I love these ideas, though feel I would prefer designs that (may) sacrifice some utility for aesthetics. That isn't a knock on the magnificent effort here, but just my own preference. It's likely the emojis that I'm not thrilled about, but I can also appreciate the reason for using them.
I hate these and hope they are heading out also. Our hands and fingers are built to receive touch feedback, and these specific kind of buttons negate all of that.
Yes, this. I was skeptical and disgusted at a lot of what was being done or promised by using LLMs, but this was because I initially saw a lot of wholesale: "Make thing for me," being hyped or discussed.
In practice, I have found them to be good tools for getting going or un-stuck, and use them more like an inspiration engine, or brain kick-starter.
Same experience here.
Preview, if anything, always felt like the simplest true to Apple: 'it just works' kind of PDF/file viewer.
I am not sure what new features it needs, other than some general improvement to the markup tools.
There is another important angle to all of this that I have discovered:
I began writing/journaling several years ago by hand and have off and on kept up the habit. For me personally, the experience is enjoyable and therapeutic, given my day job is 100% on a computer. (I'm also an illustrator (focus on traditional, rather than digital) so I naturally nerd out on pens, paints, ink, paper, etc. Illustrating with analog tools also has a similar effect as writing.) I have found that I very easily enter flow state writing, for whatever reason.
More importantly, I recently felt inspired (HT to the late Humphrey Carpenter's excellent biography of Tolkien, who wrote to his kids a ton) not just to write for myself, but to write to my sons. This has given my writing even a greater purpose, as I want to give my thoughts (I'm not some profound thinker or such rubbish) and encouragement to my boys when I may not be around (not just in death, but even not near them).
I want them to hear and remember the goofiness, and some of the things that went unsaid, or may have been missed, to apologize for my own failings, to really know how much I love and am proud of them. And I want them to not feel alone and discouraged in this world. That sort of stuff.
I don't believer there would be anything wrong with typing things to them, however It feels like actually holding a thing that my dad held, and seeing his lines, scribbles, ramblings, bad spelling and stuff...but meant for me...would be really meaningful.
Merely responding to the headline, but I've always held that if I reach the point I am no longer learning/challenged (here, maybe that means literally everything is easy), then it's time to consider moving on to something else.
