Micro app 14: Podcast Transcript Fixer Today I'm sharing a pretty simple micro-app: a Claude skill that you can use in the desktop app or in Claude Code. It lets you pass in a podcast transcript and helps clean it up for you. The local models we have today for creating transcriptions are really great, but

🔗 Micro app 14: Podcast Transcript Fixer birchtree.me/blog/micro-app-14-podcas...

Chrome gets side tabs David Pierce: Vertical browser tabs are better and you should use them The good news here is, you don’t have to take my word for it. Switching browsers is hard, and maybe you don’t want to do it just for vertical tabs. But update Chrome, right-click the tab

🔗 Chrome gets side tabs https://birchtree.me/blog/chrome-gets-side-tabs/

Samsung is discontinuing it's messaging app…helping iPhone users get encrypted RCS Last month, I wrote about how Apple is working on adding support for encrypted RCS messages between Apple Messages on iOS and Google Messages on Android. At the time, I said I hoped Apple would make this work with Samsung's messaging app as well so that basically all Americans could

🔗 Samsung is discontinuing it's messaging app…helping iPhone users get encrypted RCS birchtree.me/blog/samsung-is-disconti...

Video gaming prices continue to explode Just 6 months ago, Lenovo launched their Legion Go 2 handheld PC game console. It came in 2 versions, each with a different chip (AMD Ryzen Z2 or Z2 Extreme) powering the device. They came in at the profoundly premium price points of $1,099 and $1,349. Now, those

🔗 Video gaming prices continue to explode birchtree.me/blog/video-gaming-prices...

Nintendo's digital games will be cheaper than physical Nintendo: About Nintendo Switch 2 Game Pricing Beginning in May 2026, and starting with preorders for Yoshi™ and the Mysterious Book, new Nintendo published digital titles exclusive to Nintendo Switch™ 2 will have an MSRP that is different from physical versions. Considering Nintendo caught up with Sony and Microsoft and

🔗 Nintendo's digital games will be cheaper than physical birchtree.me/blog/nintendos-digital-g...

It’s amazing to me how many people still get confused by this. Also, Apple emails you a detailed receipt for each charge so you know exactly what you paid for.

9to5mac.com/2026/04/02/...

That’s jus how media discussions go jess77x in a Reddit post about Pluribus: The discourse around this show is so weird. It's either a masterpiece or a total slog. And everyone is just talking past each other and calling people illiterate/TikTok brained for disliking it or pretentious shills for liking it. And it's a shame

🔗 That’s jus how media discussions go birchtree.me/blog/thats-jus-how-media...

OpenAI against the world Ben Thompson: Apple’s 50 Years of Integration It’s also worth noting that OpenAI has, in its relatively short life, managed to frame itself as a competitor to basically everyone in tech, from Google to Meta to Microsoft, only to find itself forced to pivot in the face of

🔗 OpenAI against the world https://birchtree.me/blog/openai-against-the-world/

+ Have I burned out on YouTube? Tech, Apple, and the vast grey area that is AI

🔗 + Have I burned out on YouTube? https://birchtree.me/blog/have-i-burned-out-on-youtube/

Apple at 50: my most memorable product announcements Apple turns 50 today, so I thought I'd take some time to think back on some of the most memorable Apple product announcements. I'm relying entirely on my own memory, so forgive me if I get some small details wrong. Original iPhone We have to start with the original iPhone

🔗 Apple at 50: my most memorable product announcements birchtree.me/blog/apple-at-50-my-most...

Fully agreed!

That's a legit opinion! I keep buying Android phones hoping I'll finally like them more, and they're just not that close for me.

- sent from Galaxy S26 😅

Buy today's budget or yesterday's premium? One of the things that raised a bit of a stink in my MacBook Neo review was the idea that it might be prudent for people looking to buy a $600-700 MacBook to also consider older devices off mainstream storefronts like Amazon, eBay, and Best Buy. To me, it made

🔗 Buy today's budget or yesterday's premium? birchtree.me/blog/buy-todays-budget-o...

Micro app 13: The Comfort Zone Database Something I find myself doing from time to time is wondering if I've mentioned a piece of tech before, run a specific challenge before, or just trying to remember what episode to reference when directing people to an old episode. This data exists and could be acquired if I needed

🔗 Micro app 13: The Comfort Zone Database birchtree.me/blog/micro-app-13-the-co...

iOS…iPadOS…are you getting it? These are not two different operating systems… The above screenshot is from the iPad, and it's where you get to choose how you would like apps to display in the OS. Given my recent assertions that iOS and iPadOS are already the same thing, but with different exposed features on some devices, I'd suggest that the iPhone

🔗 iOS…iPadOS…are you getting it? These are not two different operating systems… birchtree.me/blog/ios-ipados-are-you-...

Quick Tier List gets Quick Look This morning, I pushed a small, but important update the Quick Tier List, what I think is the best tier list web app out there. Quick Look You can now select an item from the unranked section and press the spacebar to quick look that image, just like in the

🔗 Quick Tier List gets Quick Look birchtree.me/blog/quick-tier-list-get...

Quick Subtitles 2.2 - UX and UI improvements galore The latest version of Quick Subtitles is here, and it's packed with some significant UI and UX improvements. Let's dive into the UX enhancements first. Better loading indicators A few versions ago, I added support for third-party transcription models like Parakeet and Whisper. Unlike Apple's built-in model, these models aren't

🔗 Quick Subtitles 2.2 - UX and UI improvements galore birchtree.me/blog/quick-subtitles-2-2...

Removing macOS's icon-sized movie player Back in 2007 Apple released Mac OS X Leopard, which introduced a bunch of cool features including Quick Look. This allowed users to select a file and hit the space bar to preview it in the finder, which is awesome but it also made it so that audio and video

🔗 Removing macOS's icon-sized movie player birchtree.me/blog/removing-macoss-ico...

Console prices are insane now All prices in this post are adjusted for inflation. In 2000, Sony launched the PS2 for $561. By 2006, they had a $209 model that was thinner, but had all the power and features of the original model. This was how the world went: consoles launch, and then get cheaper

🔗 Console prices are insane now birchtree.me/blog/console-prices-are-...

About those "Chrome on Android is faster than Safari on the iPhone" claims This week, Google posted that Chrome on Android was now notably faster at browsing the web than Safari on iOS. This led to the bold line in the post: Android is now the fastest mobile platform for web browsing. Likely due to corporate lameness, they didn't put specific labels on

🔗 About those "Chrome on Android is faster than Safari on the iPhone" claims birchtree.me/blog/about-those-chrome-...

MacBook Neo, the benchmarks I wrote in my review that I didn't think benchmarks told the real story of using a Neo, and I specifically called out the Geekbench CPU single-core test as particularly misleading. That said, I do think the benchmarks are interesting academically, and in terms of what they say about the

🔗 MacBook Neo, the benchmarks https://birchtree.me/blog/macbook-neo-the-benchmarks/

Thanks! Out of curiosity, have you gotten yours to throttle? I've put mine under sustained load for 30 minutes and the performance remained completely flat for me.

Not sure if you read the article but I'm not sure that logic applies to Sony and Microsoft 😝

Yearly Run Goals gets a rustic redesign I'm starting to think my apps have a trend. I think of a very specific problem that I want to solve. I figure out a nice way to solve it using stock SwiftUI. And then once everything is working, I give it a bit of style. This happened with Quick

🔗 Yearly Run Goals gets a rustic redesign birchtree.me/blog/yearly-run-goals-ge...

+ Why ChapterPod became Chapterize Tech, Apple, and the vast grey area that is AI

🔗 + Why ChapterPod became Chapterize birchtree.me/blog/why-chapterpod-beca...

ChapterPod is now Chapterize I'm excited to announce a new era for ChapterPod! Due to a bit of a trademark issue (one I am morally in the right on but will address anyway), the app is now called Chapterize. In addition to the new name, I've added a video feature. This allows you to

🔗 ChapterPod is now Chapterize https://birchtree.me/blog/chapterpod-is-now-chapterize/

Not me absolutely howling on my walk as I spot this bumper sticker.

I just spent $50 to fill up a Chevy Cruze 🫠

Sora is dead OpenAI announced the end of the Sora app on Twitter today. We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll share

🔗 Sora is dead https://birchtree.me/blog/sora-is-dead/

Switch 2 sales estimates drop, and why I think console gaming is currently in decline Jess Weatherbed: Nintendo cuts Switch 2 production amid weakening console sales Nintendo will produce fewer Switch 2 units than it previously projected in response to weakening demand for the console in the US, Bloomberg reports. Four million units of Nintendo’s flagship device are expected to be made this quarter

🔗 Switch 2 sales estimates drop, and why I think console gaming is currently in decline birchtree.me/blog/switch-2-sales-esti...

+ We need to create an open web worth saving (because what we have now deserves to be destroyed) Tech, Apple, and the vast grey area that is AI

🔗 + We need to create an open web worth saving (because what we have now deserves to be destroyed) birchtree.me/blog/we-need-to-create-a...