Sean Hollister, theverge.com: ‘Grammarly will keep using authors’ identities without permission unless they opt out’

Last week, my colleagues discovered that Superhuman’s Grammarly had turned me into an AI editor, using my real name, without ever asking my permission. They did the same to my boss Nilay Patel, my colleagues David Pierce and Tom Warren, and — as Wired initially reported last Wednesday — many authors far more famous than us. Grammarly’s new “Expert Review” feature uses our names to give its AI suggestions credibility that they don’t deserve.

That’s super gross, Grammarly. 🤮

The Color Czar approves! From Jason Snell’s MacBook Neo review on, appropriately, Six Colors:

Yes, there’s a standard silver that will allow the Neo to blend in with almost every other MacBook out there. Indigo is a somewhat lighter cousin to the Midnight MacBook Air, a dark blue that will satisfy those who prefer their devices to be on the darker side. The more interesting choices are blush, which adds a pink pop to the traditional silvery MacBook look, and citrus, a bright yellow gold that’s undoubtedly the most aggressive laptop color Apple has made since the days of the tangerine iBook.

First morning deck reading session of the year ☀️ 🐶 📖 😊

Meta just bought Moltbook, because of-fucking-course it did. Zac Hall for 9to5Mac:

For those keeping score at home, that puts Moltbook with Meta, OpenClaw (formerly Clawdbot) with OpenAI, and Apple’s M4 Mac mini at the center of it all.

Meta arguably already operates the biggest social network for AI, of course, for anyone who has spent any amount of time on Facebook in the last couple years. 

As my colleague Ben Lovejoy said in reaction to the news, “the phrase ‘what could possibly go wrong’ was invented for this exact scenario.” 

No word on if or when Apple plans to revive Ping for the AI era.

Josh Wardle is out with a new game, Parseword!

The game teaches you that in the clue “Taxi reduced fee,” for example, “reduced” is an indicator word, instructing you to shorten another word. Remove the “i” from “taxi” and you find the solution, which is confirmed by the definition: “fee.” Having learned the principle, a thoughtful player should be able to solve the next example: “Funk reduced joy.”

The New Yorker’s profile covers Wordle’s success, the aftermath of its virality, and how cryptic crosswords became Wardle’s new obsession.

XKCD, ‘The Home Remedy World Championships’:

Looks more like a nightmare in hell. 😂

Watched: Superman 🍿

I can’t say that it lived up to the hype of being the best comic book movie in recent memory, but it was a fun, exciting watch. I’m no Superman aficionado though, so take that with a grain of salt. Great casting! 👍

Ryan Christoffel, 9to5mac.com:

[I]n iOS 26.4, there’s another new setting that lets you disable a different aspect of Liquid Glass. 

It’s called ‘Reduce Bright Effects,’ and it controls the bright flashing response that shows up when interacting with certain UI elements.

Nice! I’ve found those bright highlights very distracting since September. I’ll be giving this new option a whirl.

THANK YOU to whoever finally fixed the bug that prevented the ‘Copy’ menu from appearing with a long-press on the address of in-app browser views. It’s been broken for over a year and I’d nearly given up hope. 🤩

(This might get me to finally update to iPadOS 26.)

Put the ZIP code first:

A US ZIP code is 5 characters. From those 5 characters you can determine the city, the state, and the country. That’s 3 fields. Autofilled. From one input.

But you don’t do that, do you? No. You make me type my street address, then my city, then scroll through a dropdown of 50 states to find Illinois wedged between Idaho and Indiana, then type my ZIP, then — the pièce de résistance — scroll through 200+ countries to find United States[.] […]

It’s 2026. What the fuck are we doing.

Now I’m livid too. Sorry for evermore ruining web forms for you. 😝

(Via White Noise)

Say hello to (Ara)Bella! 🐾 She’s a Golden Mountain Dog, and is just the sweetest, cuddliest, softest, sharkiest little pup. 😍

Huge week in the high peaks! Monday we went out to Allen with Lou and Mark on a truly frigid morning that turned into a pleasant day. Tuesday was a successful ascent up Basin with Julie for her 44th winter high peak. Thursday we enjoyed a one-in-a-thousand day in the McIntyre Range with blue skies and nearly zero wind with M and Jay. Friday we rounded out this fantastic week with another adventure up Basin with Todd, a redemption hike after we got shut down a few weeks ago, and successfully completed his winter 46ers! 🥳

Over 60 miles of hiking in the high peaks, with wonderful people accomplishing big goals — love it!

Oh, and got a new puppy in the middle. 🥰

Hartley Charlton, macrumors.com: ‘Apple Planning ‘MacBook Ultra’ With Touchscreen and Higher Price’

Instead of succeeding the newly announced M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, the “MacBook Ultra” will be a new, top-tier Apple laptop. Gurman added that the device is likely to sit above the current M5 MacBook Pros, rather than replace them, suggesting that they will remain on sale.

I’d been skeptical that Apple would replace the M5 MacBook Pros with M6 versions later this same year. But if it’s a new, even more premium entry in the lineup, I think that timeline makes more sense.

We like to think that we “prepare the way” so that you can focus on enjoying the hike! Had a blast with Mark and Lou up on Allen this week!

Greg Morris: ‘The Only Digital Detox That Worked’

I’ve written about this exact trap before. The irony of the dumb phone crowd carrying a phone, an MP3 player, a camera, a kindle, and a notebook when a smartphone does all of that. I called it ridiculous. And it is, if you’re doing it to be minimal. But that’s not what Becca was doing. She wasn’t trying to own less. She was trying to think more. There’s a difference.

Watched: Eternity 🍿

I really liked this movie. It’s rare to find a story that poses a really good question with relatable stakes, catches your heartstrings, and finds a way for everyone to come out of it looking like a good guy. It was very sweet. 👍👍

A thought I had for @manton last night: There are so many talented designers here on Micro.blog. It would be neat to see their takes on designs for the Timeline. Maybe plug-ins could be made to adapt its styling? Just to keep things fresh and interesting as we move toward ever more personal software?

Well, fellow space travelers, I’ve successfully completed my 32nd mission around the sun. Might as well go for one more! 🚀 ☀️ 🥳

Pentagon puts Scouts ‘on notice’ over DEI and girl-centered policies | NPR:

Hegseth made the announcement in a video posted to X, framing it as an ultimatum to Scouting to conform to the Trump administration’s anti-DEI agenda. He detailed his many criticisms of the group, saying Scouts had “lost their way” by changing the organization’s name and “watering down” what he called “the focus on God as the ruler of the universe.”

Fuck this administration. If you voted for Trump/Republican, you are responsible for these things. I hope you’re ready to vote differently next time.

Related, Tyler had to suffer through AirPods setup again (complete with ill-sized Apple Music ad) when they failed to connect:

My wife switched to a pair of Sony earbuds last year after swearing off AirPods for frequently failing to charge. She’s enjoyed them. So instead of accepting Apple’s generous three free months of Apple Music, I put that money to better use and bought a pair of Sony WF-1000XM5 (what a name) on my lunch break.

I no longer care if AirPods are the better product for my needs. They’re not the experience I want. And, increasingly, more and more of what Apple offers is not, either.

I’m pretty disappointed by this, tbh

HBO is now effectively dead. This is truly terrible. I cannot think of a worse outcome. David Zaslav, may you rot. https://deadline.com/2026/02/netflix-declines-to-raise-offer-for-warner-bros-1236738005/

Happy birthday (yesterday) to this wonderful woman! She’s the best.

I tried (and failed?) to DIY a fast-charge Apple Watch station in the bathroom. 😔 Apple’s cord that came with my Ultra 3, in a wooden mount adhered to this slim (supposedly 20W) brick. I don’t think it’s actually fast-charging. Anyone know how to tell, or a better solution? (No spot for a stand.)

Finished (re)reading: The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss 📚

Some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever read. If you’ve ever held love for inanimate objects (and who hasn’t?), I think you’ll connect with this book. It holds a special place in my heart. 👍👍

Matt Birchler’s insight of the Six Colors Apple Report Card is spot on:

Apple’s good will from this community has vanished. They may still make our favorite products to use for our computing needs, but we don’t see them the same anymore. There was no, “liquid glass isn’t good, but you’re still my favorite,” attitude from us, it was more, “liquid glass isn’t good, and I don’t even know you anymore.”

Apple’s squandered its brand loyalty, and lost any slack we might once have given it for product blunders. Birchler’s comparison of quotes from the 2015 survey is striking.