Ever since Apple evolved from a computer manufacturer to an entertainment device company, more or less useful gadgets (and a gazillion copycats) for Apple’s products have come to life.

I remember the 6th generation of the iPod nano that looked pretty similar to today’s Apple Watches. Shortly after its introduction, specially designed wristbands for the MP3 player came on the market. In 2024, things go the other way around: we have a pretty smart wearable, aka the Apple Watch, that can transform back into a tiny Click Wheel iPod Phone. Ladies and lads, here’s the tinyPod.

At first, I was like: watzefack, who needs that? But a few moments later, I was like: I need that. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support my old Apple Watch 2, but soon I’m getting a new one, and I think this gadget might be a good gimmick if you go out or on vacation where you don’t want to carry your iPhone with you.

Occasionally, the browser market introduces interesting new concepts. Recently, a colleague introduced me to the Arc browser. At first, I didn’t see any features that made Arc superior to Safari. I was initially put off by the interface, with everything—tabs, address bar, etc.—positioned in a sidebar instead of at the top. However, I quickly forgot about the browser after the first day. A few days later, I read something about a new überbrowser on my iPhone and decided to give it another try. The app icon of Arc looked familiar, and I was instantly intrigued by its AI-supported features (Arc Max) and the presentation of search results.

With Arc, you type your query into the search bar and click on “Browse for me.” Arc then searches the internet and creates a live website with a summary of your search topic. This approach allows you to find what you’re looking for within seconds, without wading through ad-overkilled websites with SEO text and clickbait headlines. And if you browse the usual “Google” way, a mouse-over on the links will give you a short page summary, the so-called 5 second preview. As a marketeer, I wonder if this does count as a click? However, as a user I found this rather comfortable.

The clean, distraction-free interface is also impressive—just the content and the controls you need. The tab organization is just next level and a killer feature for everyone who has always dozens of tabs open. AI and ChatGPT integration

Arc has many well-designed features, but I won’t go into detail here. You can see for yourself on their website: https://arc.net/.

The one big minus for me is the lack of native support for Apple’s Keychain. Fortunately, I use a third-party password manager, so this isn’t a major issue. Since Arc is based on Chrome, the extensions I typically use work just fine. Although I haven’t set Arc as my default browser yet, I’m very close to doing so. But I can try the integrated “try Arc as default for a week” feature.

Super Panavision 70 was a widescreen film format developed in the 1950s by Panavision. It offered a combination of technical advantages and aesthetic qualities that set it apart from other film technologies of the 1950s, contributing to its enduring legacy in the history of cinema.

Some took an AI to generate The Simpsons as real-life characters in that look, and the outcome is remarkable. It’s not the first time someone has generated real-life Simpsons images, but with that late ’50s/early ’60s colorful look, the video gets a neat little twist. And I think I can smell Barney Gumble through the video.

It won’t take long, I guess 2030 at the latest when we will see the first fully AI-generated movie. And I think the cast will be a mix of invented actors together with already dead actors, e.g., James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, or Marilyn Monroe.

Currently, all the AI-generated content is impressing as eff, but it’s also pretty concerning. AI can be a useful tool to boost your creativity, but in the wrong hands… well, you know how this will end.

But today, a good friend of mine told me about udio, and I have to admit I am deeply impressed. I asked the AI to generate a song in German (my native language and a tough one) about the Libertarian Party (FDP) and how they obstruct the climate and mobility transition with their fairy tale arguments of avoiding debts and relying on the self-regulation of the market, in the style of a famous German punk rock band.

First, udio recognized the band and derived the genre mix from it: punk, rock, ska, alternative. Then it generated two ideas, each 30 seconds long. From here, you can go different ways: extend the song (add sections before, after, intro, or outro), remix it, or publish it. I chose to extend the version I liked more, and again two versions were generated. After some time of listening, comparing, rehearing, and generating, I had a solid 2:30 song, with lyrics that make perfect sense 99% of the time, and I’d even say 5% of it is really good.

Afterward, you can decide to publish, remix, extend, or download the song, and even generate a video.

AI has come a long way, and it’s changing the world rapidly. I’m really curious to see where this is going.

Here’s the song I created (as mentioned before, it’s in German).

And here’s the link to it: https://www.udio.com/songs/d12anEL76bPCNavkY8ntap

Everyone working in the fields of (web) design and/or marketing may have heard of Figma. Figma is a cloud software that is perfect for designing websites or apps, and even print layouts. However, the killer feature of the software undoubtedly is the community. The number of widgets, plugins, and templates for the tool is unbelievably huge. Compared to the big players, such as Adobe (who wanted to buy Figma last year), Figma comes with affordable pricing. However, that is directly connected with a drawback: you can only upload and use custom fonts in the premium package.

While looking for alternatives, I discovered Penpot when it was still in alpha. Now it’s officially version 2.0 and is a very competitive alternative to Figma. Of course, the community is not as big as Figma’s due to the fact that it’s rather unknown.

If you have already worked with Figma, you’ll be ready to work instantly with Penpot. Plus, you can upload your custom fonts without any pricing plan.

While Figma has a desktop app (and a somewhat less useful iOS/iPadOS App), Penpot is still working on a desktop app, but it also works pretty well with Safari on the iPad. Also a file exporter from Figma to Penport is currently being developed.

Considering the software is free, you’ll get a highly professional piece of software.

When I read through the instructions, I wasn’t sure whether this might be a bit too nerdy for me or not, but I gave it a try. And it was totally worth it. I followed the video tutorial step by step and was unbelievably happy when the game eventually launched.

It worked great, and I was so grateful to dive into the world of Aperture Science once again.

Check out the tutorial here: