Published stuff

My Stuff column this week is: Just say no: not every piece of tech needs subscriptions and AI. And last Sunday, I apparently traumatised several people by reminding them of their age as I wrote about the Game Boy turning 35. Still: it could be worse. My first computer was released in 1979…

For TapSmart, I mull over where Apple will be in 2030 and add Tiny Wings to my classics series.

Other stuff

First up, Swipe magazine has hit the milestone of 300(!) issues. This iPhone-first indie mag (essentially the extended app version of TapSmart) is packed with app recommendations, tips and features. There’s a free trial if you’d like to check it out, and then it’s just a couple of bucks per month for two issues and back issue access, to support our work.

I wasn’t there quite from the start – I was brought on board with issue 17. But I’m now wondering if I’ve written for more issues of any other mag. Regardless, it’s been a privilege to be a part of Swipe, and I do hope it’s around for many issues more.

Elsewhere, I’ve been continuing to discover the idiosyncrasies of the Powkiddy RBG30. The company has a reputation for cutting corners, but I was seduced by the 1:1 720p display, which I thought would be fantastic for Pico-8. (Pico-8 is a fantasy console, with intentionally limited specs, for which developers have created a slew of amazing old-school games.)

I was dead-on about the display. As a real-world Pico-8, the RGB30 is hard to beat. And that’s even taking into account the iffy D-pad. That screen, though: so good. And ideal for Game Boy, NES and SNES too, along with vertical arcade titles. (Some 4:3 games also work well in 8:7, if you’re prepared to ignore slight distortion.)

Where the RGB30 falls into baffling territory is in how it charges. A hardware issue means it doesn’t recognise USB-C cables. But even when I use USB-A to USB-C, the device needs to be on to successfully charge. And if I shut it down in software, the battery continues to drain in a manner I’ve never seen before. Fortunately, turning off RGB30 by holding the power button down for several seconds reduces that drain significantly – or even eliminates it. I’m not quite sure which, though, because the battery indicator’s quality appears to be on par with the charging system’s.

Published stuff

The big news in iPhone circles this week was the first release of ‘open’ emulators on the App Store. I covered this for TapSmart in Why an iPhone Game Boy emulator is a bigger deal than you think and for Stuff in I can now play stacks of Nintendo games on my iPhone – but I want more. 

I’m very happy for Delta creator Riley Testut. Frankly, his app should have been approved years ago. But in a roundabout way, Apple blocking it resulted in Testut creating AltStore, which is now the first proper third-party iPhone app store; and outside of the EU, Delta has topped the charts in the US and UK App Stores. Catharsis! 

Those “but no-one really wants emulators on iPhone anyway” takes are aging well…

Upcoming stuff

I have the possible go-ahead to write up a piece on Pico-8, which I very much hope happens, given how lovely it is. In many ways, it’s my favourite system right now, despite being a ‘fantasy’ console that never existed in the real world. Although with the magic of cheap Chinese handheld devices, you can sort of pretend it does today.

Other stuff

There’s a whiff of holier than thou about a chunk of the tech press pushing back against emulation, equating it solely with piracy, and backing Nintendo to the hilt. I find this strange. As I said on Mastodon, emulation is not illegal. And even though much emulation use infringes on IP rights, things aren’t that simple.

First, legal ROMs/disk images exist. Secondly, it’s curious certain people rally against emulation but not open video/audio players. Thirdly, while I’m not a piracy advocate, I’m very aware most games would be gone without pirates and emulators. Of course, that’s something few IP owners will ever admit – even when they sometimes use cracked games in commercial products. 

I’m not sure what the solution is. But we need something better than a tiny fraction of titles being re-sold time and time again and everything else being locked away – at least in a legal sense. Just imagine if other mediums were like gaming. 99% of music and film legally inaccessible unless you owned original hardware and original media, both slowly degrading and liable to die at any moment. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

Can bad reviews kill companies? That’s the question Marques Brownlee asked following the backlash over his Humane AI pin review.

It’s bad products that can kill companies. Bad reviewsmay impact on a company, depending on the sector, especially if the reviews are unanimous. But that’s not the fault of any one reviewer. 

It isn’t a reviewer’s job to make a company feel good about itself or improve its chances of success. That’s PR. A reviewer is there to act as a guide and filter, using their experience and expertise to ascertain whether or not a product is worth people’s time and money. 

Molly White wrote a piece about AI/LLMs, which is well worth reading. She looks beyond the hype to explore genuine use cases for AI, and ask whether they balance the negatives. 

As a writer, I’d be foolish not to explore this tech myself, and I’ve been doing so for months. Having A/B tested a slew of text pieces and experimented with several LLMs across a range of tests, my opinion largely aligns with White’s.

To my mind, LLMs are currently dreadful for writing from scratch anything that has the slightest complexity. For research, they can be an aid, but are often inaccurate (even Perplexity, sadly). And for proofing, they are mediocre at best. ChatGPT will find errors in text I send to it, but will more often than not miss mistakes, and will make recommendations that would make a good production editor angrily hurl a thesaurus at a swan.

On the flip side, LLMs can be useful for iteration, which saves time. Although I’ve never yet used a draft an LLM has provided me as-is. And I have found ChatGPT excellent for remembering words that vanish from your brain a nanosecond before you were about to type them. Although it’s hard to argue that’s worth all the power and water LLMs consume.

Finally, Rob Fearon has been getting his art in gear with a range of retrogaming illustrations. I think they are superb. Do lob him a few bucks via Ko-Fi if you agree.

Published stuff

For Stuff this week, I wrote about the Amstrad CPC’s 40th anniversary. I don’t think anything else I’ve ever posted to LinkedIn has got so much traction. Mastodon and Bluesky users shared the piece a lot too. But not Threads users. Maybe those guys are Oric fans.

My column this week is: Apple, Google and others don’t care about your data and photos – but you should. It’s a tale of woe and data loss – and also how safeguarding all your data is becoming increasingly tricky. 

Just one piece for TapSmart this week, looking into gardening and plant care apps for iPhone. Sneakily, one of them is actually a game.

Upcoming stuff

Summer holidays are on the horizon, and so I’m starting to look into apps for use at airports and when on a plane. I do wonder when ‘download everything for offline use’ will seem as archaic as stuffing a backpack full of books. Or perhaps in-flight Wi-Fi will always remain rubbish and expensive. Who knows?

More retro stuff is on the way too. A couple of interviews looking into lesser-known games. And also some ‘modern retro’, exploring Pico-8.

Other stuff

I broke and bought an RGB30. Because I didn’t already have enough little consoles. And it’s everything I expected: not-great D-pad; cheap feel; finicky charging; but fantastic for Pico-8 because of the unconventional 1:1 aspect 720p display. I’m also enjoying using it for vertical arcade games.

I recently spotted my Duolingo icon looked haggard and old. Turns out this was the icon equivalent of clickbait. It’s been a big win from a business perspective, bringing people back to the app. But I question it in other ways. I cannot override this icon, despite being a paying Duolingo user. And lapsed users returning don’t see the icon change once they start learning again. I’ve also seen folks suggest it could be seen as poor framing from a mental health issue. Personally, my main takeaway is that I hate the idea clickbait has now reached home screens.

Finally, AI sucks, part 431,876. I spotted a dodgy eBay listing, looking to charge a huge sum of money for a Kickstarter the seller isn’t anything to do with and that’s not due for over a year. That annoyed me, because I care very much about the success of this particular kickstarter. So I reported it. eBay’s response: “We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.” Last time I bother doing that, then.

Published stuff

My Stuff column this week is: Google Podcasts is dead – as is my trust in the survival of any Google service. Not that I’ve trusted Google for years at this point. I don’t think anything is truly safe – and, yes, that includes Gmail, YouTube and Docs. (Also, I do hope people enjoy the pictures I made for this one.)

A busy week over at TapSmart, where I explored ways Apple could shake up iPhone home screens, built a social media toolkit, and added excellent podcasting app Ferrite to my classic app series.

Upcoming stuff

Having recently filed a piece on Sinclair, I’m now writing about Commodore. And the CPC’s 40th is on its way too, and so I’ll be writing about that for sure.

Other stuff

Graham Cluley discovered what can happen when Amazon claims it’s delivered an expensive item but hasn’t, decides it has and refuses to do anything about it. Honestly, I find it surprising this doesn’t happen more. Locally, most couriers now abandon packages regardless of provided instructions. But quite how Amazon can avoid refunding someone when a signed-for package was not signed for, I have no idea. I imagine it’s all explained in line 24,467 of the terms and conditions, which state “we can do whatever we please”.

More App Store changes are on the way. The latest is a long-time personal bugbear of mine: blocking emulation. As 9to5Mac reports, game emulators will now be permissible. I look forward to certain US commentators now deciding emulation is evil, that the EU forced Apple to allow emulators on to the App Store (it didn’t) and predicting this will destroy the games industry (it won’t). What it will do is fill a hole in the iPhone’s gaming arsenal.

Note: I’m aware emulators have long existed on the App Store in strictly limited fashion. But Apple long ago blocked being able to load anything into them. So every emulator, such as this lovely ZX81 one, has had to bundle the titles you can play on it. Which is a bit like allowing music players – but only if they pre-load every album you can listen to.

Published stuff

My Stuff column this week explores the new Atari 400 Mini from multiple angles – including that of 1970s home decor: The Atari 400 Mini is now my favourite mini-console for scratching my retro-gaming itch.

For this blog, I wrote To Affinity and beyond: what does the Canva buyout means for the future of Serif? Canva has since pledged to not wreck what people love about Affinity. A positive move, and although there’s wiggle room in the language, there’s far less than there was before. Not that any pledge would stop a company later saying it had to make a “difficult choice”, natch.

Over at TapSmart, I explored Messages alternatives for iPhone. Issue 298 of iPhone sister magazine, Swipe is available now too, if you’d like to support our little indie mag with actual cash.

Upcoming stuff

Hilariously, I’m about to dig (pun possibly intended) into gardening apps. A joke because the UK weather has more or less turned our garden into a swamp.

I’ve also signed back up to Amazon Prime for precisely one month, in order to write about it and doubtless grumble about the new, ridiculous ads tier.

Beyond that, I’ve been commissioned to mull over what Apple will look like in 2030. Quite the ask, given that right now various legislators are creating conditions that make it hard to predict what Apple will even look like in 2024.

Other stuff

On Threads, Joan Westernberg said AI is not democratising film making. I largely agree. Some folks countered that gen-AI is “just a tool”. But that’s not how it’s being pitched. Tech bros are arguing that now anyone with half an idea can churn out a film, album, book or essay from a text prompt. But without having expertise in a field, how can you really know whether what you’re creating does the job? (Note, I am not talking about people being paid to be a film-maker, or whatever. I’m talking about anyone who has taken the time and made the effort to gain a skill.)

On Mastodon, Scott Jenson’s post on writing without worrying about traffic really clicked with me. My approach has always been that you have to write for yourself, because when you don’t, you may skew what makes you you. But also: numbers don’t tell the whole story.

I’ve always joked that ‘literally several people’ read this blog. It’s never been – and never will be – a Six Colors or a Daring Fireball. And that’s OK. Because you never know who will be reading. For me, that’s always been way more important than raw numbers.

Over the years, I’ve made a number of contacts through this blog, through interesting folks presumably landing here by chance and sticking around. The most notable example got me my gig at Stuff.

I received an email out of the blue from the publisher, inviting me to the then Stuff HQ. I soon learned the editor was a fan and had recommended me. I’ve been a regular contributor ever since. 

And that links back to the first point. Because I’ll bet if I’d not been writing for me and having fun with my personal blog, it wouldn’t have kept the attention of that editor in the first place.

Finally, I have a lot of time for The Verge, but the publication managed to set my teeth on edge with The fight to save old games. That podcast episode looked into the murky world of game preservation and emulation, and had a lot of good stuff to say.

But. Along with at one point saying ROMs are illegal (without any qualifier or nuance), the podcast hosts banged on for a big chunk of runtime about how they wished a Spotify or Netflix for old games existed, but how that would be impossible – due to rights issues – or simply non-viable. I was stomping along on my morning walking loudly muttering “Antstream”, which I’m sure endeared me to anyone in earshot.

And, yes, Antstream has its issues. The streaming can be glitchy, and its catalogue of 1300 games is a small slice of gaming history. But that slice includes many classic arcade games and a slew of curiosities from the dawn of home gaming. Moreover, it exists. So it isn’t impossible. And given that it’s not dead, it’s viable too. 

It certainly warranted a mention in the podcast – unlike the suggestion that the best bet for most folks wanting to play old games is to buy a knock-off hard drive stuffed full of dodgy ROMs from Amazon. (Don’t do that. There are far better options.)