@craiggrannell@mastodon.social
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craiggrannell

@craiggrannell@mastodon.social

#Writer for hire. Mostly #tech, #Apple, #games, #retrogaming, design. Smashes out words for #Wired, #Stuff, TapSmart and others. Writes #DailyRetroGame here on Mastodon. He/him. GF/DF. Likes #Lego and Mini #Schnauzers. Email: hello at craiggrannell dot com // https://linktr.ee/craiggrannell

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craiggrannell, to random
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Just discovered what happens when you order 18 FCBD comics off of eBay, each is an individual sale, your eBay app does alerts, and you have an Apple Watch. DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

craiggrannell, to random
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The latest issue of our indie iPhone mag, Swipe, just arrived. Issue (!) includes my features on photo filter apps, optimising devices for kids, and how AR could change the future of museums.

Free trial. Cheap as chips subscription. All indie. Please give it a go, if you like the sound of that.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/swipe-for-iphone/id523628077

craiggrannell, to random
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If you don’t already own #BBEdit for Mac, it’s on sale from midnight (EDT) tonight until 6am (EDT) on the 13th. $30 by using the code BBEDIT30, to celebrate the app’s 30th anniversary.

I use the app every day. It’s really great for text and coding.

The folks behind it are also on Mastodon: @bbedit

craiggrannell, to random
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Just found the new and affordable $499 #Google #Pixel tablet is rocking up in the UK at £599. That’s a bit of a piss-take.

($499 is currently £397. Add VAT at you’re at £476 and change. Add some wiggle room for currency/imports and you go to £499. Maybe £519. But £599? Seriously?)

craiggrannell,
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@codepope Not sure how this can be down to Brexit per se. Even with the weakness of the pound, this is taking the piss.

craiggrannell,
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@Middaparka €649. (About £570.) Only in Germany, though. VAT there is similar to here – 19%.

craiggrannell, to random
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#DailyRetroGame 113: Rez (2001)

In theory a rail shooter, with mechanics not entirely dissimilar from Panzer Dragoon (or Space Harrier), Rez when played was more like tumbling headlong into a blissed-out techno music video.

With abstract futuristic visuals and beat-matched action, Rez proved intoxicating and quickly differentiated itself from more traditional fare. Naturally, not enough people actually bought it.

Play it on: #Dreamcast

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n8sQAchi34

#retrogaming

craiggrannell, to random
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I’m apparently ‘went to the doctor to see about one condition and was told about another I was entirely unaware of’ old.

(I today joined Team Arthritis, which I suspected. But I was also told I have a weak left foot and have been given exercises to try to strengthen the tendon, which is unhappy. Yay at getting older…)

craiggrannell,
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@omgtacos Thanks. Definitely worth some thought. I benefitted hugely from being properly fitted for trainers once – I switched brand and it helped a lot. But there’s clearly something weird now going on with my toes that needs looking at and dealing with.

craiggrannell,
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@semiprime I was warned by my optician a couple of years back I had a few years until id inevitably need reading glasses. This year, I for the first time can’t read the next on Apple plugs. It starts small…

craiggrannell,
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@Middaparka Not the GP. (He quit. I’m not sure I’ve been assigned another yet.) This was the MSK practitioner, who was pretty good. Gave me clear actions and a timeline for if things don’t improve. (Basically, if there’s no improvement in three weeks, I’m to contact the surgery, and I’ll get an X-ray.)

craiggrannell, to random
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It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, Apple will do for existing customers when shifting Logic on Mac to a subscription, if that happens. It’s perfectly feasible to give people existing features indefinitely and have the sub for newer ones. But… $$$$$

craiggrannell,
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@patrick_h_lauke Yes. It’s a model for smaller developers who don’t want to piss people off. But it’s no good when you’re a giant needing a huge income – even if, as it turns out, the whole ‘ongoing updates’ model turned out to be bullshit anyway.

craiggrannell, to random
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How are folks finding Mastodon of late? It feels a bit quieter for me, but still active.

(I saw folks over on eg comics Twitter noting they won’t come here, which I thought a pity. But some noted they weren’t getting any notifications these days.)

craiggrannell,
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@jknlsn I still prefer this place over Twitter. I miss the centralisation of conversation (at least of those I mostly chatted with), and it feels like I’ve carved off half of my interests. But it is what it is. I suspect the future is a separation again – difference places for different folks. (Many of the devs, lawyers and academics landed here. Comics Twitter never came, nor did UK politics Twitter.)

craiggrannell,
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@omgtacos I get more engagement here than anywhere else. But that engagement has dropped. Or perhaps I’m just boring people these days! Who knows?

I have eg noticed interest in the daily retro-gaming stuff – while variable – is slowly trending downwards. But then I’m over 100 entries in, and so maybe people are finding it/me stale.

craiggrannell,
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@pacorob I suspect federalisation and the prospect of spoofing initially put corporations and institutes off. I know for some, the megaphone was the most important thing, hence why some briefly came here but then went back to Twitter. (Conversely, you have folks like David Allen Green, who seemed to really like things being a bit quieter and a lot friendlier here.)

craiggrannell,
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@omgtacos Like Bluesky? I have an account there. Everything feels… really small. And there’s almost no engagement. It feels like everyone’s shouting. Odd.

craiggrannell,
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@freitag That sounds about right. And conversation on Twitter is now completely broken for me, with Musk making good on his plans to ‘sink’ anyone lacking a blue tick. So any viral/prominent tweet gets a sea of Maga immediately beneath it, and it’s not worth fishing for good stuff.

davemark, to random
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Imagine Logic Pro on a headset:

  • Potential for a HUGE display, much bigger than the biggest iPad, not limited by hardware
  • Swipe to quickly move through your timeline/access specific tracks
  • Gestures galore, like Minority Report in real life!

(@craiggrannell prompted this thought)

#Apple #LogicPro #VR #AR

craiggrannell,
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@freitag @davemark There is an element of that, for sure. I recall at the last in-person WWDC having a chat with an Apple PR, who was shocked when I said how awful iPad was as a laptop. Of course, this was later fixed, but I noted at the time how painful the interaction model was for me, with RSI, and how Apple was contradicting its own advice. Yet even today, there are key issues with iPad and the desktop model, because Apple wants you to buy more kit.

craiggrannell,
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@freitag @davemark We could feasibly have a single device that can do so much, but that doesn’t move hardware. So we end up with arbitrary compromises and blockers. Hard to know whether a headset could blaze through the lot. But the lack of physicality could be problematic, not least in long-session editing spaces. (I used to sit for HOURS in front of a Media 100 suite. And when I’m working on music, I’ll be there for ages tweaking mixes and re-recording little bits.)

craiggrannell,
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@freitag @davemark I’m convinced that is the case. Apple did everything it could to not offer proper external display support. It was embarrassing watching execs gleefully drag content between displays, despite, you know, those separate devices not always having compatible apps for said content. What people wanted was to turn the iPad into a desktop in context. It could have been the best of everything. Instead, it’s increasingly a kind of nothing.

craiggrannell,
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@freitag @davemark And I say all this as someone who bloody loves the iPad and has advocated about it for a long time. But when you also see folks like Federico Viticci writing stories about how many the Mac is the way and the iPad is falling short, that should set of deafening alarm bells over Cupertino way.

craiggrannell,
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@freitag @davemark It was always the best tablet, but was initially a crummy laptop. Then it remained the best tablet and was also a pretty good laptop (with an Apple or Brydge keyboard) and a half-arsed desktop.

The external screen stuff nudged the needle, but it’s still largely in that same space for me. (The Apple display didn’t help either. Quite disappointing for what you got. Kind of knocked my iPad + display dream.)

davemark, to random
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Can’t help but wonder if Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro will:

  • run on the new Apple Headset (probably?)
  • be shown off at WWDC as one of the killer Headset apps

🤔

craiggrannell,
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@ianbetteridge @davemark Yep. That is another way of looking at it. And the pricing is such that the iPad version will cost roughly the same across four years as the Mac version.

Although, truth be told, I’d be happier about that price tag if it was a universal app. I wouldn’t be keen on paying the same again for the Mac version.

(I’ll make exceptions there for indies – Soulver, say. But Apple? Hmm.)

craiggrannell,
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@JonnyT @fahrni @ianbetteridge @davemark Although Creative Cloud users might have something to say about such an incentive and whether a giant will make good on the promise.

chockenberry, to random
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One thing great about today's announcement of Pro iPad apps: not even a hint of iPhone compatibility.

Universal binaries, and more importantly Universal SKUs, were such a bad idea. Just because the APIs are the same doesn't mean the products and customer base are, too.

If dual iPhone/iPad apps are unsustainable for Apple, imagine how it was for small and medium sized businesses.

craiggrannell,
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@thefaj @chockenberry Might be , but then Korg Gadget and LumaFusion work nicely on my iPhone.

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