Nice to see a new bookshop in the city. Versus other Asian cities where bookshops are shutting down. People have interesting encounters with other people or places or circumstances. They write these in books encouraging us to try new things. Books (and the ideas within them) are the nutrients that a society needs in order to grow.
Saigon BooksIn 2012, I got rid of my computer and decided to go full time working on an iPad. I mostly stuck to the iPad as the main computing device with small gaps in 2013 and 2014 where I dabbled with a Chromebook, mainly to experiment. From time to time, I had to have a MacBook around mainly to deal with software or web services that would not run on the iPad or the mobile browser. With the launch of iPad OS and the browser supporting file downloads and more complex web services, there is even less reason for me to get back to a computer.
Here are the apps that I use on a regular basis.
| Task | Apps |
|---|---|
| Writing and archiving | Apple Notes |
| Blogging | Ulysses and Custom Shortcuts |
| Image editing and enhancement | Darkroom |
| Image archival | Google photos |
| Video Editing | Lumafusion |
| Audio | Ferrite for recording and editing audio, Anchor for posting podcasts and Auphonic (web service to clean up the audio) |
| Presentations | Keynote |
| Drawing and illustration | Paper, Linea and Apple Pencil. The Paper app is it a minimalist drawing app that lets me make functional drawings |
| Documents | Word, Excel, Pages, Numbers, Google Drive |
| Teaching | Microsoft Forms (web), Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams |
| Conferencing | Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, Skype |
| Reading | Kindle, Apple Book |
| Video | Amazon Prime, Youtube Premium (mostly so that I can save talks or presentations offline) |
| Events | Adobe Spark for creating social media posts |
| Scheduling | Agenda, Fantastical |
In my use case, I prefer the iPad OS mainly for some apps that I use all the time.: Paper, Linea, Ulysses, Fantastical, Apple Notes. I also enjoy Shortcuts to speed up some repetitive tasks. Most of all, as a regular traveler, I like the simplicity of an iPad - one charging plug can charge everything that I have. I do not have remove the iPad from the bag at airport checks. I have the cellular model which allows me to connect from almost anywhere I go.
But research from psychometricians—professionals who study testing—and AI experts, as well as documents obtained by Motherboard, show that these tools are susceptible to a flaw that has repeatedly sprung up in the AI world: bias against certain demographic groups. And as a Motherboard experiment demonstrated, some of the systems can be fooled by nonsense essays with sophisticated vocabulary.
Link: Flawed Algorithms Are Grading Millions of Students’ Essays - VICE
Link: Reset Podcast discusses AI based essay marking and writing
Link: How to recognize AI snake oil
Links
Kagurazaka neighbourhood of Tokyo. Tokyo has many such interesting neighbourhoods that are worth exploring. This neighbourhood is a bit upscale but there are cheaper restaurants that you can find if you spend some time exploring.
Travel TokyoDark Patterns are tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn’t mean to, like buying or signing up for something. The purpose of this site is to spread awareness and to shame companies that use them.
Link: Dark Patterns
LinksEducation is evolving at a faster pace than any other period in recent history. Because of this, it’s more important than ever to understand how and where it’s changing so that educators and schools can support students in preparing for challenges and careers that don’t exist today. This report aims to identify and examine research-based shifts in classroom education that are taking place around the world.
Link: The Future of Classroom Education Report by Google
Links Education
Of getting lost