This Is My Last

Do you want an iPhone Duo? The iPhone Duo is one device in one of your pocket. You have the flexibility of either using the small screen or the big screen, all day long. You have one big (logical) battery that you can use the electrons whichever way you fancy all day. There is no need to wait for data to sync across different devices. And we all know there isn't a button to force iCloud to do its job. Apple doesn't sell iPhone minis anymore, So if you really want a small screen, you'll want the…

If you are curious about the rumored foldable iPhone -- how does iOS evolve into a duo-screen user-interface, is the foldable display any different from the recent models from Samsung and Xiaomi and Huawei, or how high the price Apple think it can charge, here's the livestream of Apple's Surprise and Shine event over at YouTube. Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. Tim Cook announced the iPhone X. It's now John Ternus' turn. ~ Link: Apple Event - September 9, by Apple, YouTube

Matthew Buckley Smith: Within the play’s first few scenes, we are introduced to Macbeth by other characters who speak enthusiastically about his incomparable virtue, but we’ve scarcely met the man himself before he starts to contemplate the murder of his king and benefactor. ~ Link: Macbeth and His Problems, by Matthew Buckley Smith, Portico

Lex Friedman: [T]he streak optimizes for the minimum. It doesn’t care whether you did a good lesson or a good workout; it cares whether you did any lesson or a workout. Over enough days, you learn to feed it the minimum, and the minimum becomes the habit. ...hi, this is ava: I don’t think my efforts were wasted because I took a break. Many things, even hobbies and good habits, don’t need to be done daily. No app or whatever should punish me for taking a day off. I do have three streaks…

There are many reasons why one might want to switch to Apple Passwords for password management. Apple's password manager is 'free' as it is part of the operating systems -- iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. One may also no longer enjoy any particular third-party password manager, or worse. Here's Ricky Mondello's guide to switching password managers in 2026. (And, you can trust this guide. If you have read the linked article's 'Important Note' right at the top, you will know I can't tell you…

Just finished reading: The Universe Speaks in Numbers, by Graham Farmelo. No, I will not pretend I understand every single chapter, every single sentence, even though this book is targeted at, if I am not wrong, laypersons and non-experts. It is a very interesting read on the intersection of physics and mathematics, especially in the recent decades of standard models and string theory.

Another week. Another set of links for your reading pleasure. 40 Years Later, 'The Baby-Sitters Club' Is Still Helping Readers See Themselves, by Barrie Hardymon, Samantha Balaban, NPR She Wrote Me a Letter, by Paul Delany, Los Angeles Review of Books Tasting My Mother’s Japan, by Hana Loftus, Vittles

Clara Collier: What is really being suggested here is less a continuation of modern work than a return to a much older cultural understanding of labor. Imas makes this point directly: “Before industrialization, it was difficult to separate a product from the person who made it … Economic transactions had a distinct social component that was innately linked to the consumption experience.” Relatedly, before industrialization, there was very little sense that working, in itself, could be dignified…

I always thought that food in advertisements are typically not the actual food, and may in fact be inedible. The objective is to make the food look good in photographs and videos, not to make it taste good. That juicy and succulent and savory hamburger you see in the commercial is probably not fit to be eaten. There are professional photographers that know how all the tricks and techniques in creating attractive food in advertisements. And then, there is food created by AI. ~ Links: Uncanny and…

If information can flow backwards in time, and someone told the younger me that my main source of entertainment in the year twenty twenty-six is a bunch of audio programmes where nothing happens except people talk to to people on microphones, the younger me will be very surprised. Just like books where I know I will never finish reading all of them that I want to read, so too are podcasts. Recently, I've just unfollowed one tech podcast that I am no longer interested in listening, but I've…

The Ig Nobel honors achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think". This year's winners include Paul Piff, Daniel Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner, for amassing evidence that upper class people are more likely to snatch from a children’s supply of candy, and engage in other kinds of unethical behavior. ~ Links: Meet the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize winners, by Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica The 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Ceremony (2026) FULL…

Seriously, is time even real? ~ Link: Is Time Even Real? Does It Even Flow?, by Jim Al-Khalili, excerpted by Literary Hub from On Time: The Physics That Makes the Universe Tick

Apple Pay Express is the feature of Apple Pay where you can pay for your commute by just holding your iPhone or Apple Watch to the card reader. There's no need to unlock your phone or watch, and the payment will just go through. And this feature is finally here in Singapore, where I live. Okay, here in some public transportation. This feature is only available for payment for subway trains (known locally as MRT) across the country, and light rails (or LRT), available in three towns. Many…

The only pinball machine that I really played was the one bundled with Microsoft's Windows, Space Cadet. If I remembered correctly, I got pretty good at it, after spending many lunch hours with it. But playing pinball on a computer is different from playing on a physical pinball machine, according to Mike Monteiro: Pinball games grow old with you. They change as you change. The rubber rings around the flippers hardens, snaps, and gets replaced by another set of rubber rings, and suddenly the…

The best kind of meetings is when… there is only one chair for one person, which is you, to sit, you can just reach out your hands and touch a tree, you may hear bird songs, if you are lucky enough. ~ Link: Found a sweet new meeting room., by Ray Grasso, Grizzlebit

Andy Ihnatko, on Google and Apple changing names on their maps: But as the world’s go-to resource for map and route info, they still have a lot of responsibility. I would argue that part of this responsibility is to not fancy themselves as qualified arbiters of geopolitical disputes. Google lacks the required expertise and the impartiality. Would you really want a $4 trillion corporate entity — beholden to shareholders and self-interest, not to academic rigor or to the people directly affected…

It’s a new month. Time for some reading of old links from last month. There’s No Place Like Group Chats, by Hanif Abdurraqib, New Yorker Saved by the Norton, by Mark Bauerlein, Portico The Singapore Strategies, by Peter A Coclanis, Aeon

If you haven’t heard, there is a new CEO over at Apple. It wasn’t ever helpful before, but perhaps it’s time to really retire the question: what would Steve Jobs do. (And I don’t think “What would Tim Cook do” will ever be a frequently-asked-question.) Perhaps Tim Cook can now remove that 4am alarm on his Clock app, and just let the sunshine wakes him everyday. Or maybe he can still wake up early in the morning, but go for a longer walk outside and don’t bother reading emails on his iPad if…

I do not know how many sunsets I have left, but I want to see all of them. Feel all of them. ~ Link: I Want to See More Sunsets, by John, Jotted Notes

And now, for something different: A Violonchelista de Fene.

The one thing that I am pining about old software: there is 'no need' to upgrade the software ever so often, because there is no always-on internet. Or heck, no internet. And you don't get viruses so long you practice safe diskette sharing. (Yes, I am that old.) Nowadays, software gets updated and suddenly, there is a whole new user-interface to learn. And new features to ignore. And buttons start blinking, and marquees start popping up, inviting (and interrupting) you to AI this and AI that.…

When i am sad or down, sharing on blogs is probably not high on my agenda list. If you notice the periods when I am writing less, it's probably because I am low-spirited. The same is probably happening to many other people you follow on personal blogs and social media. But we probably don't notice. We read in aggregate. If one person stops posting, others fill in the void. ~ Link: What Twenty Years of Social Media Has Done to Our Memories, by Kathryn Jezer-Morton, The Story of Your Life: How…

There are so many things we are still not doing enough. Syarafana Shafeeq: Giving people space to struggle without writing them off is not about excusing them from adulthood, said Sarah. It is about giving them a way to remain part of it, she said. ~ Link: A Mother Lost Her Son to Suicide. Now She Fears What Being 30 and Unemployed Means For Her Other, by Syarafana Shafeeq, Straits Times ~ If you or if someone you know is suicidal, please do not hesitate to seek for help. Here is a list of…

If a tool is not reliable, that it doesn't just work, is it still a tool? ~ Link: AI Ruined Some of My Most Precious Accessibility Tools., by Strayblog

There isn't a single correct way of living one's life. What my experience tells me is to never let other people defines what is success, and what we need to achieve. We have to, each of us, decide what we want to achieve, what we can let go, and what plan B looks like if we cannot achieve what we want. Or, Nikhil Lodha: Do not fret over what you couldn’t achieve. It is pointless if you do, and pointless if you don’t. There are people in our lives we have to take care of. You don’t need a lot…

Do enjoy some reading pleasure before the weekend commences. Does Computer Science Need Computers?, by Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine In Hilbert Space, All Things Are Quantumly Possible, by Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine The Restaurant Is 118 Years Old. The Merch Is New., by Charlotte Druckman, Grub Street

Or, new etiquette norms need to be created for abnormal situation. ~ Link: Please Don’t Rearrange Our Shoes When We Turn up, Paramedics in Japan Urge, by Gavin Blair, The Guardian

Apple event on Sept 9. Unless the company has moved April Fool’s Day to September, this has got to be announcement of new iPhones. What’s interesting, to me anyway, is that the tagline Apple uses for this event is translated quite differently across different languages across different countries and regions. Note, for example, the taglines for mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are all translated differently. ~ Links: Apple Event Announced for September 9: 'Surprise and Shine', by Juli…

I am no longer using NetNewsWire, the original RSS reader, on a daily basis, but I am still keeping this app on all my devices as a backup. But this is definitely a good app with many fans and users. Brent Simmons had declared, since taking back the development of this app, that it is now in a good position to add new features. Good news indeed. ~ Link: After Fixin’ the Bugs, Brent Simmons, Inessential

Ben Nadel: But now that it's my hobby, not my profession, I don't have to justify any of it to anyone but myself. And I'm hoping that this clarity will bring me a new type of joy. ~ Link: Programming as a Hobby in the Age Of AI, by Ben Nadel