Worth mentioning here since I’ve noted in the past how much I enjoyed using Neeva’s search product:

… there is no longer a path towards creating a sustainable business in consumer search. As a result, over the next few weeks, we will be shutting down neeva.com and our consumer search product, and shifting to a new area of focus.

https://neeva.com/blog/may-announcement

Bummer, but a shift to AI is not a surprise. I do like Neeva’s inclusion in Poe’s list of chatbots. I assume that will continue.

For where I’m searching now, I agree with Gruber. Kagi is where it’s at.

Anime studio Science Saru will be helming the revival, and Bryan Lee O’Malley, who created the original comic, will serve as writer and executive producer alongside Edgar Wright, who directed the live-action film, and BenDavid Grabinski.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23663056/netflix-scott-pilgrim-anime-cast

The entire cast, Bryan Lee O’Malley and Edgar Wright are all involved!? Awesome.

Oh, actually, quick diversion. The fact that that link opens the Google Maps app is the coolest thing about Arc’s app — and potentially the most transformative.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23662130/arc-mobile-browser-hands-on-ios

Honestly, quick access to the sidebar on the go is super functional. And having it open in the respective app is icing on the cake. Loving this new Arc companion 👍

Our app was previously developed using React Native, which is a hybrid web technology that enables JavaScript developers to build mobile apps.

However, we encountered several limitations due to its hybrid nature, such as poor performance and the inability to create native features like Widgets and Shortcuts integration. In this brand new app, I have used Swift and SwiftUI to overcome these limitations and provide a smoother, more native experience.

https://blog.raindrop.io/ios-ipados-app-5-0-8d5dc9c14751

The app had gotten so clunky to use that I moved bookmarking to Anybox.app, but I missed Raindrop.io’s web API and all of my automations through Zapier and IFTTT.

Now, I’m back. What a great update from Raindrop.io! This came as a complete surprise, as I had no idea this was in the works (thankfully I still subscribed to its RSS feed). It looks great, and adds a ton more functionality.

I renewed my yearly subscription on the spot.

But I think the bigger problem is that Google no longer feels complete. I used to be able to weed out the junk by writing more specific queries. Now, such queries—as well as searches for phrases that I know exist on the Web—commonly turn up nothing.

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2023/01/25/chatgpt-vs-google/

SEOs caught on to the “more specific queries” game by calling those long-tail searches. Now, Google is content spam on top of content spam underneath loads of ads and Google SERP features.

What Neeva is doing with AI has been great for me. And, as always, Matt provides the best rundown of how it works:

Because this sounds awful to me.

Apple’s first mixed-reality device, likely to be dubbed the Reality Pro, will launch this year with an immense amount of new technology, ranging from dual 4K displays to a flexible OLED screen on the front that shows a user’s eyes. It will have more than a dozen cameras that can analyze the wearer’s body, eye movements and the external environment.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-01-29/apple-aapl-reality-pro-headset-2023-will-it-eventually-replace-the-iphone-ldhhulli?cmpid=BBD012923_POWERON

Ivory from Tapbots released today. Hopefully this eases the transition to Mastodon for many Twitter users.

As Gruber puts it:

…as a decade-long Tweetbot user, it feels like home.

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/01/24/ivory-1

Sure does.

In 2013, we launched AmazonSmile to make it easier for customers to support their favorite charities. However, after almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped. With so many eligible organizations—more than 1 million globally—our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-closing-amazonsmile-to-focus-its-philanthropic-giving-to-programs-with-greater-impact

Not cool, and kind of lame reasoning.

We’ve invested over 10 years building Tweetbot for Twitter and it was shut down in a blink of an eye. We are very sorry to all of our customers who chose Tweetbot as their way to interact with Twitter’s service and we thank you so much for the many years of support and feedback.

https://tapbots.com/tweetbot/

In other news, I created a Mastodon account last night. Mainly to play around with all the fun new apps, but we’ll see.