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.

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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]

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Take a Chance

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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.

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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]

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Take a Chance

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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.

I’ve been asked a couple of times how I get this short site description to be included in every entry of my RSS feed.

HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, wallpapers, shortcuts, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to get replies on Mastodon, or by good ol’ email.

Well, in case it helps anyone else, here’s 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 can’t 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 I’m 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. You’ll notice that it’s written in HTML, not Markdown.

Then, to make it show up, I call that template in the footer template (footer.html). That’s 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.

Now, each time I publish something, I know that the reader will see that little write-up — 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 it’s updated everywhere.

Tips Blogging

TL;DR: Donate here to help end childhood cancer.

I’m a little late in kicking this off, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Just like last year, I’m pitching in (and asking you to, too) to help the Relay FM podcast network raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

If you don’t know about St. Jude, they take care of kids with cancer. They provide the best care, transportation, food, and everything their patients need, and they don’t charge their families a single dime. They also do cutting-edge research for treatments and cures, and share that research freely around the world.

It’s 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 — real, noteworthy, life-saving money.

I lost two family members to cancer this year. And although they weren’t children, it sucked. Treating and curing cancer for anyone and everyone is a cause that’s near and dear to my heart.

For my part, I’m donating .01% of that total (that’s $250 for the percentagely-challenged) and I’m 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 I’ll personally build you a custom shortcut for your Apple device as a thank you.

Don’t let those amounts limit what you send to St. Jude, though. The best donation advice I can give is to give not until it hurts, but until it feels really good. Maybe you’ll use themarcooffset.com to calculate a starting point.

And don’t forget to use St. Jude’s 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. It’s an effort that’s 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. Jude will gladly accept your generous donations year-round). As they say, donate early and often.

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

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1️⃣ Hilarious new animations by The Oatmeal. [🔗 theoatmeal.com]

2️⃣ If you’re wondering just how widespread climbing gyms have gotten… [🔗 @climbing_castle // instagram.com]

3️⃣ This trailer for the new Thwip app by Rafael Conde is up there with the best I’ve ever seen. The app is super fun and well-designed too. [🔗 @rafa // mastodon.design]

4️⃣ “Cheapest flagship iPhone since the original” would be quite a statement, and yet it’s true about the iPhone 15 Pro. I’m almost surprised that Apple didn’t tout it themselves. [🔗 Wally Nowinski // perfectrec.com]

5️⃣ Over at The Brooks Review, I’ve really enjoyed their recent posts on their recommendations for getting a collection of a particular kind of item. They’ve 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 😎) [🔗 Ben Brooks // brooksreview.net]

6️⃣ It’s not just me! There’s math behind the right way to tie your shoes! [🔗 Ethan Siegel // bigthink.com]

7️⃣ Okay, look at these colors, artificially saturated by Basic Apple Guy, of the new iPhone 15 and tell me they don’t look way better than the faded, barely-there colors that Apple went with this year. [🔗 @BasicAppleGuy // mastodon.social]

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Take a Chance

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

7 Things

As is the case with most Tim Cook interviews, there wasn’t much substance in this CBS one with John Dickerson that we didn’t already know. Although, I will say that I’m glad Dickerson pushed Cook on their X (formerly Twitter) advertising.

Despite the lack of notable conversation, it’s 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?

And check out those light bars that go up the wall and across the ceiling. Apple’s architectural prowess shows even in the places customers never (well…) see.

I’ve only just started reading Federico Viticci’s 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?

Chef’s kiss

Federico’s review is my favorite every year. I can’t wait to read his impressions and revel in all the little details that’s he’s dug up. He always finds the best stuff.

Oh, and even if you save the review to a read-later app, you’ve gotta click through to see the fantastic animation and graphics created by Michael Steeber.

Linked