Good Sunday afternoon, my friends. The weather is shaping up to make one of the longest winters I can ever remember here in Southern Manitoba. We’ve had, bar none, the coldest April of the last 10 years, and by the time all is said and done, I’d like to see where this ranks among the all-time most frigid Aprils on record. On the flip side, it’s nice to have poor weather outside when you’re glued to your desk for 14 hours each day.
On replacing our now-dead first-generation HomePod
Despite the busyness at the office, I’ve had a chance to do lots of research on topics and products this week. After just about 10 years of daily usage, our first HomePod in the house has seemingly run its race — I have tried to reset, restart, and redo every step I know how to wake up the device, but the HomePod seems to be turned off for good. I reached out to my friend Marius — a genuine audio mastermind — to provide some recommendations for replacing the HomePod. Though his initial recommendation was just to get another HomePod (which is the most likely path forward, I’m thinking), he had more than a few recommendations that would look wonderful on any sideboard or home theatre system:
Each of these look stunning. The Ruark option is shouting my name. I have to determine whether this type of audio system would both fit our needs and work inside our living room area, but for now, I’m going to do some dreaming.
(These are obviously far superior options to my first stop: the B&O Beosound A9. You are welcome to click and buy, if you dare.)
On discovering the power of AI tools
I’ve also spent a good chunk of time playing around with new AI tools to help alleviate some of the work pressure we’re facing at the office. My research time is limited to spare moments before bed, but this hasn’t stopped my mind from being blown.
Normal Newsprint readers will be quite well-versed in tech and AI, so it might surprise you to learn I’m not that well-versed in AI. I’ve really only dug into MCP protocols and some Claude Cowork capabilities in the last 14 days or so. I’m implementing AI in some fun ways, such as keeping detailed meeting minutes, as a starting place for tax research, and as a way to improve all sorts of written communication around the office.
But the plot continues to thicken thanks to that unbearable work pressure. I have to find ways to get 40 hours of work done in 24 hours or less, and the only two options are to find new ways to do the work or to abandon the work altogether. Without giving away too many secrets, Claude has saved my bacon over the last few weeks. The generated results are equivalent to a third or fourth year accounting student. Spare minutes through the day were preparing the AI tool to process the work, while evening work slots were spent developing and executing the prompts required to get through the work.
Though I can’t find the link right now, I watched some sort of video where Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, discussed what he believes will be a shift from production to verification thanks to AI. That experts will be required to verify the results rather than process and produce the results. That there will be a shift away from repetition and towards strategic and creative thinking.
My experience this last few weeks has been Huang’s thought-process, in a nutshell. I’d send the AI tool down the path of completing the production portion of the project, and I’d spend the time verifying the outcomes. In some cases, the tool produced an outcome or result better than I could have. In others, the tool made drastic mistakes. The moulding of the two together with my human mind seemed particularly powerful — I felt more prepared in one’s project completion than I’ve ever felt, simply because I verified all the parts I expected to be true and easy, I fixed all the parts that were difficult or flat-out wrong, and I learned other parts that I would not have taken the time to complete myself if I had to produce the outcome.
Just this morning, I learned MCP connectors between Claude and Gmail can actually scour my email inbox, learn my writing style, and produce email drafts that I can verify before sending. The results have been fantastic.
I’m talking in broad generalities here, simply to help stir your mind. And though I’m behind the times — and you can laugh at me all you want — I know I am absolutely on the bleeding edge of the coin in my region, in my market, in my industry, and, I would be willing to bet, in general. AI’s speed is increasing and its break-neck pace is impossible to keep up with. Broadly speaking, general people will not yet be using these tools to work with this level of speed and precision.
I’d also like to acknowledge the general malaise I sense around AI. It could well be that I’m so far behind the times that those with malaise or AI melancholy have “been there, done that”, and that I’m going to be burnt out going down this path in the coming months and years. Perhaps. Perhaps I’m still in the naive stage of the game.
But being on the leading edge — where you watch, wait, and listen to those on the bleeding edge — has its benefits. There’s a good deal of AI acumen out there already, providing flashing warning signs around the parts that should scare me (keeping my brain sharp because of the offload of production) and providing green flags around parts that should excite me (improved effectiveness and higher value driving for customers). I prefer this approach of dipping my toe in and having my mind blown, at least vis a vis the malaise I’m sensing in the bleeding-edge world.
It’s so much fun to break ground in this arena. I am fascinated to see what it does to our business in the future.
On rediscovering my iPad
My last weekly thought: I’m finding an all-new affinity for my 13-inch iPad Pro. I’m not sure why. There’s something so easy about picking it up and reading, researching, and browsing on the couch. Having access to these newly created Claude projects also likely has something to do with it — the heavy file lifting is done on the Mac (of course), and the prompting can be done on the iPad in the comfort of my couch.
I just wanted to shout some praises for the iPad Pro. It continues to be one of those delightful devices I enjoy picking up each day.
A love letter to the Leica CL
My favourite quote, among many:
That camera taught me a lot. I took it all over the world on my travels. It showed me how powerful a simple but extremely high-quality camera can be. It also taught me something more personal — that I’m far more likely to pick up a camera and take it with me if I genuinely love how it looks and feels. And the Q is a camera I wanted to have with me. I could put on a suit, sling it around my neck and walk into a fancy restaurant and it fit right in. I could also take it through a crowded, dusty city street in India and shoot just as naturally.
One day, I’ll pen a love letter to my Leica Q2. It is, truly, one of the best tools I have ever owned.
The Second Cup
Binepad’s BNK-16 Macro Pad
In one sense, you could probably map these keys to a standard number pad layout. Though, this device is likely better suited to the left of your keyboard than to the right of your keyboard.
FloatyDo
This is the simplest to-do list app I think I’ve ever seen.
The Things I Wanted to Know Before Buying Apple’s Studio Display XDR
Here’s a wonderful review of the Studio Display XDR. I’m not sure on the website’s design, though.
Apple Frames 4
I used to use the MacStories Apple Frames shortcut all the time back in the day. It was a must-have shortcut. Now I use Shareshot for the few screenshots I do share. But in a pinch, this is a great shortcut that shows the true power of the Shortcuts app.
Quote of the Week
"Technology begins by making old work easier, but then it requires that new work be better."
Seth Godin
Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.
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