September 24, 2023
A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
1ļøā£ Although a bit ham-fisted, this video comparing SMS (which iPhone uses to text with Android) to using a pager is effective. They copied the Apple video reveal style very well. [ā¶ļø Android // youtube.com]
2ļøā£ I just stumbled across Jerrod Hofferthās homepage and itās pretty awesome. I watched through to the end. [š hofferth.net]
3ļøā£ Robb Knight is doing some awesome work for others here by providing a one-stop shop for St.Ā Jude campaigns that just need a $1 donation to get the fundraiserās coveted challenge coin treat. If youāve got a dollar to spare, this site would be a great place to spend it. [š Robb Knight // coinme.dad/dy or coin.rknight.me]
4ļøā£ Speaking of treats and Robb Knight, he also put together this page which aggregates all the various rewards you can earn from donating to any of the Relay FM for St.Ā Jude campaigns. Youāll see my custom Shortcut reward listed there! [Robb Knight // donationtreats.rknight.me]
5ļøā£ Youāll notice that Robb is following this apt advice of hosting your internet projects at a subdomain of your home on the web. [š Chris Coiyer // chriscoiyer.net]
6ļøā£ Some really impressive audio improvement happening with Adobeās AI tool here. [ā¶ļø A Better Computer // youtube.com]
7ļøā£ They say that you get rich by being cheap. Berkshire Hathaway is one of the most valuable and successful holding companies, and they get away with their homepage being thisā¦wellā¦just take a look. [š berkshirehathaway.com]
Take a Chance
Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.
7 Things
September 21, 2023
All of this talk from Apple about the iPhone 15 Pro with the A17 Pro chip inside being āthe best game consoleā has had me thinking. Thatās a very particular way to express that they think the phone is going to be great for gaming. The term āconsoleā has typically been reserved for dedicated gaming rigs ā obviously like a PlayStation, Xbox, or even Nintendo Switch. But their next-gen graphics cores in the iPhone 15 Pro, which Apple seems very excited about, paired with its 4K-capable external display support has me thinking less about the next M-series chip for the Mac and more about the A17 Pro going into the next Apple TV.
Sure, gaming on the Apple TV has mostly flopped so far. But they continue to make a concerted effort to bring great game support across all their platforms, Apple TV included, through Apple Arcade. And Apple TV is way more of a console in my mind than either the iPhone or the Mac.
Might we see an updated Apple TV, which has historically rocked an A-series chip, with the A17 Pro perhaps before that new 3-nanometer chip and cores make it into the M3?
September 20, 2023
Thereās no reason not to call people what they want to be called. We all go through transitions of some sort throughout our lives, and most of those transitions come with a new name for ourselves. From āBobbyā to āRobā to āMr.Ā Richardsā. Or from āa little ladyā to āa childā to āa young adultā to āa womanā. Or from āDaddyā to āDadā to āPapaā.
With friends and family, we might go by our first name or a nickname. With a significant other, we might have an endearing pet name. With strangers in a professional setting, we might prefer to be addressed using an earned title.
The point is that we get to choose what we want to be called. It can change over time or from one context to another. And it doesnāt stop the world from turning, nor affect other people in any real way. Someone tells you what they want to be called and you call them that. Easy.
So why wouldnāt you extend the same courtesy that you give to your daughter, colleague, or father ā each of whom has probably told you want theyāre comfortable being addressed ā to someone transitioning their gender? Using their preferred pronouns and name takes little effort on your part, does not make any statement about your own gender, and can mean the world to them.
Itās an easy yet important act of kindness.
But you know what else has the right to change their name and have it respected by others? Companies!
Apple did it when they simplified from āApple Computers, Inc.ā to āApple, Inc.ā. 37signals went from that original name to āBasecampā and is now back to ā37signalsā. No drama necessary.
But for Elon Muskās X, the tech community, which I have usually observed to be more progressive and kind, seems intent on refusing to accept the transition from āTwitterā to āXā. Even as they demand acceptance for other name transitions.
Go ahead and argue the business sense of dropping a well-known brand, one that still held cachĆ© ā I certainly have. And as a company that so many of us built up with our invested time and attention, I think we can express an opinion on whether we prefer a new brand as compared to the old one. But what we prefer to call others doesnāt matter. All that matters is what they want to be called.
I also think itās okay to make clarifications such as āX (formerly Twitter)ā. But the longer we as a group resist just calling it āXā and moving on, the longer those kinds of clarifications will be necessary.
Maybe Iāve blown this annoyance way out of proportion, and I donāt mean to compare the atrocities committed against trans people to some badmouthing against a multi-billion dollar social network. But I am reminded of this Dr.Ā King quote: āInjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.ā I donāt think we get to pick and choose who or what is deserving of dignity.
All of this is to say, I guess I saw one too many people express something along the lines of āIāll never call it X, itāll always be Twitter to me.ā The same people who do their best to support the trans community by dutifully putting their pronouns in their bios and immediately drop a deadname when a friend or internet acquaintance transitions. And it makes me sad that they donāt see the hypocrisy of those actions, nor the ammunition it hands folks opposed to the very idea of trans people.
September 19, 2023
Iāve been asked a couple of times how I get this short site description to be included in every entry of my RSS feed.
HeyDingusĀ is a blogĀ by Jarrod BlundyĀ about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see ā theĀ blog posts,Ā wallpapers,Ā shortcuts,Ā scripts, or anything ā please considerĀ leaving a tip, checking out myĀ store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!
Iām always happy to get replies onĀ Mastodon, or byĀ good olā email.
Well, in case it helps anyone else, hereās how!
I actually pondered the same question for quite a while when reading the Basic Apple Guy and MacStories RSS feeds, which include similar regular descriptors. I canāt speak to how those sites accomplish it, but I figured out that I could use the templating system in Blot, my website host, to call up that blurb in multiple places.
Blot uses the Mustache templating system, so other hosts that also use Mustache could probably piggyback off this method directly. Different template systems might require more tweaks, but Iām fairly confident the same result could be achieved in Hugo or elsewhere.
Anyway, for Blot, I first made a new text file called blogblurg.html
and wrote out that paragraph you see at the bottom of every page on my website. Youāll notice that itās written in HTML, not Markdown.
blogblurg.html
in iA Writer ā
Then, to make it show up, I call that template in the footer template (footer.html
). Thatās when I realized I could do the same thing within my RSS template. I edited that feed.rss
file so that right after the body of each item it adds a horizontal rule and then the very same blurb.
Itās funny how those two little bits, body
and > blogblurb
, do all the work to pull in the content for each entry. ā
Now, each time I publish something, I know that the reader will see that little write-up ā either in the footer of my website if they are reading on the web, or in each entry of my RSS feed. And if I ever want to change the wording or update a link, I just edit the blogblurb.html
file and itās updated everywhere.
The final result. Hereās what itās like to read one of my articles via RSS in Reeder. ā
Tips
Blogging
September 19, 2023
TL;DR: Donate here to help end childhood cancer.
Youāre gonna like the way you feel donating to St.Ā Jude, I guarantee it. ā
Iām a little late in kicking this off, but that doesnāt make it any less important. Just like last year, Iām pitching in (and asking you to, too) to help the Relay FM podcast network raise money for St.Ā Jude Childrenās Research Hospital.
If you donāt know about St.Ā Jude, they take care of kids with cancer. They provide the best care, transportation, food, and everything their patients need, and they donāt charge their families a single dime. They also do cutting-edge research for treatments and cures, and share that research freely around the world.
Itās hard to think of a more worthy cause to donate to. With the leadership from Relay FM, the Apple community has rallied over the past five years to raise over $2.5 million ā real, noteworthy, life-saving money.
I lost two family members to cancer this year. And although they werenāt children, it sucked. Treating and curing cancer for anyone and everyone is a cause thatās near and dear to my heart.
For my part, Iām donating .01% of that total (thatās $250 for the percentagely-challenged) and Iām hoping you, yes you, will contribute toward matching it to meet my goal of raising $500 with HeyDingus readers. There are some neat incentives you can earn from Relay FM by donating $60 (a digital bundle) or $100 (the digital bundle plus a sticker pack), but for just $50 Iāll personally build you a custom shortcut for your Apple device as a thank you.
Donāt let those amounts limit what you send to St.Ā Jude, though. The best donation advice I can give is to give not until it hurts, but until it feels really good. Maybe youāll use themarcooffset.com to calculate a starting point.
And donāt forget to use St.Ā Judeās tool to see if your employer will match your donation! That can double the effectiveness of every one of your dollars without any extra effort.
The overall Relay FM fundraising campaign culminates in the annual Podcastathon, held this year on September 22 for a full 12 hours. Itās an effort thatās as zany and entertaining as it is emotionally moving. I encourage you to check in throughout the day and also, more importantly, donate!
The campaign ends at the end of September (although St.Ā Jude will gladly accept your generous donations year-round). As they say, donate early and often.
September 18, 2023
A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
1ļøā£ Hilarious new animations by The Oatmeal. [š theoatmeal.com]
2ļøā£ If youāre wondering just how widespread climbing gyms have gotten⦠[š @climbing_castle // instagram.com]
3ļøā£ This trailer for the new Thwip app by Rafael Conde is up there with the best Iāve ever seen. The app is super fun and well-designed too. [š @rafa // mastodon.design]
4ļøā£ āCheapest flagship iPhone since the originalā would be quite a statement, and yet itās true about the iPhone 15 Pro. Iām almost surprised that Apple didnāt tout it themselves. [š Wally Nowinski // perfectrec.com]
5ļøā£ Over at The Brooks Review, Iāve really enjoyed their recent posts on their recommendations for getting a collection of a particular kind of item. Theyāve got articles for knives, flashlights, bags, and watches — so, nerd fodder — with separate collections for budget, mid, and luxury pricing. What a neat idea. (The luxury watch collection will only run you a paltry $100,000 š) [š Ben Brooks // brooksreview.net]
6ļøā£ Itās not just me! Thereās math behind the right way to tie your shoes! [š Ethan Siegel // bigthink.com]
7ļøā£ Okay, look at these colors, artificially saturated by Basic Apple Guy, of the new iPhone 15 and tell me they donāt look way better than the faded, barely-there colors that Apple went with this year. [š @BasicAppleGuy // mastodon.social]
Take a Chance
Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.
7 Things
September 18, 2023
As is the case with most Tim Cook interviews, there wasnāt much substance in this CBS one with John Dickerson that we didnāt already know. Although, I will say that Iām glad Dickerson pushed Cook on their X (formerly Twitter) advertising.
Despite the lack of notable conversation, itās interesting to see behind the scenes in Apple corporate centers where some interviews occur. For instance, I was tickled to see this wall display by a drinking fountain at one of their call centers. Why put in a dumb screen when you can install a whole old iMac?
Reduce, reuse, recycle, I suppose! ā
And check out those light bars that go up the wall and across the ceiling. Appleās architectural prowess shows even in the places customers never (wellā¦) see.
September 18, 2023
Iāve only just started reading Federico Viticciās review of iOS and iPadOS 17 on MacStories. But the very first sentence was simply too good to not stop and share:
In the year when the vision is elsewhere, what do you get the OS that has everything?
Chefās kiss
Federicoās review is my favorite every year. I canāt wait to read his impressions and revel in all the little details thatās heās dug up. He always finds the best stuff.
Oh, and even if you save the review to a read-later app, youāve gotta click through to see the fantastic animation and graphics created by Michael Steeber.
Linked
September 13, 2023
I didnāt get to watch the event live today, and I havenāt checked out any other coverage. So hereās whatās rattling around my head after just having finished the keynote. (I think most of my before thoughts hold up.)
The āApple products saved my lifeā video to start the event was, as ever, quite moving. Very keen of them to do the theme around birthdays that might notāve been. Tim Cook once said that Appleās greatest contribution to the world will be their impact on the health field. I can see that theyāre taking that very seriously.
I showed my wife the (somewhat corny) carbon neutral scene because I thought they were throwing around some pretty astounding figures. Sheās not into tech, and not into Apple fandom. Her response? An enthusiastic āThatās pretty cool! And quite the commitment to climate.ā Kudos, Apple. Kudos.
I didnāt expect much new with the Apple Watch Ultra, and thereās not much to it. But we got a new model number, the Ultra 2, which was a moniker I wasnāt anticipating. That brighter (and dimmer) display, plus the Double Tap gesture will be things I look forward to in a future model, but certainly wonāt be upgrading this year.
Did anyone else notice the theme of the original iPhone ringtone, Marimba, when they were talking about calls?
I love that they didnāt beat around the bush about leather being a less environmentally friendly material, especially at Appleās scale. (Iām down with the FineWoven textile. And while Iād been thinking about phone cases and watch bands, I hadnāt even considered all the other leather products Apple makes. Good to see that theyāve gone whole hog with replacing the AirTag cases, MagSafe Wallet, and more.)
The iPhone 15 looks really nice with that color-infused glass. And it looks to be a really great value. I caught myself thinking that it was the Pro phone introduction at one point.
Speaking of the Pro phonesā¦
- The titanium finish looks even better than I imagined. I love that they went with the brushed finish, as opposed to the smooth finish of the Apple Watch Ultra. (Iām not sure I see the difference between āwhite titaniumā and ānatural titaniumā though.)
- We all thought it would be a periscope lens shooting down vertically into the device to enable a longer zoom. I bet a lot of folks at Apple smirked as they innovated with the folded tetraprism glass.
- I hate having to make the choice to take a Portrait photo, and rarely do so in the moment. The fact that the data will be captured so that you can apply the effect afterward is pretty cool.
- The Action button looks great. I wasnāt sure if it enables both ring/silent switching via a long press plus other actions with a regular press or if you need to choose only one action.
- A 3x longer range Ultra Wideband chip is quite the improvement. Curious, though, that they went with calling it a āsecond generationā chip, rather than the āU2ā chip. Maybe a licensing disagreement with the band? But theyāve always been on very friendly and cooperative terms with U2.
- Itās very cool to extend the satellite messaging service to roadside assistance. I can see a progression where they keep integrating with different emergency types until eventually they can handle all kinds of general satellite messaging. Thatād be an insta-upgrade for me.
- The A17 Pro chip (will next yearās iPhone 16 get the A17 non-Pro?) is laying a solid foundation for the next-gen M-series chips headed for Macs. The gaming-focused improvements and boasting about the all-new GPU have me wondering if theyāll be back in the high-end GPU conversation even without a quad-sized M# Extreme chip.
- I had zero expectation that this yearās iPhone would be able to capture spatial videos. But turns out youāll be able to record those (reportedly emotionally moving) 3D-ish videos to watch on a Vision Pro without the cringyness of wearing the headset to do so. Color me hella impressed.
- Did you detect the flex on the prices staying the same this year on all the models? Sure, the Pro Max starts at $100 higher, but comes with the higher storage tier, so itās more of an elimination of the lower tier than a price increase. Higher prices were heavily rumored for the Pro phones at least.
- I see weāre saying goodbye to the mini-sized iPhone. You canāt buy the iPhone 13 mini anymore, even though the regular iPhone 13 is still for sale. š¤ for its reintroduction next year.
That photography room in Apple Park looked incredible. I can see the newest Apple Store design influence there. Or was it the other way around?
Does this room remind you of somewhere? ā
My overall impression is that Apple is at the top of its game with reducing and reversing environmental impact, materials sciences, chip design, camera hardware, and so much more. The rate at which they extend their lead leaves little hope for other companies to catch up. And they do it all with such cool confidence and careful consideration.
It was another great presentation. Iām excited to go dive into all the details!
September 12, 2023
John Gruber got down in writing whatās been rattling around my head for a few years now. The regular and pro duopoly of iPhone introductions has some ā still evolving ā idiosyncrasies that most folks donāt appreciate. Hereās a couple of key things that Gruber points out:
What everyone groks about this strategy is that the pro models are more expensive. Of course they are. But there are a few aspects to Appleās strategy that many people miss. The most important is that the iPhone Pro models are only produced for one year. If the pattern holds, come next week, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will cease production, and beĀ replacedĀ in the product line by the new 15 Pro models. The non-pro iPhones, however, stay in production for at least two additional years, dropping in price by $100 each year. I find that fascinating, but itās seldom remarked upon. The iPhones that are the most expensive, most cutting-edge, and I presume the hardest to manufacture are only produced for one single year. Thatās an altogether new strategy from the years before the iPhone X, when there was just one new flagship iPhone per year (albeit in two sizes during the iPhone 6-6S-7 years), and most iPhones stayed in the lineup at reduced prices for years to come.
And
We wonāt know tomorrow whether this more repairable, more accessible system architecture will repeat with the iPhone 15, but I suspect it will. No matter what, the regular iPhone 15 models will not simply be the iPhones 14 Pro models repackaged in aluminum frames rather than stainless steel. The strategy Apple has achieved, as I see it:
- Pro models: cutting-edge chips, cameras, and materials; will be produced for just one year.
- Non-pro models: refined architecture using the year-old SoC and older camera systems; will be produced for 2-3 years to come.
You canāt just wait around the price of a Pro phone to come down if youāre buying it from Apple. Itās always going to be that price until the next one replaces it.
Linked