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The Multiple-Procedures! Edition Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Siri May Phone Home With Ask Siri Disabled, by Jeff Johnson

The most confusing and maddening thing about it is that not only are the Siri Suggestions preferences themselves somewhat hidden, but the procedures — multiple procedures! — required to stop Siri Suggestions from phoning home to Apple are hidden in entirely different places.

Something New In Something Old, by Nick Heer, Pixel Envy

There are so many things Apple could learn from Last.fm’s recommendation approach, and I wish it would. Right now, its approach is somewhere between inconsequential and unhelpful. It does not have to be this way, and it should not be this way.

Stuff

The Best Apps For Sticking To Your New Year’s Resolutions, by Harry Guinness, Wired

Whatever your resolution, there are tools available to make it easier to achieve.

This Find My-powered Card Is A Better Fit For Your Wallet Than An AirTag, by Roman Loyola, Macworld

Third-party card-shaped trackers have been around and the Chipolo Card Spot has a predecessor in the Chipolo Card. But the Card Spot is an improvement because it hooks into Apple’s Find My app on iOS and macOS.

Shortcuts By Sentinelite: A Fantastic New Stream Deck Plugin, by John Voorhees, MacStories

Shortcuts by Sentinelite significantly improves the process by making it as simple to add a shortcut to the device as it is to add an app.

Notes

Aw, Apple Made Me A “Memory” Of The Time I Hid From Rioters In The U.S. Capitol, by Jim Newell, Slate

That’s right: Scattered among other A.I.-synthesized slideshows of “Four-Legged Friends” or vacations over the years—Hawaii, how I miss you!—was that warmest of memories: “Washington, Jan. 6 2021.” Set to the cheery noodling of “Sunspots” by Bob Mould(!), the brief video captures my arrival on Capitol Hill at 11:30 a.m. and goes all the way to a window smashing at 2:19 p.m.

Bottom of the Page

I'm out of practice... of listening to an audio book on a crowded train on my commute to work. (Today is my first day back to office after a break of about half-a-year.) How out of practice? I've listened to almost an entire chapter before realizing I've had the wrong character name in my mind. (And there I was, thinking that he was sleeping with both she and her best friend secretly!)

Turns out, I need to rewind back half-an-hour and re-listen to the chapter again, to get the story straight.

~

Thanks for reading.