people their devices are better based purely on specs, as if the operating system has nothing to do with it, [...]
Phones
Robb posted about the phones he’d owned over the years, and it reminded me of a note I’d started a while back and never finished, chronicling all the devices that have occupied a place inside my pocket. I know the timelines of some of these [...]
It runs Android, so what?
The tech press has been making a huge deal out of the fact that the R1, Rabbit's first AI-powered device, runs Android and I don't understand at all. It’s basically a smartphone; why would they use anything else to run a device like this? I [...]
Apple AI pin
Watching reviews for Humane’s AI pin, I can’t help but wonder why someone hasn’t just clipped an Apple Watch to a shirt. I remember back around 2016, I backed a Kickstarter project that created watchbands for the fourth-generation iPod Nano [...]
Thoughts on running your own Mastodon instance
This past week, after much deliberation and a post by Mike at Shellsharks, I decided to spin up my own Mastodon instance. I had some reservations about the whole thing but it’s been pretty painless so far. I wanted to go over some of the pr [...]
Thoughts on Webmentions
I read Terence’s post about webmentions and thought I’d add my two cents. I removed webmentions, brid.gy, and any ActivityPub functionality a few months ago for a few reasons. Before the internet had a bit of a meltdown over something simil [...]
Weeknotes #004
2024 has been off to a weird start. At the end of January, I got let go of my job. I was initially frustrated by the whole ordeal but have come to recognize how destructive it was to my mental health. Reading So far this year, I’ve read 49 [...]
Linkedout
I’ve been spending an uncomfortable amount of time on LinkedIn lately, which is to say more than 5 minutes, and I’ve noticed some things. Notifications, which are pretty important in a professional environment, are wildly inconsistent. Som [...]
Design contests
If you’re a company considering a design contest where you solicit free work from trained designers for your websites, apps, icons, or logos, stop. It’s insulting to an entire profession and makes me think less of you, your company, and you [...]
Weeknotes #003
I knew getting into a regular cadence with these updates would be an uphill battle but it’s been particularly tough to get motivated this year. I’ve fallen into a bit of a depressing spiral lately but my family has been super supportive and [...]
The indie web needs a search engine
Follow me on a journey. This post is essentially a brain dump, but there’s a point and an idea somewhere, I think. This whole thing started with a post by Cassidy Williams. She talks about how everyone metaphorically disappeared from the In [...]
The indie web has a user experience problem
So much of the existing infrastructure and tools of the indie web have been built without the input of people dedicated to crafting an experience for a broader range of users. I won’t call out specific services, products, or people; I mean [...]
Microsoft’s disastrous Xbox One reveal
It was remarkable how badly it went from the very beginning. Steven Asarch for Kotaku: The [announcement] event spent most of its run time hyping up the Xbox One’s capabilities as an all-in-one media box and its integration with television [...]
People voted for some pretty weird stuff during this year’s Steam Awards
Graham Smith for RPS: The player-voted Steam Awards have reached their conclusion, and the results are about as weird as the nominees. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the weirdest game possible won in several categories, such as Red [...]
2023
Books I read in 2023
I fell hard into manga last year. In 2023, my tastes continued to evolve. I developed an understanding of the books I was into and wanted to continue to follow. Here’s the books I made it through this year. Favourite Dandadan was a great su [...]
GM’s in-car software is about as good as many people expected
GM pissed a lot of people off when they announced they were moving away from CarPlay and Android Auto. When the rubber hit the road (literally), would it be worth it? Would GM achieve the “holistic integration” they envisioned? Not so much. [...]
Games I played in 2023
This was a year of change. I leaned really hard into console gaming, specifically Xbox, after being pretty focused on PC and tried playing a handful of games on mobile too. Here are my favourites from a variety of categories. Game of the ye [...]
Weeknotes #002
It took two weeks but I’m finally feeling better. Having run the gamut of headaches, nausea, fever, chills, and back to headaches, I’ve had my fill of sickness for a while. If you needed another reminder: mask up. It’s terrible out there. G [...]
Weeknotes #001
I’ve watched Michael Camilleri write over 200 of these things so I thought it might be time to give it a shot myself. I can’t guarantee I’ll do this every week but I want to try and push myself out of my comfort zone a bit. Sick, sick, sick [...]
App defaults 2023
Some background on this post: I saw Manuel Moreale’s list earlier today and thought it was a neat little idea. After a bit of digging, it’s actually a neat big idea with over 120 others sharing their own. So, here’s mine, with a couple adju [...]
The NHL will let players use Pride Tape after all
Benjamin Blum for CBC: The National Hockey League is ending its ban on players supporting social causes on their equipment, including a popular stick tape in support of the LGBTQ community, the league announced on Tuesday. It’s great to s [...]
Epic Games cuts around 830 jobs
The Verge: Notably, Sweeney does not apologize to his employees for making the business decisions that have resulted in the disruption of over 800 lives, saying only that his “optimism” that such spending would not result in layoffs was “u [...]
Google once again making messaging an Apple problem to solve
Amber Neely for appleinsider: The video, dubbed "Meet iPager," is heavily stylized to look like one of Apple's signature product launch videos. The video introduces the iPager, a fictitious device that stifles innovation and uses outdated [...]
Amazon unveils new widget-focused UI for upcoming Echo Hub device
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy for The Verge: The new smart home-focused widgets make it easy to interact with to do things like view a camera live view, adjust a light, or run a routine with a tap. These three new widgets can be added to the Hom [...]
Amazon CEO says “it’s probably not going to work out” for remote workers
Emma Roth for The Verge: In a recording of the meeting obtained by Insider, Jassy told workers, “It’s past the time to disagree and commit,” adding that “if you can’t disagree and commit… it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amaz [...]
Elon Musk has always been full of shit
Casey Newton for The Verge: Musk’s broken promises have yet to reach anything near the volume of lies that Trump told as president. But given his recent track record, it’s well past time for the press to grant him an equal measure of skept [...]
Microsoft is adding a crypto wallet to Edge for some reason
Tom Warren for The Verge: Microsoft Edge will advertise the ability to purchase cryptocurrency from Coinbase and MoonPay through [a] built-in crypto wallet. It will also include the ability to connect decentralized apps to the wallet featu [...]
Amazon cutting an additional 9,000 jobs
Gary Ng for iPhone in Canada: Amazon announced on Monday plans to eliminate about 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks, mostly in Amazon Web Services (AWS), PXT, Advertising, and Twitch, as part of the company’s cost-cutting measures [...]
Looking back at Mastodon hot takes
Lance Ulanoff for Mashable: Mastodon has potential. It can be easy to use and there are clearly a lot of people trying it right now. But its weaknesses are glaring. It’s more project than product. Unless someone buys the code off Rochko to [...]
The mystery of "All Bonds" in GoldenEye
Aaron Greenbaum for Den of Geek: While gamers can play as Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond in GoldenEye 007, a popular rumor suggested that the game also hid the digitized likenesses of Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and George Laze [...]
Sony introduces its accessibility controller kit, Project Leonardo
PlayStation Blog: Through conversations with accessibility experts and incredible organizations like AbleGamers, SpecialEffect and Stack Up, we’ve designed a highly configurable controller that works in tandem with many third-party accessi [...]
Square Enix sees NFTs as solution to problem that can be solved right now without them
Jonathan Bolding for PC Gamer: [SE President Yosuke Matsuda] is unreservedly enthusiastic about the idea that “token economies” will provide those who ‘play to contribute’ with an explicit incentive beyond “such inconsistent personal feeli [...]
2022
Capcom reworking Resident Evil 4 story for remake
Kazuma Hashimoto for Siliconera The website states that the Resident Evil 4 remake will see a reimagined storyline, it will also feature more modernized gameplay elements. However, Capcom has yet to reveal how any of this will manifest. R [...]
RIP George Pérez
I had the pleasure of meeting George Pérez at a local convention back in 2012. George was one of the friendliest, professional people I’ve met at a show. He loved the chance to revisit the Scarlet Witch in a sketch for my wife, which hangs [...]
Netflix CEO full of bad ideas, defends transphobic content
Natalie Oganesyan for Yahoo: To course correct, [Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos] is looking at several options, none of which seem popular for consumers, such as cutting down on password sharing (or making it a paid privilege) and offering a che [...]
Switching to Android
Jake Peterson for Lifehacker: You know, we don’t all have to just let Apple win. Apple is good at what they do. They make products that are easy to set up and use, but, before you know it, you feel entirely trapped in their ecosystem. I’l [...]