My summer movie challenge ✅
Last week I posed a challenge to Birchtree readers:
this summer, watch 2 movies you skipped previously.
Pretty simple, right? Yes, but here's the tricky part.
- The first movie should be one you skipped, but that was well-received by critics and/or audiences. You didn't resonate with it for whatever
The universe has a real sense of humor
6 months ago, I signed up for Surf Social, which was doing a slow roll out. I'd kind
The next generation of automation
Here's a relatively un-flashy video, but stick with me here because I think this is really exciting stuff.
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What we just watched was me ask Claude for the Mac to look at my email inbox, find the emails with feedback on my iOS app, and create reminders
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It's still a cell phone
Casey Newton writing for his Platformer newsletter: The AI Browser Wars Are About to Begin
Here, I think we begin to understand the opportunity that companies see here — and why "web browser" probably isn't the best word for what they are building.
Setting all the drama of the current browser wars
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The iPhone 16 is back on top, the Pro line remains dominant, and the 16e is a sleeper hit
Counterpoint Research: iPhone 16 Leads Global Smartphone Sales in Q1 2025
Apple’s iPhone 16 was the best-selling smartphone in Q1 2025. This also marked the return of the iPhone series’ base variant to the top spot in the first quarter after a two-year gap.
After several years of the Pro Max iPhone
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🕹️ I strongly recommend Doom The Dark Ages
My review of the latest Doom game, which absolutely rocks.
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Apple execs are to be seen on video, but never in person
John Gruber announced The Talk Show Live From WWDC 2025 with one notable adendum:
in recent years the guests have seemed a bit predictable: senior executives from Apple. This year I again extended my usual invitation to Apple, but, for the first time since 2015, they declined.
And Parker Ortolani: Apple’s Silence at "
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I loved Arc. Is Dia my next browser?
Today we're going hands-on with Dia, the upcoming browser from the aptly-named The Browser Company. Maybe
Yeah, it's time for a step back
Back when I was still using Twitter, I would develop a serious fatigue of social media every year or so and needed to take a step back from using it. I've written about this several times on this blog, but when I left Twitter and jumped feet-first into Mastodon in late 2022,
NVIDIA officially brings GeForce Now to Steam Deck, and I'm so happy about it
NVIDIA just released an official version of their (only one good enough to be worth you money IMO) game streaming service to the Steam Deck, and it is positively fantastic. The Steam Deck works great for most games, but there are a few that just don't really work because they're too
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One of my favorite one hit wonders
I genuinely think Wheatus’s Teenage Dirtbag is one of the best one hit wonders from my teen years and this acoustic version of it is a delight.
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NVIDIA's growth is insane (duh, but still)
NVIDIA just reported their financials for Q1 of fiscal year 2026, and it's all big numbers. The reported a record $3.8 billion in gaming revenue, but that is dwarfed by the $39 billion they made from "data center" revenue. All things said, they brought in $44 billion in the quarter.
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Apple copies Samsung 😉
MacRumors reporting on Mark Gurman's report that Apple is changing their naming format for operating systems:
We're not going to be getting iOS 19, we're getting iOS 26.
It has been fundamentally strange that Apple currently has OS's with the same features that rarely share a number,
CleanShot has a nice update out today
CleanShot 4.8 is out now and it has some nice new features, including a bespoke color picker that I actually really love. You'll never guess who they got to cover the updates in video 😉
And out of the interest of transparency (and mild comedy), I do get paid for these videos and
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Sampling Metal Gear Solid
This is one of those YouTube videos that perfectly captures two of my interests: YouTubers creating beats out of random sounds and Metal Gear Solid.
Alright, let’s try out comments
It’s probably been a decade since I’ve had comments on this site. I generally don’t like the
The summer movie challenge
Here's a little challenge I'd like to pose: this summer, watch 2 movies you skipped previously.
Pretty simple, right? Yes, but here's the tricky part.
* The first movie should be one you skipped, but that was well-received by critics and/or audiences. You didn't resonate with
