I’m trying to learn Swift as my first “non-web, non-scripting” language in literally decades. It’s exciting, although I’m clearly swimming against the tide in focusing primarily on the Mac. (If the project happens, I’d want it on the iPad, too, on general principle.)
Watching the first seasons of “Midsomer Murders” with my mom. This show was sure keen on working gay panic into the plot even when it had no connection to the case.
Following my earlier thought: going with SwiftUI would limit my audience (only Mac and possibly iPad), be far harder to do (I’ve really only made web apps, so I’d have to learn from scratch)—but it’s probably the right choice, because I think that’s the version of the app I’d most want to use.
Continuing to noodle around with a fiction brainstorming app idea, but also continuing to dither on whether to do it full server-side web in Elixir, more SPA-style (which offers a possibility of Electron-based desktop apps), or learning Swift & SwiftUI for desktop-only (and Mac-only).
You may think all HDMI cables are the same, but I tried an AudioQuest® HDMI cable recently as an experiment and discovered a profound difference—the number of HDCP errors my Apple TV reported went up by an order of magnitude!
I think I have now hit the “too many monthly subscriptions” point and am going to have to start quietly looking for things to cancel. Probably YouTube Premium is on the chopping block.
Since I no longer have space for surround speakers, I’m considering replacing my A/V receiver with a great two-channel hi-fi system—possibly going very minimalist with active speakers. It’d be a big change, though.
I still don’t know if I can pull off the spiritual replacement for Dramatica plot development software that’s in my head, but I can promise if it ever happens it will not involve GPT in any fashion.
I have bought a JBL Flip 6 Bluetooth speaker to replace a seemingly dying Bose SoundLink Mini II. The Flip is good for its size and price, but the SoundLink is just…better. Possibly worth the price difference better.
I perversely hope Dramatica keeps failing to show any visible progress in making a 64-bit release of their fiction brainstorming software, because it might eventually kick me into making my vaguely-sketched-out alternative.
The weather is (usually) one of Florida’s (increasingly few) saving graces.
Safe and secure under an ancient oak tree, but definitely not on a schedule.
In a quest to see if a problem I’ve been having with a wifi-enabled A/V receiver is actually the house wifi, I’ve switched out my old router for two Eero Pro 6s. It’s too early to be positive it’ll fix the receiver, but everything is a LOT faster suddenly.
I demoed the active speakers I’m considering replacing my home theatre system with, now that I have no space for surrounds, and it’s really good—but the local dealer has a 25% restocking fee if I do an in-home audition and take it back. I want to support local stores, but…yikes.
I saw someone post a screenshot of Mark Zuckerberg announcing “Meta Verified” and genuinely thought it was Zuckerberg dryly trolling Elon Musk, not a real product.
Not thrilled with Akamai killing the Linode brand. The product is the same for now, but it’s hard not to get Joyent/Textdrive flashbacks here, as they kept pushing their low-end customers out the door in pursuit of bigger and bigger fish.
Time to begin the Update All The Things dance. I have content caching enabled on my Mac Studio to theoretically make this marginally faster, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a difference in practice.
I was in a Best Buy with a Magnolia Hi-Fi substore in it and an employee—who actually knew about hi-fi—suggested Best Buy was “sunsetting” that concept. If true, that’s a shame; they carry KEF, Arcam, and a few other good but hard-to-find audio brands.
I’m slowly edging toward the idea of replacing my 5.1-now-3.0 home theater setup with a two-channel audio system. Despite the temptation, probably not just two HomePods (no matter how I slice it, they’ll be a step down sound-wise). But what?
Every time I take the iPad out with me for serious portable computing, I’m reminded why I like it—with the Smart Folio keyboard (no, not the Magic Keyboard) it’s so light and versatile. But it is just so easy to smack into OS/software-driven limitations.
Hanging out in the International Drive/Sand Lake area of Orlando. Way back when, I didn’t have the context to interpret this as “the Vegas Strip without the casinos,” but it is—all bars, gift shops, boutiques and celebrity chef restaurants.
I’m currently carrying my iPhone 12 without a case, and it feels positively illicit.
St. Petersburg, Florida, is so cool a city in some ways. If only we could replace Ron DeSantis with someone more liberal, like Joe Manchin. Yes, I know what I said.
Are some folks seriously pulling a Twitter-esque performative outrage dance of “how dare they call their Mastodon app ‘Ivory’?” Do we have to do this? Look. Tapbots makes robots. Ivory is a robot elephant. So it’s obviously artificial ivory. You’re welcome.
Just as a heads-up again, if you’re following me from Mastodon, it’s better to follow my actual Mastodon account (@chipotle@mstdn.social) now that I have one, not my Micro.blog account.