2023

As usual, I take note of the fact that this blogging thing is going exceedingly badly. And, as usual, I will mutter something about attempting to get better at that.

Only now, it seems, I have a way of making that happen a little easier. See, I, like I'm sure many of you, have taken the ChatGPT plunge, and found it a rather fascinating tool. So long as you know what you are doing, and are aware of its flaws and limitations, it is a an interesting tool to use. I've only just begun exploring it, and already have found many uses for it, including as a generator of not just ideas, but of blog posts.

I've experimented with one idea, in particular, that I've just not gotten to writing about, and you'll see it soon. It isn't purely a ChatGPT generation - I uses several iterations of what it gave me based on a short brief, as well as some expansions on related topics. It is based on my utter loathing for cookies, and how they should never have become so prevalent, and what alternatives there are. I will publish the cobbled together article first, then I'll follow up with the brief and how I put it all together so you can see how it came about.

I'm not going to rely on it to do the work, that would negate the purpose of me writing this thing, and it would, as I'm sure many of you know, be incredibly lazy writing, possibly laden with many, many errors. But I will be working with it, I think.

I've also found it useful to start the year listing some of my current favourite tools, so here you are:

• ChatGPT
• Vivaldi Browser
• Raindrop.io
• Keeper password manager
• Proton VPN
• Moa Twitter/Mastodon cross-poster
• 12ft.io paywall bypasser
• Logitech MX Ergo trackball mouse (I still swear this is the most comfortable mouse I've ever used)
• Dark Reader browser extension - brings darkness to the horrible light modes everywhere

I'll see you on the other side of my cookies hatred!