Let's get straight to the point: living without Instagram, Facebook, and Threads (lol) is easy. The only setbacks I can think of are missing out on Facebook Marketplace listings and the lack of information about restaurants, cafes, and clinics that insist on limiting their digital presence to Instagram. It's inconvenient, but workable.
In many parts of the world outside the US, the “big boss” of those who decide to get rid of Meta is WhatsApp. And how could it not be? Some research on phone habits shows that up to 99.1% of Brazilians over the age of 16 use the messaging app. Here, it is ubiquitous; the standard means of communication for many people and companies.
I collect cool, interesting links spread all over the web and share them here every Thursday. Hope you enjoy! More of them in the archive.
End-to-end encryption in iOS RCS? (in French), @TiinoX83/xcancel. Evidence has been found in iOS 26.3 beta 2. It's the missing piece that will make RCS a viable alternative to the best messaging apps on the market.
Linux Mint 22.3 “Zena”. The visible changes are a new Start menu and new apps for system information and administration tools. This is a long term support version (until 2029).
Apple Creator Studio. Apple's “Adobe subscription” offer lowers the barrier to entry for the company's professional apps. Even a subscription can be good sometimes.
Firefox 147. Firefox's first update of 2026 focuses on behind-the-scenes improvements, such as WebGPU support on Apple Silicon and standardization of cache and settings directories on Linux (only valid for new profiles or installations). The only visible new feature is automatic PiP when switching from a tab that is playing video.
BTN-1 Macro Deck. A four-key (mechanical!) keypad made especially to be integrated with Home Assistant. Available for USD 35.
CColorPaletter. A beautiful and completely free color palette generator. Press the space bar to generate a new one.
Discos do Brasil (in Portuguese). An excellent catalog of Brazilian music, created by Maria Luiza Kfouri (1954–2023). Tip from Renato.
Image: Apple.
There are many interesting things in the newly announced Apple Creator Studio, Apple's “Adobe suite.”
For those who thought that the departure of Apple's VP of interface design was a harbinger of better times in that department, the new app icons (image above) indicate that nothing has changed. They are awful.
In addition, only Pixelmator Pro — which was purchased by Apple in 2025 — adopts Liquid Glass. Weird. Oh, and as part of the launch of Apple Creator Studio, Pixelmator Pro will get a version for iPadOS.
As for the offer itself, although we can't stand any more subscriptions, this format greatly reduces the barrier to entry for Apple's professional apps. They used to be one-time purchases (and still are, as an alternative), but they were so expensive that they ended up being restricted to those who have their expenses paid by their employer or make a lot of money with the tools.
Apple Creator Studio will cost USD 12.99/month or USD 129/year. Final Cut Pro alone costs USD 299, equivalent to five years of Apple Creator Studio. It is not a huge advantage in the US, but in other places, like Brazil, the gap between Final Cut Pro license and Creator Studio annual subscription is huge (BRL 1.999 versus BRL 399).
The subscription can be shared with family members.
Subscribers have access to Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Compressor (video editing), Logic Pro and MainStage (audio), Pixelmator Pro (images), templates, high-quality photos and images, and AI features for Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform.
Apple Creator Studio will be launched on January 28th.
Bose open-sources its SoundTouch home theater smart speakers ahead of end-of-life, Ars Technica. Instead of turning old products into e-waste, Bose has released the API documentation for its SoundTouch speakers. It should be normal and/or required by law, but here we are — once again — praising a company for doing the bare minimum.
OG Preview Lab. An online tool that offers previews for various online platforms of how links will appear on those cards (OG tags, for those in the know). Great to use before sharing something.
Pi Clock. A clock that displays the time in pi digits. Keys 1–5 change the clock (key 5 activates gamer mode, aka RGB).
enclose.horse. Use all the barriers to prevent the horse from escaping and, at the same time, give it as much space as possible. A new challenge every day, free of charge.
Once again, Google threatens the 3 billion (!) Gmail users with Gemini (AI) features. This time, the change is dramatic: the inbox will be “smart”, which would be tempting if AI models were capable of summarizing correctly (they are not) and were not prone to mistakes (“hallucination” is an euphemism for mistakes). For now, the new Gmail is being released to Americans who pay for Google's expensive AI plans. The prophylactic measure is to disable all AI features in Gmail: in the settings, General tab, uncheck the option Enable smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet. You're welcome!
The adoption curve for iOS 26 is atypical, and by a wide margin. Previous years (2023, 2022) delivered numbers more similar to those of 2024, for iOS 18.
I thank all my friends who remain steadfast with iOS 18. I couldn't resist and updated mine, and although I find iOS's Liquid Glass to be the least worst among all the devices I've used so far, it's still the weirdest version since I started using an iPhone over a decade ago.
I hope these numbers set off an alarm in Apple's design department.
Update (5h10 PM): It’s possible, though unconfirmed, that a change in Safari’s user-agent is messing with StatCounter’s numbers. Other sources, however, support the suspicion of slower iOS 26 adoption, albeit to a lesser degree.
[…] What we’ve learned over the course of this year, especially from a consumer perspective, is they’re not buying based on AI. In fact I think AI probably confuses them more than it helps them understand a specific outcome.
Kevin Terwilliger Dell head of product
It is surprising that the first manufacturer to tell the truth about so-called “AI PCs” is Dell, Microsoft's early partner in the Copilot+ laptops initiative.
Note, however, that the full quote indicates that Dell will not stop investing in AI, only that the technology will no longer be the flagship feature of its marketing. It begins as follows: “We’re very focused on delivering upon the AI capabilities of a device—in fact everything that we’re announcing has an NPU in it—but what we’ve learned…”
I am very sympathetic to free software. (And I regret not using more software of this kind.) On the Free Software Foundation blog, Jason Self reinforces the importance of the four freedoms of FOSS in the face of machine learning — which, in this context, is confused with what is commonly referred to as “artificial intelligence.” He defines it as follows:
[…] software that doesn’t just follow instructions, but learns and makes autonomous decisions. It’s a powerful new kind of code, and it has become the most profound black box ever created.
His post uses AI as a threat to revisit the foundations of the movement. This is always a good thing and, from time to time (as in this case), reveals stories unknown to the public (or to me, at least). It is because of one of these — the creation of the concept of free software — that I brought this link here:
At MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, a programmer named Richard Stallman grew frustrated with a new Xerox laser printer that frequently jammed. His solution was simple: modify the program to automatically notify users on the network about the jam, saving everyone time and frustration. The problem was that he wasn’t allowed to; the source code of the program was a secret. Though a programmer at another university had the code, he was bound by a non-disclosure agreement and refused to share it. This wasn’t just an inconvenience; it was an ethical crisis in miniature. A practical problem had become impossible to solve, not for technical reasons, and most definitely not because it was better this way. A barrier was intentionally placed to deny users control over the software they used.
This moment of frustration ignited the spark for the free software movement.
The next time my printer jams, I will handle the situation with a little more enthusiasm. Stretching it a bit, it has a sacred quality, as it reproduces the moment of the creation of free software. Amen!
People using a Logitech mouse on macOS spent a few hours with limited functionality. An expired certificate for the Logitech Options+ and G HUB apps caused the confusion. The ridiculous issue at least served to help people discover better alternative utilities for this purpose. (The best software, however, is no software; a good mouse works fine without these things, hehehe!)
In my first adventure returning to music files (*.mp3, *.flac) in 2023, I mentioned an iOS app called Doppi as a great discovery. It was the app I chose to accompany me on my second attempt, which was successful this time.
That’s why I thought it was worth highlighting the app (“the nicest player for your music files”). Not only is it great, but it has also gotten some amazing new features:
cultofmac.com
