
Hi there,
I hope you're well.

A few weeks ago, Apple launched their 2022 lineup of iPhones.

It was a typical event for Apple, with tremendous production values and exciting product announcements from executives. I'm always struck by how much intention and design goes into the production of Apple's live events - every single moment is scripted carefully; every camera angle is calculated and precise.

One thing that always stands out to me is the way that _Apple_ refers to their phones. During launch events, you'll never hear someone from apple talk about "the iPhone", or "an iPhone".

Seriously - go back and listen.

They will say things like "iPhone enables gorgeous photo capture across the entire range of light", or "iPhone 14 is designed to last".

That's a tiny change, but it's so significant. By never saying "the iPhone", Apple creates an air of elevated expectation for their product. The way that language is used is critical in marketing and sales, and Apple is a master at using language to create an emotional connection to their products.

If you're not paying attention, you might not even notice it. But it's something that I think about every time I see Apple use language to manipulate buyers.

What's even more interesting to me is the other side of this -- consumer behavior. Listen to people talking about their devices, and they speak differently still. Most people won't say "yesterday I got an iPhone 14" - instead, you're likely to hear "yesterday, I got **the** iPhone 14".

My friends, they made more than one. I promise.

And yet, it feels more special, exclusive, privileged to call your phone **the** iPhone 14.

Fascinating!

This week's dispatch of Tiny Improvements focuses on language and cognition.

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/use-of-language-and-intent/cover"
  alt="Sunrise over my neighbnorhood from an early morning last week."
  caption="September sunrises always seem to sneak up on me. This is a photo from my neighborhood last week."
/>

## The way we talk about our things

You don't have to take my word (lol) on language and cognition. These are some of of my favorite resources on the topic, from around the web:

🎙 [**The Allusionist**](https://www.theallusionist.org/): A podcast about language, hosted by Helen Zaltzman. Helen is a fantastic host, and the show is always interesting and entertaining.

📖 [**Cultish: The Language of fanaticism**](https://hardcover.app/books/cultish) is a book by [Amanda Montell](https://twitter.com/AmandaMontell) on the language used to create and control people within cults of all sorts - from religion to fitness, politics and MLMs. It's a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it.

🦤 [**Toucan**](https://jointoucan.com/) is a browser extension that helps you immerse yourself in language learning, by replacing words on web pages you're visiting with vocabulary in another language. I've been using it to bolster my learning of Japanese. Their free tier is generous and super helpful. Give it a shot!

## From me this week

- I published an article on [using the ConvertKit API with Remix](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/publish-your-newsletter-with-convertkit-api-remix) to publish past newsletter issues to the web. It started as a quick experiment, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'll be publishing a follow-up article on how to use the same technique to publish your newsletter with Next.js, too.

- A great demonstration of why I love sharing on twitter - what started as a [tweet on my thoughts about figma getting acquired](https://twitter.com/irreverentmike/status/1570393684130103298) turned into a discussion on how to improve UX for signups on my site. You may be here because of it!
- It's officially busy season for work - and I'll be attending a few events in the coming weeks. Most will have livestreams or recordings, so I'll be sure to share them here.

That's all for now - thanks for reading. If you found this useful, I'd love it if you shared Tiny Improvements with a friend. It's the best way to help me grow the newsletter.

Until next time,

-M


The way we talk about our things


I hope you're well.

I've been continuing my habit of getting out with the sunrise each day for a walk. I've been covering 4-5mi each morning. By my count, today I'll hit a 62 day streak, so if you're playing along at home, that's about 250mi I've traipsed through my neighborhood since this whole shutdown started. It's given me lots of time to work through my thoughts and feelings on everything going on in the world.​

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/swear-i-wrote-that-down-somewhere/cover"
  alt="A photo of light rail tracks and a water tower, with a light colored sunrise in the background."
  caption="A shot from a recent morning stroll, in Charlotte NC's South End district"
/>

## Brain training

_Write more!_

I'm trying to write more in general, and I'm starting by taking better notes. Part of that process is writing down things that I think about or come across each day, if they pique my attention in any way.

If you've crossed the same parts of the internet as I have, you may have heard about [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/) - a fairly brutalist note-taking tool which helps you see how your thoughts are linked together. I've been using it for a few months now, and while I'm not quite addicted to the thing, I absolutely see the value in continued use. They've had a tremendous amount of adoption lately. Last weekend, they saw 10k users register, which all but shut down their service. That's a hell of a success story!

## If you make things for the web...

- 📈 I put out a new article last week on why I adopted Fathom Analytics for my personal site (and a few other projects). If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, [give it a look here](https://www.mikebifulco.com/posts/why-fathom-analytics).
- 🔨 Have you tried out [Gatsby's incremental builds yet](https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/incremental-builds/)? I've given it a go on both Netlify and Gatsby Cloud, and I've gotta say, I'm impressed.
- 🎨 Designing software with accessibility in mind is more important every day - and I've really enjoyed watching the growth of a product called [Stark](https://www.getstark.co/), which helps teams meet accessibility standards.

## Never stop learning

- 🥬 Unlike most commodities in the US during the pandemic, asparagus has become harder to source, and so its [price has gone up drastically](https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/05/07/Asparagus-price-bucks-norm-spikes-during-coronavirus-pandemic/5101588800054/).
- 📚 On any given day, the average person reads 113 thousand words(!). Cognition is the process of acquiring knowledge, and it's been capturing my attention lately. Check out this [great twitter thread from Kyle Harrison](https://twitter.com/kwharrison13/status/1257817073868107776) about how much we read, and some compelling thoughts on
- 🇬🇧 Did you know London is divided into 32 boroughs? I sure didn't. [Jay Foreman's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T_0FYHn0I0) explaining what makes them all unique and strange is about as witty and British as one could hope for.

<hr />

Thanks for reading Tiny Improvements. If you've got any feedback, my inbox is always open: [hello@mikebifulco.com​](mailto:hello@mikebifulco.com)

Be excellent to each other -

Mike


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The way we talk about our things

I swear I wrote that down somewhere 🤦‍♂️

.css-1fb0br2{color:#A0AEC0;}#newsletter: 2 posts tagged

The way we talk about our things

I swear I wrote that down somewhere 🤦‍♂️

#newsletter: 2 posts tagged