★★★★☆

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov

It amazes me how Asimov writes about people set in science fiction worlds. His description of sci-fi is so clear, it makes the human drama taking place in it never look out of place.

I had never heard of this novel before my friend Mauricio recommended it last December — and it was a great holiday quick read.

One of Exhalation’s short stories reminded me of it, and I had forgotten how many ideas were causally in it: para-universes, lunar colonies, alien civilization and culture. While it’s a 70’s book, it holds extremely well, with many sensitivities like the role of gender and the cost of clean energy that could have been written today.

If you haven’t read Asimov before, this isn’t the best book to start — it get a bit slow with long dialogs in the middle. But if you like his other books, or hard Sci-Fi; it’s a must read.

★★★★★

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

I’m not usually into short stories, but this science-fiction book was a pleasure to read. On most of them I was hoping they would go on a full book length, that’s how good they were.

While they’re not Three Body Problem level mind blowing, they’re appropriately close for the shorter format — anything more would have felt forced.

Absolutely recommend this book, and I’ll be checking out other from the author.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 37

• TextMate 2.0 is available (and alive?!). Wouldn’t believed it if I hadn’t seen the commit. github.com

• The feature-rich Vivaldi browser finally arrives on Android. thenextweb.com

Apple September Event Roundup

My favorite quotes regarding yesterday’s Apple event.

Om Malik, on om.co:

They opened it with Apple Watch so that tells you the primary driver of the growth going forward

Mark Gurman, on bloomberg.com:

The iPhone 11 starts at $699, down from the iPhone XR’s $749 price last year. The XR stays in the lineup for $599, a $150 decrease for a phone that’s only a year old. That’s one of the biggest year-over-year reductions in iPhone history.

Stephen Hacket, on 512pixels.net:

The iPhone 11 is a correction for Apple, re-alining the product line to how customers thought of it, and the iPhone 11’s new price of $699 is a reflection of that.

M.G. Siegler, on 500ish.com:

The iPhone is now officially a camera. I mean, it has been a camera for a long time. The most popular camera in the world, as Apple is quick to point out each and every year, a decade on. But now it’s really a camera, as today’s keynote made clear.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 36

• Apple Music launches a public beta on the web. Likely the iTunes for Windows replacement. techcrunch.com

• Sonos’ first portable speaker is the $399 Move. A bit too big in price and size, but happy they’re in the category. theverge.com

Almost Everything About Goodreads Is Broken

Angela Lashbrook, on onezero.medium.com:

What Goodreads is good for is keeping your own list of books you want to read or have read this year. It’s a list-making app. And while that’s useful, it doesn’t live up to the company’s full promise of being a haven for readers.

Here, here.

Overall, though, the Goodreads users I chatted with were frustrated by the ugly design and poor functionality of the site overall yet feel like they have few places to turn to keep track of books they’ve read or want to read.

I go from periods of complete abandonment of my goodreads account, to catching up on my read list. Mostly because I enjoy the centralized repository from different sources — Kindle, Apple Books, audiobooks and some physical books.

However I never use them as recommendation source. And for wishlist of books, I actually use goodreads to feed my Trello Books board, which feels way more natural to peruse when I’m deciding what to read next.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 35

• Apple releases iOS 12.4.1 to re-patch vulnerability reintroduced in iOS 12.4 support.apple.com

• NetNewsWire RSS Reader for Mac is Back. I’ll stay with Reeder, but such a great free option. ranchero.com

• Nintendo of America announces Mario Kart Tour will be available on 9/25 for iOS and android. twitter.com

• Instagram tests ‘Threads’ app with automatic updates for close friends. No thanks. engadget.com

• Apple fixing Siri’s privacy concerns. Better later than never, super clear 1-2-3 improvement explanation of changes. apple.com

• Fitbit debuts $200 Versa 2 smartwatch, Fitbit Premium subscription service. What the Pebble could have been. arstechnica.com

• Prizmo 5 for iOS released. Will test for a few days. https://t.co/OuNdl7d61G https://t.co/17nNytcb8s” / Twitter”>twitter.com

• T-Mobile adds eSIM support for post-paid plans on iOS. Hopefully this means the Google Fi support for iOS is not far behind. theverge.com

• Xnip Screenshot App for Mac. My new screenshot app, and I have a lot of ’em. xnipapp.com

• Apple Invites Media to September 10 Event at Apple Park. Excitement never gets old. macrumors.com

(AMD) Zen 2 Missives

Matthew Dillon¹ on apollo.backplane.com:

Don’t get me wrong, Intel will catch up. Eventually. But the days of Intel’s domination of the CPU are over. TSMC is not being bankrolled by AMD, they are being bankrolled by the likes of Apple, Google, and others. Samsung and TSMC both have a lot to lose if they get behind. Domination of the fabrication node is a monopoly that Intel has definitely lost.

This means that from here on out the CPU race between AMD and Intel is going to remain relatively neck and neck. That is my belief anyhow.

Not sure how accurate, but the best short overview (and forward view) on the new Intel vs AMD performance reality.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 34

• Apparently Apple Arcade will be $4.99 monthly with family sharing. Sounds like a great price.

• Disney+ will available on all platforms except Amazon. A family meeting will decide if we replace Netflix with this.

• Also rumored/leaked is Apple TV+ $9.99 Price. This will be wait-and-see for me.

• The Matrix 4, or a movie in that universe is happing. So excited. What can I see, other than the sequels¹, I enjoy Wachowski’s movies.

• Apple Card is now available in the U.S. Applied, wasn’t instantly accepted. Uh oh.

• Chromium Edge is in beta release. Not bad, but in good with Brave for now — sorry Opera.

• Maccy is a nice open source Clipboard manager for macOS.

• Draft actions for Mac are coming. Even without them, my text workflows already gravitate towards the app.

• Netflix Collections are human powered playlists. Remember when they had a bounty for the best recommendation engine?

• New Paperlike 2 screen protector for iPad with supposedly less color interference. In kickstarter now, I’ll wait for it to arrive on Amazon and try for sure.

Consume Less, Create More

From tjcx.me:

But the real tragedy of modern technology is that it’s turned us into consumers. Our voracious consumption of media parallels our consumption of fossil fuels, corn syrup, and plastic straws. And although we’re starting to worry about our consumption of those physical goods, we seem less concerned about our consumption of information.

Fun meta essay worth reading.

Reminded me a little about this post a while back.

Instant Coffee That Tastes Good

Oliver Strand on Issue No. 5 of my current favorite coffee newsletter The Filter:

 […] but instant coffee is getting good now that good roasters are getting into instant coffee.

This is while testing Verve Coffee, but he also mentions Swift Cup Coffee and Voilà instant coffee.

I’ve wanted to try these fancy instant coffee’s since hearing about them from Marco Arment on #ATP. Now that I’m going on a Disney trip with the whole family, seems like a good time.

On the Contents Page and Pages of Content

Receiving a Wired Magazine in the late 90’s provided with hours of restrained entertainment. Starting with the ritual inspecting every page from start to finish — regardless of the article from the cover that had piqued my interest.

Physical magazines have an index, but its UX doesn’t require you to choose an article to get started. The experience invites browsing.

This mindset is missing from the a la carte on-demand infinite availability nowadays. Even when casually reading newsletters, I get an urge to unsubscribe to most of them because many weren’t exactly what I wanted to read at that moment — which is a weird anxiety for something that is not work.

By just switching view modes — from an inbox overview to advancing from within each newsletter to the next — I felt the anxiety of the paradox of choice melt away, and enjoyment of fun time wasting reappear.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 33

• The Cloudflare public offering is very appealing. Revenue, growth and strong product.

• Chrome OS now supports Virtual Desks. Such a grownup OS.

• The Lexend fonts are intended to help improve reading speed now available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Not sure I’d like to read with it, but it’s good to have.

• Gist Press lets you press gists into a friendly article format. Always go down a rabbit hole with things like this, and I don’t regret it.

• about:blank is a paid app that blocks websites in safari for iOS and macOS. Similar in spirit to the open source Lockdown. I’m weak, need some sort of time setting to go and use this.

• IKEA creates business unit just for smart-home products. Not surprising, but good signaling that the category is about to hit the early majority.

Sonos’ portable smart speaker leaks in greater detail

Jon Fingas, on engadget.com:

Known as the Sonos Move, it won’t be just a slightly squashed Sonos One with a battery. There looks to be a recessed grip to help you tote the speaker from place to place, and that’s where you’ll also find the previously rumored toggle between Bluetooth (portable) and WiFi (home) connections.

Been holding up on expanding my Sonos Play: 1, and if this is around $200, very likely will get one.

Inc.com’s Clickbait is Shameful

I really cannot believe a reputable online publication with a print magazine allows things like these to happen. Here is the headline:

Barnes and Noble’s New CEO Just Revealed a Brilliant Plan to Save the Company

And then a few paragraph’s in you get this nugget (emphasis mine):

Here are three brilliantly successful methods Daunt used in the past that he could very possibly employ at Barnes and Noble

WTF? How did this get pass an editor? How isn’t this just plain lying?

The sad part is that it’s a good informative article, if framed correctly as a thought piece given Daunt’s past work.

Why Pen + Paper are good for you

Om Malik, writing on his blog:

Even though I love technology and incessantly download productivity apps, I still am a paper-and-pen guy.

I know he’s right. But just like number crunching became easier with spreadsheets, many pen and paper interactions benefit from the digital upgrade. It’s also true that for a long time the disparity of the digital tools from simple pen and paper made it a hard sell.

Personally, my pathetic drawing and handwriting abilities are enhanced by their digital equivalent. Which makes me use them more, which overall adds more value because I take more notes. The virtues cycle aligns with my geekness.

That said, if somebody paid me $700 to use pen and paper for my notes instead of an iPad… I’d be hard press to justify the benefits.

Google Forcing Nest Cameras Visual Indicator Light To Be On

Nest email earlier this week:

You will be able to dim the light on your camera, but it will always be on when the camera is on. We’re doing this to make sure you, and those around your camera, are aware when the camera is on and recording.

Not happy with this. I use a Nest Cam on each of my kids bedroom — rest of the house is covered with Wyze cams.

The “upgrade” applied automatically today and it’s bothersome. A green light on a very conspicuous place, as any (non creepy) camera should be. Since a clear line of sight to the whole room is the obvious place for it.

I always know that my camera is on. That’s the point. Just like if I see a camera, I assume it’s recording, why wouldn’t it be? I get the AirBnB angle, but those are sensational headline grabbers compared to the regular use case.

How’s this different from MacBook’s green light? Because it’s a single use device. It’s a camera. At least on the Mac Apple argues the camera can’t be used without the light being on because hardware. Here’s the other way around… we know the light can be off while recording, how long before someone sharpies over it and now there’s uncertainty?

It’s great that privacy is taking a front seat again. But this sounds like a dumb move to cover up for other real privacy concerns. At least in my case, it’ll mean I won’t be buying any more Nest cameras.

Wordpress Founder on Tumblr Acquisition

Matt Mullenweg, writing on his photomatt.tumblr.com blog:

When the possibility to join forces became concrete, it felt like a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have two beloved platforms work alongside each other to build a better, more open, more inclusive — and, frankly, more fun web. I knew we had to do it.

I love this, and truly believe the open web is a big part of this.

In the underlying technology of our platforms, I think there are some good opportunities to standardize on the Open Source WordPress tech stack, but the front-end user experience on Tumblr will evolve on its own path.

Expected and good news. My guess is that Tumblr has not been working on mayor back end stuff the past few years, and somehow standardizing on the Wordpress stack makes a lot of sense.

(★★★★☆)

Children of Ruin (Children of Time, #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is a self-contained kind of sequel. It helps if you read the first book, but you don’t have to remember any specific details to understand Children of Ruin.

Overall Tchaikovsky continues to provide the most classical sci-fi book feeling I’ve in recent years. The themes are big and he doesn’t shy away ideas that slow things down while they’re described — not explained.

These slow parts mostly pay off, because they are not there to make you study a topic ¹, but rather it’s as if Tchaikovsky has more experience than you on the subject, but he’s as baffled as you of how alien the concept is. Which makes perfect sense in a future universe where aliens are present.

While I did stayed up a few nights with Children of Ruin, I enjoyed Children of Time more. However, they’re both excellent and if you liked the first one, this is a worthy read.

Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

Sarah Krouse on wsj.com:

Mr. Mullenweg said his company intends to maintain the existing policy that bans adult content. He said he has long been a Tumblr user and sees the site as complementary to WordPress.com. “It’s just fun,” he said of Tumblr. “We’re not going to change any of that.”

Great news. I never used Tumblr as a social network, but it was my blog engine for a long time and I enjoyed using it. Anything that promotes people posting under their own domain is good for the web.

Automattic also has a good history of not messing with acquisitions, like Simplenote.

Update: Ursula Perano and Dan Primack on axios.com:

A source familiar with the deal puts the price-tag “well below” $20 million, while another source puts it below $10 million.

Now that’s a markdown, given that Yahoo paid $1.1 billion in 2013.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 32

• Vekt for iOS and watchOS looks like a pretty and fast weight tracker. Going to give it a try.

• Journey is our for iOS. I’ve heard so much aviut this game for the years that I might just try it.

• Surprising list of useful Mac keyboard shortcuts in this HN thread.

GORUCK’s Moving Most of its Manufacturing Offshore

carryology.com:

[…] GORUCK are introducing a big change. They’re moving the majority (but not all) of their bag manufacturing overseas to Vietnam.

Huge news for us fans of the brand. They have a ver long post on their blog The State of GORUCK 2019: Elite, not Elitist - which is understandably detailed.

It’ll be a challenge for a company built on made on the USA by former-Marines to go overseas, but I’m sure they will maintain the quality, and they have great products.

For the record I’ve had a GR2 and a GR1 for 8 and 7 years respectively. Just this year I sent the GR1 for minor repairs, since it has been on and off my everyday bag, and always my travel carry-on.

Buying Smartphones in Venezuela

Arol Wright, writing for xda-developers.com:

Phones have become essential tools, and in a country where you can’t really afford to upgrade your phone every two years, you’ll find yourself squeezing out the full capabilities of whatever phone you’re currently using for as long as possible. Often, this requires switching to a custom ROM like LineageOS in order to extend the lifespan of a device, which is exactly what a big number of Venezuelans are doing.

Sad read, but interesting to hear about geekery always finding a way.

Sources Say Apple Will Provide Special iPhones For Hackers To Test And Offer Mac Bug Bounty

Thomas Brewster on forbes.com:

For instance, it should be possible to probe pieces of the Apple operating system that aren’t easily accessible on a commercial iPhone. In particular, the special devices could allow hackers to stop the processor and inspect memory for vulnerabilities.

Great news. It’s better for everyone if hackers at least get a bounty from Apple rather than be tempted and sell the exploits.

On an unrelated note, first Forbes Apple story in ages that is not a clickbait. I literally almost didn’t visit the page when I noticed the source — that’s how much their reputation has fallen in my eyes.

AMD Sold 79% of All CPUs in German Online Store for July

Darren Allan, writing for techradar.com:

In June, AMD’s overall market share was 68% at Mindfactory, so the increase to 79% represents a big jump, and the highest proportion of sales achieved by the company this year by a long way.

To put this in a plainer fashion, for every single processor sold by Intel, AMD sold four.

This is just one retailer, but this sort of mindshare — and Intel’s inability to jump ahead, creates a market inertia that must really be worrying Intel.

Facebook to Add Its Name to Instagram, WhatsApp

Alex Heath on theinformation.com:

The social network will rebrand the apps to “Instagram from Facebook” and “WhatsApp from Facebook,” the people said.

Good news. This will hopefully make it easier to convince friends and family to move to Signal — or at worst, Telegram.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 31

• Cloudflare’s IPO rumored targeting September. I’ll likely buy into this.

• This guy build UK train station platform departure display using Raspberry Pi. We live in amazing times.

• Uber laying off around 400 people from marketing sounds like a lot. s

• Google shares more Pixel 4 details: face unlock and Motion Sense (hand gestures).

Fast Software, the Best Software

Craig Mod ’s wonderful essay on software speed:

But why is slow bad? Fast software is not always good software, but slow software is rarely able to rise to greatness.

​A good reminder for those of us building software that we can’t just take the supercomputing power available in our pockets and laps for granted. Software will just not be as fast as it needs to be. It takes work.

Speed as a proxy for efficiency. If a piece of software is becoming taurine-esque, unwieldy, then perhaps it shouldn’t be a single piece of software. Ultimately, to be fast is to be light. And to be light is to lessen the burden on someone or some task.

Additionally, what a great written piece. ​

Tidbits for 2019 Week 30¹

• The IRS reminds you that cryptocurrency is taxable.

• Symfonisk series reviews are out and they are good: pure Ikea on the outside and pure Sonos on the inside — and the price is somewhere in between.

• Lockdown is an interesting open source on-device firewall for iOS. I’m happy this is an emerging category.

• Having seen some low end Android phones struggle with memory and storage, the lightweight Gallery Go version of Google Photos is interesting.

• The new Slack Desktop app supposedly will use 50 percent less RAM. Curious if they’ll use Catalyst for the Mac app in the future.

Leaker suggests WhatsApp for iPad and Mac in the works

Ben Lovejoy on 9to5mac.com:

Handling end-to-end encryption on multiple devices is tricky, as the message is encrypted on the device itself. Apple has a solution for its Messages service, which is also end-to-end encrypted. Instead of a single public key used to identify you to other chat participants, Apple uses a cluster of these: one per device. WhatsApp will likely take the same approach.

There is a slightly increased security risk with this approach, in that a new device could join a chat if it had access to the public key. This is why Apple sends a message to all participants whenever a new device is added to a chat.

Emphasis mine. Not sure how I feel about this new feature yet. On one hand, I would really like the convenience of sending stuff from the iPad, but given the added security risk — it sounds like a spoiled whim. The current desktop implementation works well enough, and it’s inherently safer. Will keep an eye out for a better explanation of what’s sacrificed.

Surrendering curation and promotion

Seth Godin, on his blog:

The platforms are built on the idea that the audience plus the algorithm do all the deciding. No curation, no real promotion, simply the system, grinding away.

I feel this way about recommendations on YouTube, Amazon, and even the App Store. There’s no zeal of quality that truly feels trustworthy.

​

Apple to acquire Intel’s smartphone modem business

From apple.com:

Apple and Intel have signed an agreement for Apple to acquire the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business. Approximately 2,200 Intel employees will join Apple, along with intellectual property, equipment and leases. The transaction, valued at $1 billion, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019 […]

Very rumored and not unexpected. Given how critical modems are for smartphones, I’m sure there’s a story about a big project fail inside Apple that led to this.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 28

• The Expanse S04 will be available on Amazon on December 13th. My Prime subscription at work.

• Dropbox is really pissing people off with its new version. I feel very happy and streamlined since going iCloud only.

• Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer command and lunar modules source code is on Github. Searched for the famous 2012 error, but not sure what I’m seeing.

• The redesigned new Twitter.com on Desktop seems like an improvement. Lists are exponentially more accessible, which I count as a win.

Nestle Finds New Way to Make Chocolate Without Adding Sugar

Corinne Gretler on bloomberg.com:

This fall in Japan, Nestle will start selling KitKat bars with 70% dark chocolate under the new recipe, which doesn’t include any added sugar […]

Wanna try it and would pay more for it — a winner product already.

HBO to Air Epic Mini-Series ‘From The Earth To The Moon’ Ahead of Blu-ray Release

Scott Snowden on Space.com:

The standard-definition visual effects from the original 1998 release have been replaced with modern computer-generated imagery (C.G.I.) based on reference models from NASA […]

Yep, I’m rewatching this ASAP.

Apple to Fund Original Podcasts

Lucas Shaw and Mark Gurman on bloomberg.com:

Apple Inc. plans to fund original podcasts that would be exclusive to its audio service, according to people familiar with the matter, increasing its investment in the industry to keep competitors Spotify and Stitcher at bay.

This is an audio exclusive content. Which is great and I will probably listen to. But, I’ll be the old man shouting:

If it doesn’t have a RSS feed, it is not a podcast.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 27

• Fun fake adverts as if the iPhone had been around since 1984.

• Great concept of a sticker for MacBooks, where you place your geek stickers — making it easy to remove for selling and keep a memory of your sticker creed.

• Nintendo Switch Lite in September. No TV connection or detachable controls for $199, which sounds like a great compromise for younger gamers — or those in a budget.

• Dropbox Transfer for sending up to 100GB. Sounds like the old school Dropbox stuff, not for me anymore but I like.

• Seems Apple Pencil tech keeps arriving showing up on third parties pens. The Adonit Note is another cheap(er) alternative, which is great news.

Third parties confirm AMD’s outstanding Ryzen 3000 numbers

Jim Salter on arstechnica.com:

With the Ryzen 3000 series, this dynamic changes. AMD’s new 7nm process technology allows it to ramp up the performance to challenge Intel’s higher-end lineup without veering into power consumption profiles that look more like a welder than a CPU, and it’s already shipping the CPUs retail.

The noise of better performance and price from AMD’s lineup agains Intel’s started in E3. Seems it wasn’t just marketing, but an actual win. Is this a new close-race? or is AMD overtaking a sluggish Intel and will start kicking them while down?

Seems like a good time to transition to ARM’s performance/cost S-curve.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 26

• Check your Mac for that aren’t 64-bit with Go64. I’m going to be recommending this app a lot over the summer.

• Wavēy is great set of wallpapers for Mac, iPad and iPhone.

• Note taking rabbit whole took me to down the sub-world of e-ink notebooks. Good overview video of the best options.

• Vinland Saga Anime coming to Amazon Prime. I’m enjoying the manga a lot, so will take a look.

Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

apple.com:

[…] Sir Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, will depart the company as an employee later this year to form an independent design company which will count Apple among its primary clients.

End of an era, but it does feel that Sir Jony has been leaving work early for a few years. This is good, I wouldn’t mind a few more daring designs from Apple nowadays.

Tidbits for 2019 Week 25

• Secure ShellFish provides SSH and SFTP support in the iOS Files app. Going to find a way to fit this into my workflow.

• Someone rebuild and converted to digital a Polaroid SX-70 camera. Beautiful.

• New Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is out, and I will add it to the cart multiple times before not buying it — like all the previous versions. Or not?

Accidental hero: John Siracusa is a celebrity among tech nerds

Peter Wells on smh.com.au:

John Siracusa may not be a household name, but to Apple nerds and podcast fans he is an accidental superstar. Siracusa was first noticed for his ridiculously thorough reviews of Apple’s macOS; reviews so long they were sold as Kindle books.

Nothing accidental about it, I remember saying up late reading his amazing OS X reviews on ars, and listening to every hypercritical podcast when I returned to Venezuela from Norway.