I so grateful to have received two pairs of Mack Weldon slippers for Christmas a few years ago. So when my original pair went missing this week — and were, frankly, getting a bit ratty anyway — I could just pull out a fresh pair! They’re so cozy.

Gray slippers rest on feet, surrounded by a textured beige carpet. A wooden floor and a peeling white baseboard lie in the background.

Jason Kottke made an ask of his readers to point out things only they have noticed:

Anyway, I was wondering if any of y’all have any bugaboos like this where you feel like you’re the only one who knows this is happening.

While I didn’t notice this weirdness personally, I happened upon it via a Reel, I think it fits the theme:

Why on earth would the wizarding world so extravagantly celebrate Christmas? Wouldn’t Jesus just be a normal dude in their eyes? “You turn water to wine? Yeah, we all do that here!” Even returning from the dead isn’t so special with horcruxes and everything. 🙃

TIL you can navigate complex interfaces from within a Messages notification. I expanded this one, long-pressed on an email address sent, and was able to tap and swipe through the UI for adding the address to a contact in the tiny viewport. What if I chose to add a new one? Mini keyboard!?

Smartphone screen displays contact options for a phone number, offering actions like creating a new contact or adding to an existing one. Background shows a blurred purple image of another smartphone.

🆕📝 The App Store Awards unexpectedly brightened my day (and my Today View)

A calculator app wasn't on the list, but the Awards still led me to it and its wonderful widget.

Re: @kottke@mastodon.social’s microwave game challenge. 10,000! (Also, I have thoughts about microwaves and their buttons.)

A game interface displays a score of 10,000 and a 1-second timer with icons of food items. “New High Score!” is highlighted. Buttons labeled “STOP,” “START,” and “OPEN” are below.

Today was a perfect day at @whiteface_mt! Incredible views, soft snow, good weather, and great friends. Thanks to the whole team there! (And maybe let someone know that your ski patroller made their escape with a Christmas tree down the slopes! 🤣)

Snow-dusted trees stand along ski trails blanketed in fog on a mountain slope amidst a forest landscape under a gray sky. Three people wearing winter gear and helmets sit on a ski lift with snowy trees in the background. The person in the middle waves, smiling in an outdoor snowy setting. Snow-covered trees stand motionless atop a mountain overlooking winding ski trails amidst a vast expanse of nearby snow-topped ridges under a cloudy sky. Skier carries a large branch while skiing down a snowy slope wearing dark pants and a red jacket amidst vast white snow-covered terrain. Digital map shows ski routes on a mountain highlighted in red. <strong>Text:</strong> WHITEFACE December 9 2024 8 runs skiing a total of 15.6 mi and 15755 ft downhill 33.8 mph top speed 3134 ft tallest run 2.9 mi longest run Tracked with Slopes

🔗 Apple Watch Ultra 3 Will Support Texting via Satellite (Juli Clover / macrumors.com)

Apple is hoping that the satellite feature will encourage Apple Watch owners to update to a new Apple Watch Ultra, with the third-generation model set to come out in September 2025. Satellite connectivity would also allow Apple to better compete with companies like Garmin that manufacture dedicated satellite hardware for use in off-grid emergencies.

This alone would be a worthwhile update for me. Add in the fresh battery gains and other usual improvements and we’ve got ourselves a banger watch upgrade. 🤞

Look at their little snow hats! 😍

Mailboxes covered in snow standing in a line along a snowy path by a forested area. Visible numbers include 117 and 23.

Shoutout to Simple Scan which was the runner-up as Best New App in the MacStories Selects awards. I love this thing and it gets 3(!) spots in my Control Center for super easily scanning documents to the right place in Files.

(Also to Shareshot, which framed this screenshot and earned Best Design.)

A smartphone screen displays a control center with various app shortcuts labeled &ldquo;Simple Scan.&rdquo; Four buttons include &ldquo;Scan OMG Receipts,&rdquo; &ldquo;Scan Save Paystub,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Scan Scans Folder,&rdquo; highlighted in red.

Swinging into early ice season at Harlot on the north side of Pitchoff! (Is it still early with flows this thick?) It sure feels good to kick into vertical ice again.

Book your trip to learn the pure joy of climbing frozen waterfalls. No experience needed! Or get out onto new flows with us.

@newyorkoutdoorguides @lakeplacidadk #Adirondacks #PerfectDayADK #HireAGuide

Climber ascends a steep icy cliff using ice axes surrounded by a snowy landscape with bare trees. Snow-covered evergreen trees stand still across a sloped mountain landscape surrounded by sparse underbrush and a cloudy sky. Snow-covered trees stand still in a mountainous landscape surrounded by dense forest under an overcast sky. Sparse branches emerge from the deep snow in the foreground. Climber scaling an icy cliff using gear in a snowy forested area with leafless trees above. A person climbs a steep ice-covered rock face using ropes in a snowy forested area with bare and evergreen trees under an overcast sky. Climber ascends icy rock face using ropes surrounded by snow-covered terrain and leafless trees under a cloudy sky. Icicles hanging from a rocky cliff with snow covering the ground and trees. The cliff is steep, and the frozen formations create a layered appearance in a winter forest setting.

🎙️ On an episode of one of my new favorite podcasts, The Sharp End, from about five years ago, I heard a shout-out to someone I know in real life! Another local climber and hiker, Matt Baer, apparently won a climbing helmet giveaway back then. Makes the world feel a little smaller, in a good way.

Winter has well and truly arrived in the ADK.

I’m so proud of Petra as she completed her first-ever High Peak, Phelps, on Saturday! Although she was nervous about the cold and all that mileage in snowshoes, she absolutely rocked it out all day! The weather even cooperated, and we got a stunning view of the Great Range, Colden, the McIntyres, and more just as we poked out of the trees, and no wind to speak of!

We couldn’t have asked for better conditions for Petra’s first winter hike in the Adirondacks, and we’re already planning her next trip to the mountains. 1 down, 45 to go!

@newyorkoutdoorguides @lakeplacidadk #Adirondacks #PerfectDayADK #HireAGuide

A bundled-up person holding trekking poles stands on a snowy landscape, gazing toward distant, fog-covered mountains surrounded by a forest of evergreen trees. Two people smiling stand in a snowy landscape wearing winter clothing and backpacks holding hiking poles surrounded by snow-covered trees and mountains. A person stands looking upward using hiking poles surrounded by a snowy forest of evergreen trees and birch trees covered in snow. A person wearing a colorful hat walks through a snow-covered forest, surrounded by frosted trees, with distant mountains visible under a cloudy sky. Snow-covered trees stand still in a quiet forest while small animal tracks trail across the fresh snow on the ground creating a serene winter scene. A hiker stands with trekking poles amidst a snow-covered landscape, surrounded by frosted trees, under a cloudy sky with distant mountain views. Two people smile holding drinks on a snowy mountain with snow-covered trees and cloudy skies in the background. Snow-covered pine trees stand in the foreground overlooking a distant mountain peak under a cloudy sky with patches of blue visible. A person in a blue jacket observes a snowy trail next to a forest. A yellow sign reads &ldquo;ATTENTION PLEASE READ THE BACKCOUNTRY USERS RESPONSIBILITIES AND FOLLOW THESE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.&rdquo; Mountains are visible in the background. A snow-covered branch forms a round face with indentations resembling eyes and a smile in a snowy forest setting surrounded by trees. Two people smile in snowy woods near a bear safety sign. The woman points at the sign. They wear winter jackets and hats. Sign text: ATTENTION HIGH BEAR ACTIVITY PLEASE FOLLOW THESE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS A pint glass filled with amber beer sits on a wooden bar next to an open menu. The glass features the text Lake Placid Pub &amp; Brewery UBU www.ubuale.com. A booklet displays Onward Mountain Guides with contact information for Jarrod Blundy. The setting is a dimly lit bar.

The Daley family thru-hiked 1300 miles of the PCT — with three kids under five 🤯:

On the PCT, none of the wrong distractions existed. The little ones found multiple purposes for everything around them. Rocks transformed into plates and jumping platforms, trees became resting places and climbing toys, and sticks turned into all the things. Their imaginations went wild, but so did the need for practicality and focus. They became partners in looking for good shade or where they all might sleep for the night–empowering tasks that helped the family function. And the parents transformed, too.

👏

🆕📝 7 Things This Week [#161]

Apple’s holiday ad, a personal web project, an Apple News tip, a magic song, an exciting trailer, an AppleScript, and a wild single-use timer. Are you getting it? These are not seven different things— oh wait, yes they are. 😆

Here’s a note to myself that I just found, dated May 17, 2024. So a few weeks before WWDC this year:

AI Idea: LLM chatbot trained on the Apple Knowledge Base of support documents

And what was one of the universally praised features of Apple Intelligence introduced at WWDC? A supercharged Siri with “expansive product knowledge.” Calling that a win! 💪

A smartphone displays instructions for scheduling a message in the Messages app. The screen lists four steps, including opening the app, writing a message, and selecting &ldquo;Send Later.&quot;

New list just dropped

Text listing names for someone called Jarrod at Einstein&rsquo;s Bagels in Las Vegas. Three names are listed: Jeric, Jerd, Gerad.

I just discovered that the ability to hide the window of an app you’ve set to open automatically upon login was removed from macOS some time ago. Boo! Luckily, third-party developers come to the rescue! This app was an easy $1 spent as it restores that functionality and adds other advanced options.

A window titled &ldquo;Autostarter&rdquo; lists the application &ldquo;Reeder&rdquo; set to open and hide at login, with options like &ldquo;Delayed Start&rdquo; and &ldquo;Aggressive Hide&rdquo; available. Text advises managing login items in System Settings.

Test driving a new app in the coveted Dock real estate. ✌️

Four app icons on a purple background; Messages, Safari, Twos, and Drafts.

🔗 Apple reportedly collaborating with Sony to bolster VR gaming on Vision Pro (Michael Burkhardt / 9to5mac.com)

Reportedly, Apple is also interested in working with Sony to integrate the PlayStation VR2 controllers, and they’ve been making progress on that partnership[.] […]

It hasn’t been perfect, however. Apple and Sony apparently aimed to announce this support last month, but the feature has apparently been postponed. Gurman reports that we should still expect the introduction, “unless it gets abruptly scrapped.”

👀 Yes please! The VR2 controllers are a bit chonky, but it’s a first step!

🆕📝 Microsoft hinges away from the Surface Studio

So long svelte Studio, you big, beautiful beast. 🖥️

The snow and conditions were just too perfect to not go exploring through untouched trails tonight! ❄️

Snow-covered ground illuminated by a flashlight in a dark forest setting with trees visible to the left and background shadows. Tracks extend through snow illuminated by a flashlight in a dark forest at night creating a path through snow-covered trees and capturing a sense of solitude and stillness. A person wearing a green headlamp smiles in a dark environment, dressed in a hooded jacket. The headlamp displays the text Petzl. A snow-covered tree stands in a dark forest with a red trail marker visible on its trunk surrounded by dense branches under a light dusting of fresh snow. Snow-covered trees arch in the dark night illuminated by a bright light revealing a narrow pathway surrounded by dense forest.

I’m quite happy with how this auto-emojifier bit turned out in an update to my 7 Things shortcut! 😄

A workflow interface displays various action blocks for automating tasks, including a dictionary mapping text keys (e.g., &ldquo;youtube&rdquo;) to link emojis, and conditional logic to assign variables.

🔗 Bloomberg: Apple ‘investigating’ bringing cellular to the Mac for the first time (Chance Miller / 9to5mac.com)

Apple is expected to debut the first version of its cellular modem next year in the iPhone SE 4, the iPhone 17 Air, and the base model iPad. The following year, it will debut a higher-end version of the chip with faster 5G connectivity for the iPhone 18 Pro.

As part of this transition, Apple is also investigating bringing cellular to the Mac as soon as 2026

That timeframe is less than ideal. I plan to buy a MacBook Air when it gets an M4 chip (early 2025?) but I so want cellular!

🆕📝 MacStories Unwind’s Best Music of 2024

🎵 I made a playlist and a Raindrop collection with all the featured albums!

Matt Birchler: ‘How Flight Simulator helped my flying anxiety (members post)'

But from the third person perspective, I was able to see that while landing, the plane is actually going very slow relative to its size. It’s not a perfect analogy, but if you’re an ant in a car, it might feel like it’s going impossibly fast and slowing at a remarkable rate, even if the car’s just casually slowing down for a stop sign on a residential road. In a plane, I’m the ant and I’m in an 80 ton machine — it feels impossibly intense to me, but at the plane’s scale, it’s not a huge deal.

I like the analogy. 👍