A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ I’m all for this idea of being able to snapshot the current status of a smart home to easily recreate that same scene later. [🔗 Ben Lovejoy // 9to5mac.com]

2️⃣ A $17 movie night either 10 short films, fun dip, and popcorn flavoring? And you get to vote for the winning film to earn a $100,000 grand prize? Sounds like fun! [🔗 cahfest.com]

3️⃣ This is a weird one. Apple shared an hour-and-a-half-long video of a guided study session for you to work with using the Pomodoro technique. The videography is, as you can imagine, impeccable. [⏯️ Apple // youtube.com]

4️⃣ This would have been so novel to see at home as the news station switched from black and white to a color broadcast. [⏯️ Back to the Past // youtube.com] (Via Jason Kottke)

5️⃣ Oh my god, you’ve got to check out this ice climbing shoe. It’s wild-looking on its own, but the hilarious reviews really seal the deal. 😂 [🔗 Mega Ice Evo // lasportivausa.com]

6️⃣ The UI for reading/listening to a voice note on Threads is pretty slick. [🔗 @jaypetersplus // threads.net]

7️⃣ You like squircles? We got squircles. I like this idea that the closer to the human something is, the rounder the design should be. [🔗 Arun Venkatesan // arun.is]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.

7 Things

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ Would you enjoy being greeted by Tim Cook with a heartfelt “Good Morning!” upon opening your door? Cause now I kinda do. [🔗 The Studio // youtube.com]

2️⃣ Uh oh. This doesn’t bode well for my hopes of an iPhone mini-sized SE. [🔗 Marko Zivkovic // macrumors.com]

3️⃣ This is an e-ink…phone? But without the phone part I think. 🤔 [🔗 shop.boox.com]

4️⃣ BasicAppleGuy created a stunning Apple logo design to celebrate the season. [🔗 @BasicAppleGuy // mastodon.social]

5️⃣ It’s a bit of a bummer, but I thought this NYT article’s comparison of Elon Musk’s handling of antisemitism on X to what it would be like for the mayor of a town to handle the expression of Nazis is a physical town in the same way was apt. [🔗 David French // nytimes.com]

6️⃣ I haven’t tried it out yet, but this new StreetPass Mac app by Tyler Deitz looks so good for collecting the social accounts to follow of cool sites you stumble across on the web. [🔗 apps.apple.com] (Via Andrew Canion)

7️⃣ I don’t have a laptop, but if you do and need to clean the keyboard from time to time, then this latest app from Gui Rambo will come in handy. [🔗 cleanupbuddy.app]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.

7 Things

Sean Hollister, writing for The Verge about Google supposed 7-year guaranteed updates for the Pixel 8 lineup:

[A Google spokesperson] also wrote that “not every update is available for every phone due to various limitations,” without describing those limitations. What could they possibly be? The Pro does have 12GB of RAM vs. 8GB on the non-Pro, but it’s hard to imagine that being the blocker on something as simple as camera controls — or, for that matter, features that don’t even run on your device but rather in the cloud. 

Speaking of that, Google did tell Android Authority why one specific feature is exclusive to Pixel 8 Pro: “the cost of the cloud infrastructure required to run Video Boost processing” is behind the decision to gate it behind the pricier phone for now. Video Boost is in the cloud, so it has nothing to do with the phone’s capabilities and everything to do with economics. 

And frankly, that’s what I’m worried about for the entirety of Google’s seven-year promise.

It has me skeptical too. Apple doesn’t come out and say OS updates are guaranteed for its devices ahead of time. But they’ve shown us over time that they do their best to support a device for as long as possible. Action speaks louder than words, and all that.

Here’s something else to think about. Sure, there are some new OS features that doesn’t get back ported to the oldest devices. But those are the exception, not the rule. Google’s wording makes it seem like they’ll sprinkle features out, but, as Hollister points out, they could never get a full OS upgrade. It might become harder than ever to distinguish what your Pixel can and can’t do.

Linked

I went rock climbing alone tonight. Not the bonkers, ropeless, free solo (yes, that Free Solo) style. I had a rope, and my setup meant that I was arguably safer even than when I climb with a partner. But I was alone, and that’s kind of unusual for me when rock climbing. And in this case, it was pretty great.

I should be clear that one of my favorite parts about climbing is the community. In my experience, climbers have been the most welcoming, supportive, and quietly rad people to be around. Everyone trying their hardest toward an individual, yet still collective, goal: climb amazing rock. And, until recently, I always climbed with a partner because I needed someone to hold the other end of the rope.

But, it’s not always easy to find a climbing partner. Especially after work, in the fall, as light is fading, on a hot day. So what’s a guy to do? For me, I learned how to top rope solo. It’s a technique of setting up your rope so that it’s fixed (secured) at the top of the climb. Then you rappel down to the bottom and hook yourself onto the rope with a couple of ascenders (a primary one and a backup). Those are designed to slide up the rope, but, critically, not back down. For TR soloing, that means I can climb routes that I can set up from above, without fear of falling to the ground. If I need to rest, or if I slip off the holds while climbing, I basically just end up sitting back in my harness with very little slippage or loss of progress up the rock.

But I’m relatively new to TR soloing, and so far it had always been nerve-racking to set up and climb alone. Without the security of someone else to double-check me, it’s all on me to make sure I’m safe. I triple-check everything, but I’ve always been a bit trepidatious that it would all work as intended.

But tonight was different. I felt confident in my systems. I chose a route up the rock that I was already quite familiar with. I reveled in the ability to take as much time on the rock as I wanted. I could explore new movements and inspect minuscule rock features without feeling bad about making my belayer work harder. Without any sort of audience, I never felt self-conscious about my technique. I felt free, in tune with the rock, and at peace.

At one point, I popped in an AirPod and asked Siri to play my personal radio station. Apple Music served up the perfect playlist of relaxed vibe tunes that aided my sublime flow up the rock. At several points, I just stopped and looked in awe at the descending sun poking through the peak autumn leaves.

I climbed into the night and my world shrunk down to the small space around my body where I could just make out the tiny features of the rock to grip or perch on. Those little nubbins were the only important things in the world in those moments.

I think I’ll always prefer climbing with a partner. It’s wonderful to share those experiences, encouraging one another up the rock. But on days where there’s no climbing buddy to be found, or on days where I just need some time to myself to move and think, I’ll gladly grab my soloing setup and just climb by me, with me, for me.

Climbing

I’m delighted to share that I was the most recent guest on Martin Feld’s Really Specific Stories podcast. I’ve mentioned RSS before, but in a nutshell it’s a podcast where Martin asks folks about their relationship to podcasts, and then follows the conversation wherever it leads. It’s also part of his graduate research project!

As a big fan of Martin in general, and RSS specifically, it was quite the thrill to be interviewed by him for that show. We delved into my history with podcasts, the how and why I got into blogging, where my fascination for Apple and tech stems from, my thoughts on Jason Snell’s groundbreaking 20 Macs for 2020 project, I think about accessibility, and so much more along the way. Even my favorite color. 😉

Martin is a supremely talented and curious interviewer, keenly latching onto key bits of the conversation and drawing out connections even I didn’t notice about myself. As I told Martin when he invited me on, I usually feel very self-conscious to talk about myself and am typically a flat storyteller. That, along with this being my very first time on the speaking side of a podcast rather than the listening side, made me quite nervous. But it paradoxically felt both exhilarating and completely comfortable to just chat with Martin as an internet friend. All those hours listening to RSS and another of Martin’s shows, the also-great Hemispheric Views, made it easy to jump into our conversation.

I hope you’ll check out my episode and the rest of the RSS back catalog. Every episode has been great, but Martin really scored a blockbuster guest in the episode before mine — Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. A tough act to follow for sure, but I’ve got to say that it’s surreal to be in the same RSS feed as Gruber and many other of my internet heroes.

Podcasts Elsewhere

For so much of what we do on our devices these days, having a connection to the internet is mission-critical. Even in Drafts, the plain text editor where I’m typing this very blog post, the app is way more useful when it can connect to iCloud to sync notes over to my iPhone or Mac for further edits and publishing. That’s why you hear so much goodwill for cellular iPads, and longing for cellular Macs. But what you don’t hear much affinity for is the expensive monthly cost of cellular data plans for iPads.

Sure, you could tether your iPad to your phone and borrow its data connection. But that drains both batteries way faster, and many carriers put restrictions on how much and how fast data can be used through tethering. Yuck!

But what if I told you that if you pay $10 once, you could have a fast data connection for months and months? That’s right. No need for a $15 per month subscription so that your iPad can occasionally sip from the fire hose of your phone’s unlimited data plan. Oh, and there’s no rigamarole of popping in a SIM card or dealing with a telecom company’s customer service line.

Prepare yourself, we’re about to go deep into iPadOS to find this hidden hack that Apple doesn’t want you to know about…

Just kidding. All it takes is a few taps in the Settings app of a cellular-capable iPad:

Settings → Cellular Data → Add a New Plan… → Choose the ‘T-Mobile North America 5 Month 5GB Exclusive Pass’

Yep, T-Mobile, after god knows how many years, still offers this extremely affordable plan. I’m pretty sure that it’s the same plan at the same price that was offered the very first day that you could connect an iPad to T-Mobile’s network. [Nope, see update below.] It’s at least been at this price since 2018. I daresay it’s the best data plan on the market, at least in the USA.

Here’s how I’ve been using it for years: I purchase the 5 GB plan. I leave Cellular Data enabled. Since my iPad spends most of its time at home on Wi-Fi, very little of the data is used there. But when I take it on a trip out of the house, it can always refresh data in the background, without me having to change anything. I can check email, surf the web, watch YouTube, and write blog posts that immediately sync over to other devices — in other words, all the normal iPad things. That 5 GB typically lasts me many months. And when it runs out (or I run out of time since sometimes I’ll go the full five months without going through all the data), a quick trip back into Settings allows me to top up for another $10.

No contract. No commitment. No hassle. Just cheap, easy data. For as long as this plan is available, I’ll keep paying the upfront premium for a cellular-capable iPad. It’s just so darn handy.

Now, T-Mobile may not have the very best coverage everywhere. It sure doesn’t where I live, so I use Verizon for my iPhone’s plan. But it doesn’t matter because the iPad is never my primary internet gadget. That’s my phone, and it likely always will be. But T-Mobile has plenty of good enough coverage and speed — that plan includes 5G, baby! — that I’m hardly ever left wanting. And if I need to get online where T-Mobile doesn’t cut it, I can still tether to my phone momentarily. It’s quite nice to have the secondary T-Mobile network in case Verizon’s reception is poor. Their overlap makes for a good backup solution.

So if you’ve canceled an iPad’s data plan in the past because it was costing you too much for too little use, I can’t recommend this plan highly enough. You might rediscover a love for having an always-connected iPad. And if it doesn’t stick, well, it only costs you $10.

(Now let’s just hope that T-Mobile doesn’t realize they’ve left this thing going without a price increase for nigh on a decade. 😬🤞)

[UPDATE 2023-10-02: Brandon McMullen followed up this story with a love letter of his own, and included more details about the history of this data plan. Turns out this wasn’t the same plan you could get on day one with T-Mobile. They offered an even better deal back then. Brandon also revealed another bonus feature that you get with cellular iPads that I’d forgotten! Read it at whatsacomputer.com.]

Tips Greatest Hits

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ 20 Macs for 2020. Stories about twenty Macs from Apple’s history books — some newer, some older — but all notable. With commentary from a myriad of pundits. This was an awesome project that spanned podcast episodes, articles, and YouTube features. [🎙️ Jason Snell // relay.fm]

2️⃣ Welcome to Macintosh. An indie podcast with more stories about Apple, or at least Apple-adjacent. With exquisite sound design, and more love and attention poured into the show than any large production podcast I’ve ever heard. It’s required listening for the modern Apple enthusiast. [🎙️ Mark Bramhill // macintosh.fm]

3️⃣ Blackout. QCODE makes super interesting podcasts. Actually, I hesitate to call them podcasts because I get more of an audiobook-meets-movie-quality-sound-design audio experiences. They tell a story, but the audio engineering helps the story come to life in your ears in a truly visceral way. Blackout explores what might the world devolve into if the power grid was cut. [🎙️ Scott Conroy // qcodemedia.com]

4️⃣ Talking to the Internet. I’m a sucker for the “interview internet mini-celebrities about their origin story and other stuff on their mind” kind of show. This is one of the great ones. [🎙️ Cory Hixson // redcircle.com]

5️⃣ You Look Nice Today. Perhaps the granddaddy of the “three white dudes bullshit on a podcast” trope. But, like, actually really good and funny with three internet rockstars IMHO. [🎙️ Merlin Mann, Scott Simpson & Adam Lisagor // youlooknicetoday.com]

6️⃣ All Consuming. One of my all-time favs. Ostensibly about trying and reviewing direct-to-consumer products, but I stuck around for the hilarious philosophizing by Noah and Adam. [🎙️ Noah Kalina & Adam Lisagor // allconsuming.show]

7️⃣ Enthusiast! Another Mark Bramhill production, this show is short 5-minute interviews with folks around the web about something that they’re really into. I so wish it was an ongoing project! [🎙️ Mark Bramhill // enthusiastpodcast.com]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.

7 Things Podcasts

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ 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. [▶️ Android // youtube.com]

2️⃣ I just stumbled across Jerrod Hofferth’s homepage and it’s pretty awesome. I watched through to the end. [🔗 hofferth.net]

3️⃣ Robb Knight is doing some awesome work for others here by providing a one-stop shop for St. Jude campaigns that just need a $1 donation to get the fundraiser’s coveted challenge coin treat. If you’ve got a dollar to spare, this site would be a great place to spend it. [🔗 Robb Knight // coinme.dad/dy or coin.rknight.me]

4️⃣ 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. Jude campaigns. You’ll see my custom Shortcut reward listed there! [Robb Knight // donationtreats.rknight.me]

5️⃣ You’ll notice that Robb is following this apt advice of hosting your internet projects at a subdomain of your home on the web. [🔗 Chris Coiyer // chriscoiyer.net]

6️⃣ Some really impressive audio improvement happening with Adobe’s AI tool here. [▶️ A Better Computer // youtube.com]

7️⃣ 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 this…well…just take a look. [🔗 berkshirehathaway.com]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know.

7 Things

All of this talk from Apple about the iPhone 15 Pro with the A17 Pro chip inside being “the best game console” has had me thinking. That’s a very particular way to express that they think the phone is going to be great for gaming. The term “console” has typically been reserved for dedicated gaming rigs — 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?

There’s 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 “Bobby” to “Rob” to “Mr. Richards”. Or from “a little lady” to “a child” to “a young adult” to “a woman”. Or from “Daddy” to “Dad” to “Papa”.

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 doesn’t 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 wouldn’t you extend the same courtesy that you give to your daughter, colleague, or father — each of whom has probably told you want they’re comfortable being addressed — 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.

It’s 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 “Apple Computers, Inc.” to “Apple, Inc.”. 37signals went from that original name to “Basecamp” and is now back to “37signals”. No drama necessary.

But for Elon Musk’s X, the tech community, which I have usually observed to be more progressive and kind, seems intent on refusing to accept the transition from “Twitter” to “X”. 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 caché — 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 doesn’t matter. All that matters is what they want to be called.

I also think it’s okay to make clarifications such as “X (formerly Twitter)”. But the longer we as a group resist just calling it “X” and moving on, the longer those kinds of clarifications will be necessary.

Maybe I’ve blown this annoyance way out of proportion, and I don’t 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. King quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I don’t 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 “I’ll never call it X, it’ll always be Twitter to me.” 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 don’t see the hypocrisy of those actions, nor the ammunition it hands folks opposed to the very idea of trans people.