Jeff Perry

I know that I just made the decision to set up and create a Ghost website, but the cost of running the ghost website was nearing $50 a month. As someone that is working on being more frugal and saving money this is egregious.

I love that ability to edit the design of my website, but it seems that it isn’t getting the love I was hoping it would. After looking at the analytics of the people visiting the website compared to those who are reading the newsletter it seems more people read the newsletter than visit the site, which is basically just a landing page. For $50 a month I can’t justify the costs when there is a similar option for free.

Substack does the job I want in a newsletter, and with he ability to move TabletHabit.com to Substack it checks all the boxes I want except for designing the look.

The thing that I hate is the fact that I have moved platforms so much over the past year. I know it is frustrating to readers, because it is frustrating to me.

With that said, those who are currently subscribed will not see anything change except how the newsletter looks, and for those that sign up after the move they will never see anything different.

I have been thinking a lot about writing and blogging lately. I genuinely miss it, and I have been slowly making the habit of writing more and more constant in my life. In fact, I am writing this at 5 in the morning, 4 hours before I normally leave for work. Why? Because I have made the conscious effort to get up early solely to write.

Along with writing habitually I have been thinking about what I want to write about. I shared my feelings about writing about the tech industry and how it was a battle for me, but after more thought I do truly miss being a part of that conversation. Not solely because I can be part of the virtual water cooler but because I still deeply care about the tech we use and how that can affect us in various ways. Which is why I am happy to announce that Tablet Habit is coming back. I will share more about this in a bit but I also want to write about workflows and where you can find posts of mine going forward.

After a post from Numeric Citizen where he detailed his writing workflow, I decided that it was time for me to do the same.

This is not nearly as pretty or elaborate as Numeric Citizen’s but for now it will do. Also, this is what allowed me to decide to bring back Tablet Habit while continuing to write on my personal blog. I am sure someone over the years told me to do this exact kind of workflow, in fact I am sure of it, but I never truly feel good about an idea until I flesh it out for myself visually.

To quickly go into detail how this works, everything starts with news I receive from various outlets. Reddit, blogs, Twitter, and newsletters are the most common places for me to find something that interests me. Once I find something I want to save it goes to Craft. I am still working on the organization and chewing on my thoughts about this app, but as fo right now this is an app that has allowed me to understand the power and usefulness a wiki notes app can have. I have barely scratched the surface, but it has been a genuine dream to have an app that works the same way my brain does. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you read the review for Craft on MacStories.

From Craft I will usually export it out via Markdown to Ulysses and write things out there. As of this point where I post this is to be decided later. The main focus is to get ideas out of my messy and busy brain and onto the calm and simple page. Once I get that down it’s easier for me.

Finally, after I have written something I think is worthy of posting I decide where it should go. If it is something small or obviously personal it goes to my personal blog at JeffPerry.blog. This is basically a catch all for quick thoughts (which used to go on Twitter), non-tech stuff, and links that don’t necessarily fit the more specific topics Tablet Habit has. It allows me to separate the ephemeral thoughts I want to put out into the universe and the more thought out articles and pieces I want to write. In the event I have something long to write about that is more personal, like this for instance, it will go on my personal blog as well. I try to emulate other people who do this such as Shawn Blanc with The Sweet Setup and his personal blog.

For Tablet Habit, things along the lines of Apple, iPad, Silicon Valley, or other things tangentially related to those topics will be posted there. It can be link posts, articles, reviews, or something else. The difference between Tablet Habit and my personal blog is that Tablet Habit is beholden to certain topics and areas while my personal blog is a place for me to post shorter content and things unrelated to my niche. It is also two different platforms. My personal blog is on micro.blog whereas Tablet Habit is on Ghost. Micro.blog is more of a short-form social platform and that is how I use my personal blog, where Ghost is more meant for longer articles which is perfect for Tablet Habit.

Another thing that I have learned about myself over the years of blogging is that if I pressure myself to post regularly to be “relevant” on Tablet Habit it tends to go south. So for that reason, I will no be holding myself to a schedule and instead use my various blogs and platforms for what I originally intended them to be, a way for me to express myself and the various things that interest me.

If you are wondering how you can still read everything I write, you can subscribe to RSS feed of my personal blog and to the Tablet Habit Newsletter below, or you can follow me on Twitter @iamJeffPerry which cross-posts everything from both websites.

JeffPerry.blog RSS

Tablet Habit Newsletter

@iamJeffPerry on Twitter

@TabletHabit on Twitter

If you would like to get in touch you can also do so on Twitter via DM or you can email me, which can be found here.

Jay Peters writing for The Verge:

When you ask Siri to play a song on iOS 14.5, you may be prompted to select which app you want to use to play it, according to a screenshot shared on Reddit.

The menu to select an app.

Image: u/matejamm1 on Reddit

I’m on the iOS 14.5 beta, but interestingly, the feature worked a bit differently for me. I asked Siri to play some Tame Impala, and I wasn’t presented with a list of apps to choose from, like in the screenshot above. Instead, I was shown a prompt asking for access to my Spotify data, which I allowed. After that, requests for songs went through Spotify without any prompts.

Matt Birchler:

If I had one recommendation to people launching new web projects, it would be that you need to present value right up front. Often I see new projects launch with a message of “subscribe and find out what I’m going to be doing”, which may work for some people who are hugely popular already, but I don’t think works for 99.9% of people.

For example, if you launch a YouTube channel, you really should have a video up by the time you announce it that either acts as a trailer for what’s to come, or that is an example of the content you are going to be creating. It’s hard enough to get people to subscribe from inside a well-produced video, so telling folks to go to an empty channel page and hit the subscribe button isn’t a very strong sell. That can extrapolate out to newsletters, blogs, and any other creative work online.

Matt Birchler:

I think we need to change up the conversation about the iPad. Apple sold $8.4 worth of iPads last quarter, almost the exact same as Mac revenue. With a lower average selling price, one could safely assume more iPads were sold than Macs last quarter, so clearly people are buying these things. Do developers think most of them are going “aw man, I can’t develop iOS apps on this thing!” when they get home?

Personally, I’m hoping this next round of iPad Pro reviews avoid the “is this finally a computer?” thread that is currently present in every…single…review. Can the iPad be a “real computer”? Obviously, yes, but that’s not the question. We should be considering how new iPad hardware and software improves what the iPad already does, and expands it into new use cases.

We live in a world where we’re surrounded by computers. People have a home computer, a work computer, a phone, a watch, a smart TV, and smart speakers. Hell, even the iPad’s harshest critics often have one that they use for watching video and playing games. The iPad is the only device in that list that some people mandate has feature parity with another item on that list.

While I whole-heartedly agree with Matt here, I feel like the one strand connecting this all that isn’t talked about is how these reviews are used to leverage clicks.

One of the biggest reasons Nilay Patel gets linked every year with his iPad reviews is because of how controversial they can be. When someone claims the iPad isn’t a computer, or the iPad is “still an iPad” it could be their actual take but by no means would they have gotten as many views and clicks if they hade a lukewarm take.

Personally, I take a large amount of reviews with a grain of salt. The people I will take reviews from are those I either have the pleasure of knowing personally or have a reputation that I can get behind.

Sadly, I have very little optimism that the “iPad vs Mac” or “Is the new iPad a Mac Killer” titles and headlines won’t be going away anytime soon. If I end up being wrong, I will be pleasantly surprised.

As I wrote about recently I have been having trouble working out what I wanted to blog about. I knew that I wanted to write and publish online, but I just needed to be pointed into a direction that can allow me to just write.

After a conversation on micro.blog and Twitter, the idea of a 30 day blogging challenge came to mind. I know this isn’t new, micro.blog does microblogvember every November to encourage daily blogging. In fact, that challenge is what made me realize that this idea was possible.

What is different from microblogvember and this is we have a growing community on Discord that I intend to keep up and running year round. There will be different channels and discussions available constantly from both me and other members as the community grows.

This is also not just a microblogging challenge. You can write essays, stories, poems, photos with captions, or a micro post if you want. Blogging has many different kinds of formats and we encourage you to use the formats you are interested in. This can also be a time for you to experiment with different kinds of formats as well.

As of right now this is just going to be happening from March 1st to March 31st, but it is my hope that if things go well and people like this I will do more of these blogging challenges throughout the year. If you join this March you will be the first to know about any future plans.

How it works

Every day in March we will post a prompt on the Daily Blogging Challenge website as well as the Discord Server. From there participants can write and publish their post.

Once published, you can post a comment with a link to your blog post on the original post from the Daily Blogging Challenge website. You can also find links to other participant’s posts for that prompt as well and respond to it. We hope that this will encourage people to not only write everyday with our prompts but also find and follow other participants as well.

The only snag is that in order to post a comment on the website you must be registered. We did this to avoid spamming as it is still a huge issue today when you have comments open for anyone on a WordPress website. You can register for an account here.

Topic Ideas

We also wanted to allow for those interested in this challenge to submit topic ideas. So we went ahead and set up a google form for you to fill out a topic idea you have. We also give the option for you to submit your email to be added to a newsletter we plan to use sparingly. We will send you something in February about being a part of the test run and a final reminder just before March to get signed up and ready for the March event. That’s it. Two emails will be sent to you in total. After that we will set up a different newsletter list you have to join for future plans and announcements.

You can submit your topic ideas here.

How to Join

If you want to join just follow these instructions and you will be notified when we get things started in March and how you can be a part of a test run in mid-February.

Register on the Daily Blogging Challenge website.

Join the discord Server

Submit topic ideas

Share this post with your friends and family.

I am beyond excited to be a part of this challenge and I hope you join me on this journey as well.

It has been several months now since I have written anything. Originally, the reason was because I was moving to my new house, and I wanted to take the time I was spending writing to packing and moving with my wife. However, after the couple of weeks we spent packing and moving it became apparent that my interest in writing for Tablet Habit was no longer there. I stopped reading blog posts, articles, and news about Apple and the iPad. Why I lost interest isn’t directly apparent but if I had to guess I would say it is equal parts burnout and no longer wanting to be a part of the consumerist aspects of tech and Apple.

A quick note about the consumerism that tech and Apple can cause among us that write about them. I am not saying everyone that talks about the newest device from Apple or Samsung is automatically bad or consumerist. There are, however, a good chunk of those that will create a quick and meaningless article or a video about a new device and why you should buy it simply because it generate clicks and views. People pray on FOMO and I can’t think of a more predatory industry than tech and Apple media. On the other side of that coin are people like Chris Lawley, Matt Birchler, and others I have followed for years that constantly think about their audience before putting out articles and videos. I was someone that wanted to bring consistent content that had meaning and substance, but I also felt myself sliding into worrying about clicks and growth instead of the quality of my content. It was for that reason, among others, that I didn’t immediately get back into writing after the move. Now, I am a voice without a topic. A boat drifting in the sea without a sail.

For the last few months I have been thinking about this quote from Merlin Mann from a talk he did with John Gruber back at SXSW in 2009.

Topic times voice. Or, if you’re a little bit more of a maverick, obsession time voice. So what does that mean? I think all of the best non-fiction that has ever been made comes from the result of someone who can’t stop thinking about a certain topic in some cases. And second, they get really good at figuring out what they had to say about it. If you have obsession without voice you basically have a keyword search. […] On the other hand if you have voice without obsession you have people complaining about the Thai food they just had on twitter.

Part of me wishes I still had the interest and passion for sharing my thoughts and feelings on Apple and iPad, but it isn’t there. On the other hand, it can be freeing to not have a niche that people define you by. If you asked me today how I feel about no longer writing about the iPad and Apple anymore it is a coin flip whether or not I am pleased or regretful of my decision. I miss writing about something I am passionate about, I miss sharing a viewpoint and being a voice in the conversation. That said, I also know that the pressure I put myself on being a bigger voice in the Apple and iPad world eventually became too much for me to bare it.

I don’t know what is next for me creatively. I have been looking at fiction writing and screenplays as a hobby but I also miss sharing articles, blog posts, etc. on a regular basis and being a part of the conversation. The issue lies in not having a conversation I want to be a part of anymore. I don’t have any shared interested or passions at the moment. There isn’t anything like the passion I used to have for Apple, iOS, and the iPad. There are things I like, such as screenwriting and film that have been loves of mine for years but they aren’t something I can write consistently about and still enjoy.

One day I hope to have the same spark I did when I created Tablet Habit so many years ago, but until then I will continue to drift in the open sea without a sail in hopes to find my next adventure.

I guess I am writing this in hopes that someone will share with me how I can still be part of the conversation even though I don’t have a dedicated topic or idea. Or perhaps to find a new topic or idea to talk about. If anyone reading this has any insight or advice I am all ears.

Also, I think that one way I can still be a part of the conversation and be helpful to others is to offer editing and critiques to anyone that is looking for it. While I don’t necessarily have much to say about the next version of iOS or the latest MacBook Air, I am sure others do and they might want someone to read it before they hit publish.

If you have an article, blog post, screenplay, or something that you want a second pair of eyes on let me know either on Twitter or email me at jeff[at]tablethabit[dot]com. My DM and email are always open.

As for those who are still passionate and interested in the things they are writing about, I wish you the best going forward and hope that light never dies.

From my newsletter, Tablet Habit:

There are 3 words I look for when making my decision to buy a new iPhone nearly every year: a better camera. If the new cameras in the iPhone have greatly improved, that is something that I am more than happy to justify an upgrade. The newly announced iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max check off some boxes that I had going into the keynote, and it solidified my decision to buy one of the iPhone 12 Pro phones. The question is do I go with the iPhone 12 Pro or the iPhone 12 Pro Max?

From Tablet Habit:

The newly released iPad Air is an exceptional mid-tier iPad, but I believe Apple has drawn the line on what constitutes a “Pro” iPad and an iPad Air. Much like the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, there are distinct similarities and differences to the design, spec options, etc. I want to talk about some of them today, but before I do, I created a table for you to look at showcasing the differences between the iPad Pro and iPad Air.

This was a fun one to write. Truthfully I didn’t think I had this much to say about the new iPad Air, but here we are.