Jason Snell: ‘Apple Intelligence summaries might get warning labels. That’s not enough.'

Apple is shipping these AI-based features rapidly, and marketing them heavily, because it fears that its competitors so far out in front that it’s a potentially existential issue. But several of these features simply aren’t up to Apple’s quality standards, and I worry that we’ve all become so inured to AI hallucinations and screw-ups that we’re willing to accept them.

We shouldn’t be. Apple’s shipping a feature that frequently rewrites headlines to be wrong.

Jason makes good recommendations, too.

🔗 This ‘Features of Adulthood’ comic is shockingly accurate. xkcd.com

I’ve made the realization that I’ve done a poor job following blogs and accounts by women. The ratio is truly shameful. I’d love your recommendations for your favorite female friends. I’m into tech, outdoor adventures, and blogging, but I’ll read anything well-written. Always open to new interests!

🆕📝 My Blogging Origin Story & Other Questions: A Blogging Challenge

Sorry it's so long, Kev, but you did ask for it!

David Smith: ‘Four years after mob violence, Kamala Harris hands power – peacefully – to Trump’

Like Vice-Presidents Gore and Mike Pence before her, Harris did her duty on Monday. America has returned to a peaceful transfer of power. Yet the unpalatable truth was that the candidate who tried to overturn the previous election is legitimately returning to power. Democracy had prevailed to elevate a man who spits in its face.

That she didn’t gag while certifying the results proves she’s made of tougher stuff than me.

(Via Dave Winer)

🆕📝 7 Things This Week [#165]

An alternate Genmoji app, a Shrinking creator interview, a passkey vs. magic link login blog post, how to kill spam messages online, an MKBHD year-end recap, a beautiful media year-end recap, and a sobering look at the sum total of human creation.

If given the choice, I’ve decided that I’d prefer a 3x telephoto lens to a 2x one as second camera on my iPhone. But I guess that wouldn’t work out as nicely to get a sharp crop from the 48MP main lens. Still, it’d be nice if I could choose the zoom of that extra button on the Camera’s interface.

Matt Birchler: ‘Sign up for X to see that amber alert. Yikes’

I believe it’s a good thing to meet your constituents where they are […]. However, it is very bad for them to put essential information on a private website they don’t own and that blocks access from logged out users. [And] zero logged out users would see a thread, since for a year or so X has only shown one post at a time to logged-out visitors.

This is why it’s important for people to own their presence on the web, especially when it comes to government agencies that need to communicate with people.

👏 Own 👏 Your 👏 Web 👏

🔗 Joe Rossignol: ‘Satechi’s New Mac Mini Hub Solves the Power Button Problem’ macrumors.com

With the extra frontside ports and built-in external storage for backups, I continue to think these made-specially-for-Mac-mini stand things are a great investment.

🆕📝 Some personal news: I’m an unpaid volunteer editor at The Verge (at least until they’re better at linking to things)

Or, 'Jarrod got grumpy and made a mountain out of a molehill' 🤪

🆕📝 I’m switching from Raindrop to Apple Notes for saving my shopping links

It sounds inconsequential, but I think it's going to make an outsized difference. I've been toying with the idea of 2025 being The Year of Small Improvements, and this plays nicely with that theme.

Tom Warren: ‘Microsoft is using Bing to trick people into thinking they’re on Google’

If you use Bing right now without signing into a Microsoft account and search for Google, you’ll get a page that looks an awful lot like… Google.

[…] The Google result includes a search bar, an image that looks a lot like a Google Doodle, and even some small text under the search bar just like Google does. Microsoft even automatically scrolls down the page slightly to mask its own Bing search bar that appears at the top of search results.

That’s really something. Microsoft, your lack of taste is showing.

🔗 All we have is a tiny portable propane grill, and I’m no grillmaster. So the $400 price point on this Brisk It grill is attractive, as is the assistive cooking AI — if it actually works as advertised. theverge.com

🔗 2025 will be the year — and perhaps this Schlage Sense Pro Pro Smart Deadbolt (what a mouthful!) will be the unit — that I invest in a smart lock. I’ve spent too many years fumbling with my key in the bitter cold and my arms full of gear. 9to5mac.com

🔗 ‘Shazam Fast Forward predicts 50 breakthrough artists in 2025’ Ben Lovejoy / 9to5mac.com

I’m looking forward to their 2025 Predictions playlist, presumably available after the 5-day countdown.

🎁 Folks who share gift links to paywalled articles, I appreciate you. 🙌

Or, for this crowd, “The Constitution is all very well up to a point, but the needs of [Apple] must come first.” Fuck that sentiment. theatlantic.com

🔗 It speaks to Lutron’s rock-solid performance that I now unreservedly covet $400 smart window shades. casetawireless.com

‘Blogging: you’re doing it right’ manuelmoreale.com

Chris Welch:

The Frame Pro is also getting the same litany of AI-powered features as Samsung’s other 2025 TVs. AI is such a focus this year that there’s a dedicated button on the remote for activating Click to Search, which can show you “who the actors are in a given scene, where that scene is taking place, or even the clothing the characters are wearing,” according to Samsung’s press release.

And it’ll get you recipes for foods on-screen, as well as do live translations for captions. The future is coming fast and furious. But I wonder how much of this will still be included in five years.

Adam Newbold poses a great question on syndicating posts vs. pages that he’ll answer with Neato:

Our websites have pages that don’t get syndicated (what we think of as “static” pages) and things that do (what we think of as “blog posts”). But… why? Why not just syndicate everything? If you have an “About” page and you change it, why wouldn’t you want to add that to your feed and let your readers know about the update? If you make a nice new static page, why should you have to announce it and link to it in a separate blog post when having that page appear in your feed does the job for you?

James Thomson reveals the secrets — and his role — in how the Mac OS Dock came to be. Make sure to read to the very end! 🔗 tla.systems

‘Friction is a Feature’ 🔗 Steve Ledlow / tangiblelife.net

‘Intentional Web Manifesto’ 🔗 Steve Ledlow / tangiblelife.net

Lou Plummer describes his perfect day (and it, indeed, sounds super nice). 🔗 amerpie.lol