After being an enthusiastic observer of ChatGPT/LLM technology in 2023, 2024 was the year that the ‘AI’ revolution started to have an everyday impact on my life. Github Copilot and Cursor autocomplete suggestions are a huge productivity boost while programming. o3 helped me fix an issue I was having with the pagination links on this site just yesterday! The ChatGPT app is now on my iPhone home screen and I’ve started using it multiple times a day for basic low stakes knowledge gathering. NFL division standings, make a table containing this information, halve this recipe, does this website have an RSS feed, etc. It’s still not particularly consistent (it failed multiple times to get Spotify links for the albums below, for instance) but the tradeoff for at least taking a punt and asking it has crossed the threshold for me for many tasks.
Speaking of the iPhone, the Natural Titanium iPhone 15 Pro Max was my favorite iPhone in a long time. Perfect size and weight. The 16 Pro Max is a touch too big now in my opinion — but the screen is excellent and the third generation Ceramic Shield has prevented any annoying micro-abrasions that older models would pick up over time (so far).
Browsing the web on mobile continues to be brutal between ads and paywalls. Thankfully, I found the perfect View on the Web Archive shortcut on Reddit earlier this year. Got fed up with the enshittification of Spotify and switched to Tidal in the summer. It’s a clean app, but when using any of the non-desktop clients there are enough paper cuts that I’ll probably switch back soon1.
Tried out Threads for a bit and then transitioned to Bluesky2. I have no need for another Meta-style engagement-at-any-cost social network in my life. Still lots of good conversations happening on Mastodon but the emergence of both Threads and Bluesky seem to have sealed it’s fate as a place for tech conversation.
As usual didn’t get to read, play, listen, write or build 10% of what I’d like.
Filed under: better-late-than-never and i-started-writing-this-in-january-and-got-sidetracked-with-design-and-technical-updates-to-my-blog.
Music
- Charli xcx - BRAT
- Jai Wolf - The Red Eye Home
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Flight b741
- MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
- Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
- Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
TV
Movies
Games
- Animal Well
- Balatro
- Blasphemous
- Citizen Sleeper
- Deep Rock Galactic Survivor
- Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
- Helldivers 2
- Nine Sols
- Path of Exile 2
- Slice & Dice
- Trackmania
Apps