In January 2025 I resurrected a Signal account that had, for all intents and purposes, fallen into disuse, and I shared it here on the blog with the intention of using it more often and with more engagement. For nearly a year and a half, I’ve communicated very little through the account, and only with a couple of friends who could just as easily reach me elsewhere.
I’ve been using only Apple devices for a few years now. I don’t have a Windows PC or an Android smartphone. I don’t even have headphones or accessories from other brands. I subscribe to iCloud+ and use various Apple services, such as Music, Arcade, and email with a custom domain. In short, I’m a user who is totally immersed in the Cupertino ecosystem, but I’m not a satisfied user at all.
I’ve mentioned in the past about Default Apps, the list of predefined software and services born last winter from the Hemispheric Views podcast. During this holiday season, I noticed that many bloggers have updated their lists1 highlighting all the changes. It was very fascinating, once again, to browse through the posts and make some considerations.
Imagine if Chrome could deplete your iPhone battery as fast as it does your MacBook battery. Imagine if you were one of the millions (zillions?) of people whose “incognito mode” browsing history was observed and stored by Google and deleted only after they lost a lawsuit. Imagine — and this takes a lot of imagination — if Google actually shipped a version of Chrome for iOS, only for the EU, that used its own battery-eating rendering engine instead of using the energy-efficient system version of WebKit.