14/09/2017

The archive contains older posts which may no longer reflect my current views.

# I finally got around to updating my /now page slightly. It had been two months.

While not much has changed in that time it defeats the purpose of it being "now" if not refreshed regularly.

# I don't know if it's just me or shiny new toy syndrome, but the animations seem more pronounced in iOS 11. For example, the way the icons return to position while the background zooms out.

Just me?  

# Why do we feel the need to apologise when we haven't blogged for a while or kept to a promised schedule?

Cristobal apologised this morning for not updating his site even though, in his own words, there were only "roughly ten people who could notice" when he posts or doesn't.

It reminded me of times when I have written apologies or explanations when what I’ve been doing has been away from the blog.

Why should we have to?

I used to write about the implied social contract between someone and their followers: the idea that you would be followed for a reason, for the type of material you posted, and the subsequent obligation felt to keep posting the same type of content.

Perhaps there is a vanity metric at play and you don't want to lose the followers/readers you have amassed because no one likes it when numbers start dropping.

I'd certainly argue this is the case with many on social networks where metrics are everything.

But, for a blog, is it something else?

As a blog is inherently more personal is there a deeper sense of connection that runs beyond any implied contract? Is there a sense of community, no matter how small, such that we feel we are genuinely letting friends down on a more intimate level rather than merely not honouring an obligation?

Do we feel the need to post an apology in the same way we need to make amends for not speaking to a friend in a while?

Depending on the nature of the blog, and the person, I'd say yes.

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# Liked: The Lessons and Questions of the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 – Stratechery by Ben Thompson...

”Apple clearly decided to not minimize the notch, the black cut-out at the top of the iPhone X that houses an array of sensors and cameras. If anything, the company went out of its way to emphasize it, including playing video such that the notch obscured what was being shown (that is actually an optional view; by default video is letter-boxed such that it avoids the notch).”

Apple are completely unapologetic about the notch (just like how the 5C was unapologetically plastic) and, with it, demonstrate being completely in control.

The notch is coming in for quite a bashing in many quarters and quibbles are being grossly exaggerated. Personally, I don’t have a problem with it and think, given a little while, people won’t even see the notch any more - it’ll be as if it’s always been there, a perfectly natural hardware evolution.

4 comments: click to read or leave your own Comments