Daniel and Manton talk about Micro.blog’s audio features and the uniqueness of “audio narration” for blog posts. They discuss the value of human narration as a counterforce to AI, and how we can use overt feature differences to attract attention. Then, Daniel shares what’s new in the MarsEdit 5.2 update. Daniel describes his workflow for informing customers about updates they requested, a way to make both them and yourself feel good. Finally, Manton is about to start a road trip to WWDC, and they speculate about whether Apple will add a live component to WWDC when Apple’s competitors now have a live audience again — the competitive advantage of being human in a robotic era.

Download Audio (MP3, 32 minutes)

Links:

• Audio narration in Micro.blog — Announcing the new Micro.blog feature.
• A little more about adding audio — Manton’s post explaining the technical details.
• Jump Start Your Business Brain — Book Daniel recommends.
• MarsEdit 5.2 — Daniel’s blog post about the new features.
• Miraz Jordan on 5.2 update — Blog post about using duplicates.
• Accidental Tech Podcast 588 — Podcast episode covering Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs and Recall feature.

Daniel and Manton talk about Manton’s recent blog posts about allegations that OpenAI stole Scarlett Johansson’s voice. They talk about the difficulty of arguing on facts when emotions run high, and how people on the internet might jump into any debate if it puts an “enemy” in a less horrible light. They talk specifically about whether Scarlett Johansson has a legal case against OpenAI, and about the importance of using facts when debating issues you care about and not resorting to exaggerations or falsehoods. Finally, they ask how we as technologists can lean into AI while maintaining human emotion and engagement.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week:

• RevenueCat: In-app subscriptions made easy. Also check out the Sub Club Podcast!

Links:

• Yesterday’s AI thoughts – Manton's round-up blog post after a day of posts about OpenAI.
• Takes Spread like Wildfire – Jason Becker on the tendency on social networks for takes to be considered either “in” or “out”.
• OpenAI Didn’t Copy Scarlett Johansson – Washington Post article supporting OpenAI’s claim they hired an actor who happens to sound similar.
• The Singularity – Wikipedia article about the theory that technology will at some point in the future become independent of humans.

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Micro Camp 2024 is today! Daniel and Manton talk about Micro.blog’s online event, Jean MacDonald leaving the company, and expensive top-level domain names. Then they review the announcements this week from OpenAI and Google, and what all the AI news may mean for Apple, Siri, and WWDC 2024.

Download Audio (MP3, 39 minutes)

Links:

• Micro Camp — Micro.blog’s online community event.
• Christina Warren — Special guest for Micro Camp 2024.
• Jean’s departure post — Why she’s leaving Micro.blog and what’s next.
• Kimberly Hirsh — Micro.blog member now joining Micro.blog to help with community and curation.
• Google I/O — Google’s developer conference.
• OpenAI announcements — Update from OpenAI with demos of GPT-4o.
• Llama — Meta’s open-source AI model.
• Hallucinations — Manton’s blog post responding to an article on The Verge.

Daniel and Manton talk about Apple’s latest event and the release of new iPads, Apple Pencil, and Magic Keyboard. They wonder whether iPad will ever be able to run Mac apps? They react to Apple’s new “Crush!” ad, and wonder whether they will pull it and/or apologize (spoiler: they did!). Finally, they talk about Mastodon’s new US non-profit, and Jack Dorsey leaving the board of Bluesky.

Many thanks to our sponsors this week:

• RevenueCat: In-app subscriptions made easy. Also check out the Sub Club Podcast!

Links:

• Apple Event – Apple’s May 7 event announcing new iPads.
• Dithering – Membership-only podcast by John Gruber and Ben Thompson.
• Accidental Tech Podcast – Popular tech podcast with an Apple slant.
• Give Us a Tablet – Manton’s 2008 post describing his desire for a Mac-based tablet.
• Crush! – Apple’s controversial iPad Pro ad.
• Boom Kill Cry – Adam Lisagor’s take on Apple’s ad.
• Mastodon U.S. Non-Profit – Blog post announcing the new corporation.
• Ghost – Another non-profit publishing platform.
• ActivityPub – The open protocol behind Mastodon.
• Micro.blog – Manton’s microblogging service, also an ActivityPub participant.
• Bluesky – The social network that spun out of Twitter before Elon Musk could stop it …
• Jack Dorsey Quits – The Guardian reports on Dorsey’s departure from the Bluesky board.
• Nostr – Another decentralized social networking platform.

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Daniel and Manton react to Apple’s further tweaks to the Core Technology Fee for the App Store in the EU. They discuss Micro.blog’s new photo features that use generative AI, giving users the option to disable AI features, and more extremist anti-AI beliefs.

Download Audio (MP3, 40 minutes)

Links:

• Understanding the CTF — Latest documentation from Apple.
• AltStore PAL — EU marketplace now possible because of the Digital Markets Act.
• Micro.blog photos video — Demo video on YouTube for AI feature for photos and accessibility.
• Rabbit R1 — New AI device.
• OpenAI API — Documentation for using OpenAI.

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