As we go through life there often come moments — highly emotional, intensely personal — that we find difficult to share. Writing this has been a journey of sorts, and I’m still not 100% sure I’m ready — there’s certainly more detail that I’m not ready to include. But… deep breath… here we go. Content warning: Descriptions of being present during the death of close loved ones. Also, it’s not exactly short. Just to be clear, regardless of everything below I have, and have had, a good life. I have an amazing, caring partner who it’s been my privilege to…
I was born in Quebec, and grew up in the Montreal area. All of my early years, through high school, and a couple of years of college were spent there before moving out west 35 years ago. I had always intended to go back to visit, but somehow just never got around to it. As is often the case, life happens. I’ve spent my entire adult life here in BC, almost twice as many years as I spent there, and so many key moments in my life have been here. And yet there was always a little part of me…
I love my iPhone 12 mini, it’s been one of my favourite pieces of tech I’ve ever owned. I’ve talked before about just how delightful it is. The form factor is perfect in my hand and pocket, and it’s served me extremely well for almost 3 1/2 years — the longest I’ve kept an iPhone. And in other circumstances I could have happily kept using it for at least another year, especially if I got a battery replacement. But as I — and more specifically, my eyes — age, the size of the screen is proving more of a challenge.
This started off as a quick reply on Mastodon to Nick Heer‘s The iPhone 12 Pro: A Three-Year Review, but it became immediately clear that there was too much to conveniently say there. I’ll start with the cameras first: Overall my feelings on the photos it produces are – taking into account the lack of the 2x lens – broadly similar to his. Portrait Mode, while a dramatic improvement over the iPhone X (which was also my previous phone), still misses more than I’d like, likely in part due to the lack of that 2x lens. Speaking of which: Have…
Here I was a few days ago, ready to open up BBEdit and do some final clean up on this so it was ready to post this morning, and what should roll across my timeline but Becky Hansmeyer’s wonderful post about Rediscovery, which in a single word perfectly sums up many of my feelings. (I bought Snapthread Premium as a small token of appreciation. I don’t knit* but if you do, please check out YarnBuddy. Thanks!) * Not strictly true, in that I have knit in the past, but not since the early 80’s after a very progressive 5th grade…
Now that 2023 is well under way, here is a short list of some of my favourite products I used in 2022 that were new to me. First some shoutouts for things that weren’t new, but that I loved anyway: my iPhone 12 mini, and Lego. The battery life on the mini could be better (especially after a couple years of heavy use), and I’m looking longingly at the cameras on the 14 Pros, but it’s the perfect form factor for me, and it still delights me every time I pick it up. Getting back into Lego, as many have…
I’ve also been living with Big Sur on my primary Mac for several weeks and that experience has been a little less delightful, and in some ways more of an adjustment than the smaller phone. Just to get this out of the way: Bugs aside, overall I actually really like the look, and while I have some minor quibbles I expect that most of those will get tweaked over time, just as iOS did post-iOS 7. But… The slippery notifications have serious usability problems that I really hope will get rethought sooner rather than later. The toolbars have completely broken…
After two weeks of use, the iPhone 12 mini is, as I had hoped, delightful. The size is perfect in the hand, and feels wonderful. It won’t quite unseat my iPhone 5 as my favorite - though that is partly out of sentiment - but it’s very, very close. While I’m tempted by the idea of a MagSafe case, it feels a shame to cover it any more than absolutely necessary, so for now I’m using an inexpensive super-thin case. I may, for the first time in a long time, end up using it caseless. Typing is even better than…
My black iPhone 5 has always been my favorite iPhone as a physical object: I love how it looks, and the size and weight are pretty much perfect as far as I’m concerned… for a phone. As a portable computing device to get work done on, the typing experience and small screen left a lot to be desired. I still love it regardless, six years after it retired from daily use. Slow as it is by today’s standards, even using it for development is delightful. In the weeks since the event, I’ve been struggling to decide which phone to replace…
