On the U.S. suing Apple on iPhone’s monopoly (is that even a thing?!), a comment on The New York Times:
apple tesla tubes“I bought, own and use an iPhone from Apple because I like it. I like that Apple creates what I think is a safer environment, and that my data is better protected. I like how smoothly it works. In fact, I’m ecstatically happy with it. Much more than I am with most products I purchase and use.
I am looking at cars, and find that there are tech products that use proprietary technology and require subscriptions. Tesla will charge me to activate an auto garage door opener that’s already installed in their $50,000 car. BMW wants me to pay a subscription to use a heated seat that I’d buy (and own) with the car.
I suppose I don’t have to buy a Tesla or BMW (and I’m not). People also don’t have to buy an iPhone.
For those who want them, don’t wreck the features we buy it for. That seems the antithesis of a competitive market.”
This blog post about making vegetable stock from scratch at home—that is, not at an enterprise scale—had me at the first paragraph:
food tubes“After learning how to season food correctly, homemade stock is the single best thing anyone can do for his cooking. A stock is a liquid extraction of complementary flavors, a broad palette upon which sharper splashes of color may be painted.”
A short conversation with some local, and couple of online, LLM. Results give me some comfort, and hope, about our near future existence as species, at least. I asked:
You are a historian, especially versed in North American history, specifically the history of the United States of America. You will take your time to answer my questions, but your replies will be as short as possible. My first question is, who was the first president of the United States of America, born as a United States citizen?
Model Nous-Hermes[7b] answer:
“The first President of the United States who was both born and raised in the country after its independence from Britain on July 4th, 1776 was Barack Obama (born August 4th, 1961). He served as the forty-fourth President of the United States from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017.”
Model Gemma[7b] answer:
llm“George Washington was the first president of the United States of America born a US citizen.”
We must set, and use, and enforce, Azimov’s “Three Laws of Robotic” on the now called AI:
Class Action Lawsuits are worthless, from the monetary point of view. You get cents, or a few dollars. Not worth it. Yet, there is no way to avoid them, and you must remove yourself from each one of them you might be unlucky enough to be on. Removal, to add aggravation, must be done via old fashion paper letter-in-the-mail. Ugh!
life rantsI remember listening to Tracy Chapman’s singing back in 1989. I so loved it so much, and still do. Her voice remains so beautiful!
➝ Via Anti-Anticheese.
music viaThe new Teams client is having spell checking issues under Windows. Of all things, check spelling is broken. As someone at work wrote “It’s amazing how a technology that has been around for like 30 years and is in pretty much every tech product seems to have gone from bad to non-existent in the latest version of Teams.”
rants tech workIf I am lucky to live until I am 80 years old, I only have 1280 Sundays remaining. That number sure puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? You can add the extension to your Chrome, or Edge browser.
interesting life thoughtsWatched “Blue Eye Samurai” (★★★★★) during the holidays, and truly loved it. Can’t wait for season 2. If you have Netflix, and haven’t watched it, I strongly recommend you do.
The plot is nice, the voices are excellent, the animation is amazing. See it, it’s really good!
netflix seriesWas too busy—or too lazy—to drop a note on new year’s evening. I have been using iOS Journal, which now holds some notes I would have dropped here otherwise. Journal has bugs, and it isn’t great, but I am betting on it getting better.
It is already 2 January 2024, but not too late to wish you all a happy new year!
apple life techWatched “Love Actually” (★★★★★) because, you know, it is that time of the year. Call me silly, but I will probably watch it once more before 2023 is over.
moviesUpdated my blog to version 4 (that link will initiate a download) on the Inter font. It is such a lovely font, and free!
design fontsWatched “The Farewell” (★★★★★) again, because it is one of those movies that keep you kind of down all throughout, but makes you feel happy, and shed some tears, at the end. I recommend you see it.
moviesMiscellaneous things. Every day when I wake up I feel thankful by the simple fact I did wake up. I also think of everyone I care about, and wish them well. Yes, that means you.
Even with my deafening tinnitus I try very hard to enjoy a moment of “silence” each day. I do my best to welcome each Monday as if it was a Friday.
health life thoughts“I’m tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I’m tired of never having me a buddy to be with to tell me where we’s going to, coming from, or why. Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world… every day. There’s too much of it. It’s like pieces of glass in my head… all the time. Can you understand?”
movies quotes videos youtubeThis week recount, starting Friday 6 October 2023.
I never thought, in a million years, that I was going to write this: when it comes to UI between Windows 11 and Windows 95, I prefer the later. You will not believe the memories “My Briefcase”, and “The Microsoft Network” brought to me!
The Guidebook has many more screenshots worth re-seeing.
design interesting tech