Have A Good Day

Marc Randolph offers another take on writing with AI. That is why I would start with my own version and let AI handle the editing.

When it comes to writing, AI is the elephant in any room. Large Language Models are very good with language, but how much can you use them without losing the essence of why you started writing in the first place?

I still find Seth Godin’s take “Walk Away or Dance” valuable here. You often hear advice that using AI is not good or authentic enough. But on the other hand, your work does not automatically become good simply by not using AI. Moreover, if you need significantly longer to reach the same quality level without AI than with AI, you have also failed.

Walking away from AI is for geniuses in their field, who are also great at selling their work. Everybody else has no choice.

For glamglare, we use AI as a spellchecker, fact-checker, and editor. We select the song and write the initial copy. From there, we dance with AI.

I love the start of a new year. It gives you the illusion of a clean slate, and often that’s all you need to make changes and start new things. It’s not about life-changing resolutions; it’s about saying that this will be the best year ever and believing in it, at least for a while.

The Apple Watch is an amazing device. I have been using the Ultra 2 with cellular for the past two years, and it’s incredible what it can do. With this tiny little thing, you stay fully connected, access much of your data, and tap into the world’s knowledge (as long as you can make yourself understandable to Siri). I almost never take advantage of these features because you usually have your iPhone nearby as well. So in the spirit of this, I plan to give up my Apple Watch and start using my old Citizen Eco-Drive again (if I can get the battery to work). Let’s see how it goes.

It’s a feast for the eyes. More photos here.

On Thursday, a man with a tripod and a camera with a huge lens was running past me. When I turned around, I saw the shot he was aiming for. I only had an iPhone, but the 8x lens works pretty well.

Last Saturday, we went to Guitar Center to look for a keyboard. A musician once said that Guitar Center is the Olive Garden of music stores, but the one in Manhattan’s 14th Street has a good vibe, at least as far as I can see. We had a vague idea of what we wanted, a somewhat flexible budget, and limited knowledge of the available products on the market. We are also at an age where one might reasonably assume we have some funds for discretionary spending. In other words, we should have been a salesperson’s ideal customers. But they left us alone for about fifteen minutes. We also didn’t see anyone who seemed interested in engaging with a customer. So, we played around with a few keyboards, found one we liked, and then left the store. From there, we bought it online for the best price. If we want our city streets to have more than just cannabis dispensaries and ghost kitchens, we need good, useful retail stores. Mimicking an impersonal online experience is not the answer.

During yesterday’s Thanksgiving Parade broadcast, nearly every commercial break featured a Facebook ad. It was a good one about real-life human connection supported online through the Facebook friends network. It’s a long shot, but wouldn’t it be great if Facebook cut the nonsense and returned to its roots as a social network? A place where you can stay connected with friends and family around the world. In the late 2000s, you could meet someone, become friends on Facebook, and stay loosely in touch. “Are you on Facebook,” was a less intrusive question than “What is your phone number?” Today, of course, many people avoid visiting Facebook altogether because of the endless stream of useless information they never signed up for.

During the 2020 holiday season, we watched a Christmas movie each day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day. At the peak of the pandemic, we literally had nothing better to do. Elke chose from old favorites and Netflix recommendations, and while we did start a movie every day, we didn’t finish them all. Some were simply too cringeworthy and cheap to get through. Others were bad, but at least well-made, like Happiest Season with Kristen Stewart, which tackled a real, sensible situation in a very ham-fisted way. On Saturday, we kicked off the season with Champagne Problems, which follows the common trope of a woman and a man attracted to each other but caught up in conflict on the business side. It turned out to be unexpectedly sweet, with likable characters and stunning locations.

I’m all in on the Apple ecosystem. The “It just works” principle remains largely true, and I like having all my data accessible everywhere, all the time. However, it also means putting all eggs in one basket. It also means having fewer choices when it comes to devices. So I’ve been considering the possibility of leaving the Apple ecosystem and replacing its components with open-source alternatives. This is definitely a major effort that could take years to accomplish. The first step is to review my digital assets and see how much they are tied to a proprietary application or data format. For example, even though I like Apple Notes, there isn’t an easy way to export my data from it.