 |
|
|
|||||
I have not found much joy in iPhone photography of late. Between the flat, HDR-heavy image processing and the stagnant hardware compared to competitors, its rare that Ill use my iPhone for anything beyond quick, functional snapshots. Here is the price of eggs at the supermarket today in a chat message. That sort of thing. But over the past week, Ive been having more fun with my iPhone camera than Ive had in years. The reason for that is !Camera, a new app that completely reimagines the experience of taking photos on your phone. Inspiring design !Camerano, I am not entirely sure how youre meant to say that out loudcomes from Not Boring Software, which also makes a suite of iOS apps including a weather app, a timer, a calculator, and more. Ive tried some of these in the past and admired their stylish, original design, but none of them really stuck with me; I tend to lean into functionality if Im going to learn a new app. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/multicore_logo.jpg","headline":"Multicore","description":"Multicore is about technology hardware and design. It's written from Tokyo by Sam Byford. To learn more visit multicore.blog","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.multicore.blog","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}} But cameras are the opposite. Unless Im shooting professionally at a critical event, I want cameras to have their own personality and inspire me to use them. Thats exactly what you get with !Camera. Although !Camera solely exists in software, its unique 3D interface makes your iPhone feel like a new device. The colorful, customizable UI is not intended to look realistic, exactly, but the combination of visual effects and haptic feedback is surprisingly believable. I set up a shortcut to open !Camera with the iPhones physical Action Button, which adds to the verisimilitude. The chunky virtual dials show shadows in the knurls as you tilt your phone, based on input from the gyroscope. The iPhones haptic system lets you feel every notch along the dials, together with satisfying clunks when you swap between lenses or turn the flash on. And I cant remember the last time I didnt immediately turn off the beeps on a digital camera, but the stereo sound effects here actually add to the experience. Simple UI The UI itself is extremely simple. There is a huge shutter button thats impossible to miss, plus two key dials: one for exposure compensation, and the other to select photo styles. You do have the option to switch to a manual mode, but it feels intentional that the two virtual dials are dedicated to accessible features that are more likely to make a real difference on a phone camera. Theres also a clever take on manual focus that brings up a loupe-like ring when you drag directly on the viewfinder. The UI is rounded out by two switches for the flash and to swap between lensestheres no option for 2x or any other fake digital zoomas well as a settings button that takes you to a more conventional menu with all the customization features. One feature you wont find is the ability to view all your photos; they just get saved straight into your iPhones photo app. This is presumably so that you dont spend half your time chimping, or immediately checking the pictures you took rather than concentrating on taking some more. Its a good decision, especially since the photos themselves can take a second or two to process. After pressing the shutter button, you get a quick preview on the viewfinder that doesnt quite match the final results but is enough to let you know whether you got the shot or not. Great results The results are usually great. !Camera can shoot in Apples ProRAW format or use the basic JPEG processing, but it defaults to its own SuperRaw system that adds a slight grain and goes for punchy exposure. These photos can all capture HDR data, and you can also save a regular RAW file at the same time for editing later. !Camera supports importing LUTs, or lookup tables, the same kind of presets used by many pro photographers. It also comes with several styles of its own, including a couple of monochrome filmlike options by Tokyo-based AgBr, the collective behind the excellent Mac and iOS photo editing app of the same name. These arent just filters: Theyre embedded right into the image-processing pipeline. Last month Apple announced that it is shifting all of its operating systems to a new visual style built around a virtual material called Liquid Glass. Design chief Alan Dye said in a statement that it combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context. !Camera takes a similar approach in some ways, as it acknowledges the physical properties of the iPhone and reacts in real time. But you couldnt make !Camera out of Liquid Glassits already made out of something else. Its materials have a style and a charm entirely their own, and they make your phone feel like a timeless camera in the real world rather than something that exists only in the Apple universe. More to the point, it is simply a heck of a lot of fun. Id fallen out of love with iPhone photography, but !Camera has pulled me right back. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/multicore_logo.jpg","headline":"Multicore","description":"Multicore is about technology hardware and design. It's written from Tokyo by Sam Byford. To learn more visit multicore.blog","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.multicore.blog","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
I have a brain tumor. The good news is that its benign. The bad news is that I need surgery to remove it. Brain surgery typically involves a lengthy recovery period. Six weeks, at a minimum. On top of navigating the emotions that come with such a diagnosis, Ive had to figure out what work will look like as I recover. More specifically: how I will manage not working for such a long period of time. This isnt the first time Ive experienced a major life event in my career (unfortunately). The Extreme Planner in me immediately started to figure out the logistics. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} If youre going through something similar, I feel you. If youve never faced a significant medical challenge, I hope it stays that way. But I write this so that if you ever need it, you can return to this article. And I write this so if you need to support someone going through a medical challenge, you know where to start. Talking with your boss or team Telling other people about a medical diagnosis is deeply personal. Theres no right or wrong time. Im self-employed, so I talked with my clients as soon as I had more definitive information (a surgery date). For 10 agonizing days, I knew that I had a brain tumor and my clients didnt. I somehow fumbled my way through deadlines and normal client communications as though nothing was wrong. But for me it made sense to talk about my diagnosis as soon as possible. My clients could start to plan for my absence. Plus, I have a lot of doctors appointments leading up to the surgery date that I need to work around. When I previously had a medical issue in 2017, I told only my boss and one or two close colleagues. I didnt want to talk about it. It was strictly a need-to-know basis. Bottom line: Do what feels right for you. Navigating the pressures of working Living with a brain tumor is Not Fun. There are a lot of unknowns around the outcome of surgery. The same is true for many medical conditions: Fear, pain, or both may impact your life daily. One benefit of telling your boss or team is that hopefully theyre compassionate. Theyll lighten your workload or understand if you have to rearrange deadlines. But youre likely also facing financial pressure. With most companies having limits on paid sick time, you probably feel like you have to keep working until the point when you cant anymore. I certainly feel that pressureeven guiltas I think about the gap in my familys income as I recover. I finally decided to take a break between my last working day and my surgery date. During that time, Im going to take my family to a show in Chicago and maybe get a pedicure. I have a special lunch date planned with my husband. If youre facing a potentially life-altering surgery or other procedure, dont spend your last few days before working. Enjoy the time as best you can. How to ask for support Heres the thing about telling people that youre experiencing a major medical issue: People want to help. Theyll ask you if theres anything they can do, because they know youre going through something rough. When I first told people about my brain tumor, they told me to let them know if there was anything they could do. For a long time, I said, Ill let you know. I couldnt think of anything, because my mind was still reeling from the shock of the diagnosis. But then I started to ask for help with specific things. I thought about the people in my life, and how their skills might help keep my business running while I cant work. I circled back with some people who had offered support and said, Can you do XYZ for me? If you work for a company, you can do the same thing. Make a list of the things that would truly make your workday easier so youre ready anytime someone asks, How can I help? How to provide support If youre on the other side and a colleague or professional contact is going through something hard, offer specific ways you can help. So many people (like me) are overwhelmed and dont know how to reply when someone offers support. Say, Can I take ABC off your plate? Or XYZ? rather than Let me know if theres anything you need! It reduces the mental load of the person youre trying to help. Check in again, even after weeks or months have passed. The persons needs may change. Significant medical issues can be long-lasting. People are eager to offer help at the beginning, but that fades over timeespecially at work, where its easy to be removed from peoples personal lives. Be the person who continues to show up, saying, How can I help? Or simply, How are you feeling? Do you want to talk? Im here to listen. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
Knowledgeworkers spend roughly one working day every week, or 23% of their time, in a meeting. The weight of the workday often prevents employees from having uninterrupted time to concentrate, causing them to extend their hours well beyond the traditional 9-to-5. It’s tempting for companies to embrace the appeal of “no meetings, hoping the extra time will lead to more focused work. But does eliminating meetings actually work? Grace Williams, VP of Client Relations of the PR agency PANBlast, convinced her leadership team to cancel all meetings for a week. With over 20 meetings filling more than half her schedule, Grace saw a no meetings week as a chance to get meaningful work done while relieving some Zoom fatigue. The result? While some employees missed social interactions and struggled with understanding workload, 92% of employees said theyd like to repeat the experiment again later that year. So, whats the right move for companies? Should they dedicate a day each week to deep work, or test a full week without meetings? And in an era of improved collaboration tools and smarter calendar management, is the real opportunity in small refinements rather than sweeping changes? Here, representatives from companies of all sizes share how they’re rethinking meeting culture. Consider one day of deep work I brought a No-Meeting Fridays policy with me when I joined Tormach two years agothe rest of the company adopted it soon after. The result? Higher productivity, no communication gaps, and a noticeable shift in morale. People use Fridays to catch up on emails, finish admin tasks, and tie up loose ends, which clears the mental clutter before the weekend. It also creates a natural incentive to finish collaborative work by Thursday, so deadlines tend to be hit earlier. The idea came from my experience at larger companies, where Friday meetings were often canceled last-minute by leadership, throwing off your day and your mindset. It felt inefficient and frustrating, so I decided to flip that script and just eliminate the expectation of meetings altogether. We stay connected through Microsoft Teams, and Friday has organically become a day when people share weekly wins in our channelskeeping communication flowing while still honoring deep work time. Heather Curtis, Director of Sales and Marketing, Tormach Give employees tools to step out of meetings No meeting policies and no meeting weeks should be a thing of the past thanks to AI. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach that limits how people want to work, instead give them the tools to step out of meetings that they can miss, while still ensuring they get the information they need. Its all infinitely more possible today. When teams implement an AI meeting copilot, individuals naturally attend 20% fewer meetings nearly immediately, while still getting access to the content via shared meeting reports and connected enterprise search. No one even has to review meeting minutes any longer; you simply prompt your knowledge base for the information you need, and move through your day faster. David Shim, Cofounder and CEO, Read AI Anchor the week with written, public commitments Growth requires speed, and meetings were slowing us down. So, we implemented a complete no-meeting policy for five consecutive business days. No regular standups, check-ins, or even “quick” calls. We structured it like a sprint, with each participant committing to one key project for the week and sharing it in a Slack thread Monday morning. Output during that week doubled compared to a typical week, as measured by the number of campaigns launched and features delivered. It felt electric. However, by Friday, we realized that relationships had suffered slightly; informal collaboration and creative riffing were almost nonexistent without real-time chats. To ensure long-term success, anchor the week with written, public commitments. At beehiiv, we require a Monday kickoff post and a Friday recap. Without that, a lack of meetings simply makes people invisible, and invisibility kills momentum faster than meetings ever could. Edward White, Head of Growth, beehiiv Get buy-in from the top down Shift has implemented Deep Work Wednesdays for over a year for the entire company. The key to a successful no-meeting policy is to first achieve true buy-in from the top down. Its often at the leadership level where schedules get busy and meeting invites get scheduled just to find the time when no one has meetings booked. Individual team members also look to the companys leadership to assess how committed they should be to new company policies or changes in their workflow. The long-term success of a company’s no-meeting policy is reliant on those at the top setting the right tone and leading by example. Sabrina Banadyga, VP of Marketing, Shift Be intentional about meetings Thoughtful meeting habits arent about cutting things out entirely, but it is about being intentional. Im ruthless about only attending meetings with a clear agenda and purpose. If something can be shared as ongoing communication, instead of a separate meeting, it should be. If I can empower someone to move forward without me, even better. My advice? Lead by example. Defend your calendar, prioritize deep work, and normalize the idea that not being in every meeting can actually be a sign of a strong, empowered and trusted team, not a disengaged one. Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo (JC), President and COO at TravelPerk
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||