Imagine a Budweiser Super Bowl ad where the Clydesdales can talk and they spend the entire two minute ad discussing how much they despise country music, pickup trucks, and Christianity. The tagline: “Budweiser: we hate everything you hold dear”. What do you think that ad would do to Budweiser’s market share? This is basically the […]
Author: Justin Pot
Blurring out distractions and other stuff I wrote this week
This week, over at Lifehacker, I tried a simple Mac application that blurs all but the currently open window. I find it sincerely useful when I’m trying to write and it made me think about how much I like finding little productivity tools that make focusing just that much easier. Do you have any favorite apps like […]
Read local news instead of doomscrolling
How does one exist online, right now, without being a constant mess of anxiety? It’s what I’ve been working on lately. I’ve told you about rejecting anxiety bait and not getting your news from social media, and both of those can make a big difference. But there’s something even simpler that I think can help: […]
An app that shouldn’t exist and other stuff I wrote this week
Writing is a big part of how I’m coping with the world right now. It’s working for me. I’d love to hear how you’re all taking care of your brain during these extremely stupid times so drop a line in the comments. Here’s a few things I wrote that were published in the past week. […]
Canada: it’s time to boycott American social media
The dumbest trade war in world history is underway and Canadians are responding to the idiocy by changing their spending habits. American liquors have been pulled from store shelves and Canadians are trying to replace American products with Canadian equivalents at the grocery store. This is a great example of patriotic unity during a time […]
Make a 2025 MySpace page and other stuff I wrote this week
Hi! Here are some things published in my name this week (they were published in my name because I wrote them).
Don’t get your news from social media
This is the second article in a series about how to function as a human person online in this clusterfuck of an era. You can read part one, about rejecting anxiety bait, here. A curated social media account can expose you to new ideas, help you keep in touch with friends, and maybe even help you […]
YouTube’s horrifying AI and other things I wrote this week
Hi! For the past few years I’ve been writing mostly about macOS and the iPhone, mostly because those are the devices I use day-to-day. I’ve been working on branching out, though. A few months ago I wrote about a free tool for running Windows inside macOS and it’s been great. I also managed to set up my […]
Reject anxiety bait
The past month has been the longest year of my life. I’m sure I’m not alone on this. It is impossible to ignore the onslaught of bad news, which I’m not going to highlight here. What I am going to do is recommend that you take care of yourself. If the world is going to […]
The best language learning apps and other stuff I wrote lately
A week ago Wirecutter published my recommendations for the best language learning apps. It took ages to test all the applications and then to write the article. I have a lot of respect for the writers and editors there now and it’s an honour to have a byline on the site. I’ve been thinking lately about […]