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The Basically-Zero Edition Saturday, August 9, 2025

Smartwatches Offer Little Insight Into Stress Levels, Researchers Find, by Rachel Hall, The Guardian

Researchers found almost no relationship between the stress levels reported by the smartwatch and the levels that participants said they experienced. However, recorded fatigue levels had a very slight association with the smartwatch data, while sleep had a stronger correlation.

Eiko Fried, an author of the study, said the correlation between the smartwatch and self-reported stress scores was “basically zero”.

Stuff

Apple Releases New ‘Here’s To The Dreamers’ Wallpaper For iPhone, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

This year, Apple’s latest “Here’s to the Dreamers” campaign features creatives in a wide array of fields, including music but also art, app development, and more.

Apple has also published a new iPhone wallpaper to fit the occasion, available now on its website.

This Mac App Automatically Triggers 'Do Not Disturb' When You're On A Call, by Justin Pot, Lifehacer

Imagine an incredibly embarrassing text popping up on your screen while you're giving an online presentation. Now imagine you never have to worry about this ever happening again. On Air Mode is a free Mac application that does one thing: It sets your Mac to Do Not Disturb mode whenever your microphone is active.

RetroStrip Review: Nostalgic Utility Brings Back The Legendary Mac Control Strip, by Thomas Hartmann, Macworld

I find it quite practical and nostalgically beautiful to have such a small control bar for certain frequently used apps permanently floating in the foreground without being intrusive.

New iOS App Takes The Mystery Out Of HomeKit Troubleshooting, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

HomeCare for HomeKit is designed as a complete toolkit for diagnosing and fixing smart home problems. At its core, it scans your entire setup to instantly identify devices that are unresponsive, slow, or running on low battery. Each failing device shows a “Last Time Online” timestamp to help pinpoint when trouble began.

There's A Better Way To Watch YouTube On iPhone (Without Ads, The Algorithm, Or Shorts), by Khamosh Pathak, Lifehacker

The answer you've been looking for is a third-party Watch Later app like Play. Play isn’t a fully-featured YouTube client (Google made sure to nerf all of those), but that’s actually a good thing. You use the app to find and sort videos you actually want to watch, without getting bothered by the algorithm. No comments, no feed, and yes, there’s an option to disable Shorts as well.

Nintendo’s New Hello, Mario! Mobile App Lets Kids Play With Mario’s Face, by Andrew Liszewski, The Verge

Nintendo has announced a new free mobile app coming to iOS, Android and the Switch. It’s called Hello, Mario! and was revealed alongside a new collection of Mario-themed products designed for kids and toddlers launching in Japan later this month.

Notes

You Sound Like ChatGPT, by Sara Parker, The Verge

This isn’t a question about whether AI will continue shaping how we speak — because it will — but whether we’ll actively choose to preserve space for the verbal quirks and emotional messiness that make communication recognizably, irreplaceably human.

Bottom of the Page

Today, I've a heong peng for breakfast, ramen for lunch, and ayam penyet for dinner.

Yes, this has been a satisfying day.

(Except for the part where I am wrestling with SwiftUI.)

~

Thanks for reading.