The Kobo Libra Colour Positive Review

Andy Nicolaides, on thedent.net:

If there’s one thing that’ll take me out of my slump of not posting, it’s a fun new gadget and the Kobo Libra Colour certainly fits the bill there. If you’re after a TL;DR for this post, here it is: I love this device. If that’s a little too succinct for you, please read on dear reader.

There’s a few reviews going around complaining about the color screen, saying that it does considerably reduce the brightness of it, so I enjoyed this review from former Kindle user who loves it.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the technical specs that we forget that real people have a different tolerance for the trade-offs of new technologies.

Getting books onto the device really couldn’t be easier. You can, of course, download your Kobo library directly from the main interface. If you have external books, however, these are also a breeze to get on there. If you connect your Dropbox or Google Drive account it will automatically create a new folder for you to drop your books into and they are available almost instantly. You can also upload books from Calibre, on a PC or Mac, equally as quickly.

This ability to upload EPUBs is a great feature which Kindle has no equivalent. Sadly, books that are uploaded this way do not sync to their iOS app. I rarely read on my phone something that I started on my eReader, but the few times I want to, the feature is invaluable.

Updated Coffee Setup: AeroPress Flow Control Filter Cap v2

I mentioned on the Coffee Daily Driver post that the Original AeroPress Flow Control Cap was Crap. But because I’m an optimist and a gadget freak, I ended getting thenewest version (model part 81C01), and it addresses all issues I had with the original:

• There is a new rubber gasket inside that prevents leaks/explosions.
• The sizing also seems to fit better on my transparent AeroPress.

Original and new Aeropress Cap vs Fellow Prismo

This is great as AeroPress is still my goto recommendation when someone asks about starting with coffee, I’m disappointed the company has no mention whatsoever that this is a newer model.¹ While I still think the Fellow Prismo is a better product, new AeroPress Cap is easier to clean and $5 cheaper.

Quick tip on cleaning: I got this from reddit forever ago on regarding the Prismo, but works great on the new AP Cap: for an easier clean, twist/open the cap and pull the plunger slightly back. Suction will bull on the paper filter and make pushing both into the garbage easier in one motion.

Online Sharing in iA Presenter for Mac

iA, on iA:

Online sharing is now available in iA Presenter beta for Mac. This update unpacks our vision for a contemporary, frictionless presentation sharing experience.

iA Presenter is such a beautiful app. Very opinionated, but maybe in a good way. Thinking of forcing myself to use it for a month to level-up any meetings that lead the conversation.

Chris Burnell Interests Page

Chris Burnell, on Chris Burnell:

You may or may not be aware of the /about, /ideas, /now, and /uses page initiatives, where website authors are encouraged to create pages on their websites at discoverable URLs for expressing who they are, concepts they’re thinking about, what they’re doing presently, and what hardware/software/things they are using (respectively).

Recently, I’ve been ruminating on an additional way to aid in the discoverability of like-minded folks across the web: the /interests page.

I’ve failed at being consistent at my /now and /about pages, so yet another page doesn’t seem like it would succeed. But I still really enjoy reading them on other blogs.

Anthropic Releases Claude iOS app

Emilia David, on The Verge:

Anthropic, which makes the Claude 3 family of AI models, is launching an iOS app and adding a second paid tier for groups to share access to the models. 

Took me a while to find the App link — App Store search is terrible . Nice looking app, still think ChatGPT is way ahead appwise. At $30 a month, I’ll stay accessing these services using API-based apps until Apple plays its hand.

Instapaper 8.6 Update

From blog.instapaper.com:

Today we’re launching Instapaper 8.6 for iOS and macOS, which includes Summaries to quickly get a snapshot of an article, Custom Article Actions to customize the toolbar in the article view, and many more new features that you’ve been asking for. We’re also launching our official Obsidian Plugin, which syncs all of your highlights and notes to Obsidian.

It looks like a great update, with a lot of catch-up features that nonetheless are impressive and useful. Sadly I switched over from Instapaper to Readwise a while back, but I still think it has one of the best typography of all the reader apps¹.

Nitin Khanna Obsidian Setup

Nitin Khanna, on nitinkhanna.com:

I use Obsidian on a daily basis for my office work and frequently for personal notes. Recently, my brother discovered Obsidian and we started talking about setup and usage. So here’s my Obsidian setup, for his reference and mine –

Love these setup posts. We share some plugins, but overall a very different workflow. Some good ideas to try out.

Süti PhoneBack: My New Favorite iPhone Case

My new favorite iPhone case is the Süti PhoneBack case. After updating to the iPhone 15 from the iPhone 12 mini, I was looking for the thinnest case possible. I considered skins and minimal cases, but when the Nomad Magnetic Leather Back was announced, I knew it was the style I was going to get. Sadly, it’s still only available for the Pro versions.

Searching for options, I found failed kickstarter projects, but nothing else. Eventually, a YouTube search led me to the PhoneBack.

I received it last week and have been using it since. While it’s a bit expensive at $40, it’s exactly what I was looking for. The case keeps the iPhone slim and gives it grip ability. Additionally, I feel less conscious when I place it on the iPhone face up on a table.

I’m really happy with this case, and so far, I haven’t dropped my iPhone yet.

Dune Part 2 was Amazing

Watched Dune Part 2 last Friday on a long flight stop-over. I absolutely loved the movie.

While it got a bit slow 2/3rds in, I was enjoying it so much that my real concern was it would end in too much of a cliffhanger.

As I left the theater I kept thinking that if I’d was 10 years old, I’m sure that I’d be more of a Dune fan than a Star Wars one. The Dune universe and the cinematography are superior to most Star Wars films in the last decade¹. We’ll watch it again soon.

Also got me excited about reading the books again — or at least the 3 ones I read originally.

Threads API is coming soon

Jesse Chen, on Meta for Developers:

Over the past few months, we have been building the Threads API to enable creators, developers and brands to build their own unique integrations, manage their Threads presence at scale, and easily share fresh, new content with their communities.

While it seems like a natural step for any social network, Instagram API is not a great example of what would make me happy to use. This will likely be targeted at tools used by big brands and such.

We are now testing with a small number of partners - Grabyo, Hootsuite, Social News Desk, Sprinklr, Sprout Social and Techmeme. While access to the Beta is limited at this time, we plan to make the API broadly available by the end of June.

Excited about Techmeme — its in context view is one of the most useful tools around.

Still, none of this points towards a future were I can use Ivory to read Threads.

Barry Hess on Blogger vs Essayist

From I am BARRY HESS:

You don’t need to labor over your posts. You don’t need to have perfect grammar or spelling. You don’t need to leave a post in draft for seven months, pouring over research. (Though you can if you want!) You don’t really need to have an idea.

Just write. Then share.

I keeping hitting myself over the head with this… eventually one of the blows will work.

Better Obsidian macOS Look & Feel

Konstantin, on Headbright Group VOF:

Astute macOS users (and developers ) will be quick to notice that Obsidian is not a native macOS app, but it is in fact a hybrid web application running inside an Electron runtime. This means that the UI look and feel is non-standard on macOS - it doesn’t work like other apps for the Mac. […] To address this, I use a combination of a theme and several plugins to make the app closer to the HIG we all expect.

Nice recommendations. Will revisit when I go too much into my Obsidian customization rabbit hole and need to come back to basics.

Beeper Acquired by Automattic and Available

Eric + Beeper Team, on Beeper Blog:

What we’re announcing today…

• No more waitlist — Beeper is now available to everyone!
• Beeper has been acquired by Automattic
• Our new Android app is out of beta
• We’re renaming Beeper Cloud → Beeper (sorry for the confusion)

Works well. If they start to allow two WhatsApp number on the same app, I see myself using it more. Ability to have WhatApp on iPad also very useful

BOOX Poke5 and Readwise on eink Review

David Kadavy, on kadavy.net:

Apparently these devices have been around long enough for there to be five generations, but Readwise Reader has only been around a couple years. I’ve had my Poke5 for about a month, have read an entire book on Readwise Reader, and have read a bit on the Android Kindle app as well. So, I’d like to share my experience.

Good post review on the Poke5 and using Reader with it. What’s clear is that the Poke5 is faster than my Leaf 2, because Reader is barely usable in my device.

Apple Lays Off 600+ Employees After Canceling Car Project

Juli Clover, on MacRumors:

Apple this week filed a required notice with the state of California, confirming plans to permanently lay off more than 600 employees.

Hopefully they’ll land on their feet. Also looking forward to more details of the failed project.

ChromeOS Now Supports Keyboard Shortcuts and Custom Mouse Buttons

Wes Davis, on The Verge:

The keyboard shortcut feature will work like it does in other operating systems, in which you can assign specific actions to specific key combinations. Google uses the examples of tweaking shortcuts to be easier to carry out one-handed or making them resemble those you’re used to in, say, macOS.

My dreams of using ChromeOS as a backup have completely gone away, but this is required for any real desktop OS.

Casey Liss On Using Tailscale as a Better VPN

Casey Liss, on Liss is More:

Tailscale is a mesh network of all your devices. Each device that is running Tailscale is on your “Tailnet”; every device in your Tailnet can talk to any other device on your Tailnet. This all works by way of fairly common VPN software, extremely clever tricks for poking holes in firewalls, and relay fallbacks when no other approach works.

The net effect is that I’m always able to connect to my Synology. Or my Mac mini. Or my ridiculous assortment of Raspberry Pis. And so on. I can also always connect to my Linode nanode that runs this website. Or a Digital Ocean droplet. I can access any of these devices no matter what network I’m on, and no matter what network the device I’m targeting is on.

Great post. I’m not in a place where I’m ready to rethink my devices networking — they just (barely) work™, and I don’t have time to play with it if I break it. But keeping this in mind for summer time project.

State of Hackintosh

Aleksandar Vacić, on aplus.rs:

It’s true that latest macOS 14 (Sonoma) still supports the latest generations of Intel Macs and it’s very likely that at least one or two major versions will still be compatible. But there’s one particular development that is de-facto killing off the Hackintosh scene.

His original title is Hackintosh is (almost) dead, but it’s a great overview of where hackinstosh stands. It’s also very aware of reality:

I don’t really complain. I had a good run which helped me skip over the worst price/performance Mac lineup that I remember. There’re now plenty good choices within the current crop of M1 / M2 / M3 machines and I’ll be following eBay closely for a good used Mac mini / studio models. Or maybe even splurge on something new.

And while Apple can be vindictive, I agree with his closing thought:

Just to clarify one thing, to preempt someone saying Apple did this on purpose to kill off Hackintosh: they didn’t. Apple never cared about Hackintosh scene, it’s entirely irrelevant to their business. They did what they should be doing, improving the macOS codebase.

Neato Blogging Platform Coming in Summer

Adam Newbold, on notes.neatnik.net:

I’ve finally landed on one, I can announce that Neato will launch this summer. I’ve been working on content management and publishing systems for nearly three decades, both personally and professionally, and this feels like the right time to finally take what I’ve learned and direct it into a single awesome thing. Neato will be a standalone service, but it’ll also be available as part of Web 1 Land and omg.lol (where it will power just about everything from profile pages to statuslog entries). I am really excited about it.

Will be reloading Neato to check it out. This blog is still hosted on blot, which works perfectly for me, but… I’m still wish for a theme design update for it.

My workflow is still based on Obsidian and markdown files, and it will take something amazing to move me away from it. Still, I’m excited about this new wave of blog engines: Pika, Gibberish, etc.

iPulse for iOS Released

Craig Hockenberry, on Iconfactory Blog:

An app that can monitor your device is a great thing to have when you need it, but can get in the way when you don’t. On iOS we solved this problem by using Picture in Picture technology. iPulse for iOS/iPadOS literally creates a movie of what’s going on inside your device and updates it every second. You can resize the display to fit well on your screen, or slide it out of the way completely. We were careful to use minimal system resources, such as CPU (3% usage) and memory (only 1 MB in size), while making the video.

Sweet solution to use a PiP movie to display stats. In the Apple Silicone era, I’ve almost never need to question where my resources are going, so almost never open iPulse for Mac anymore. Still, this was an instabuy. Some interesting stats, but it did seem to give me an incorrect storage number.

Paul Campbell On the Noisy Web

Paul Campbell, on vi.to:

It wasn’t necessarily better in the past. Videos were the size of postage stamps. Everything took a long time to load. Being able to jump into YouTube these days and learn anything about anything. That was just a dream in 1997. But when, oh when did it all get so noisy? There’s just so much noise. Noise in every sense.

This resonated. The web has changed and it doesn’t fit as it used to. Maybe those of us that experienced it since 90’s are getting old and just shouting at a cloud. Question is: should we push for the pendulum to return to a more boring web?

FDA Clears Over-the-Counter Continuous Glucose Monitor

Office of the Commissioner, on FDA:

The Stelo Glucose Biosensor System uses a wearable sensor, paired with an application installed on a user’s smartphone or other smart device, to continuously measure, record, analyze and display glucose values in people 18 years and older that are not on insulin and who do not have problematic hypoglycemia. Users can wear each sensor up to 15 days before replacing with a new sensor. The device presents blood glucose measurements and trends every 15 minutes in the accompanying app.

On Amazon Pharmacy, a month of Dexcom G7 Sensor/Transmitter shows as $50 with insurance and $377 without. Once the monthly price gets to $100, this is something we’re considering testing on our household.

I hope this is something the Apple Watch will have eventually, but it’s likely a long way off.

The Heroes of Web Standards

James on jamesg.blog:

Web standards are a game of compromise over technical details in service of the exchange of information across the globe via the World Wide Web. Web standards are often long; hundreds of thousands of words across hundreds of documents. The job is relatively thankless. You may never have met someone who works in web standards, but if you are reading this page you are using the work of those who work in web standards

Great post on the complexity of keeping web standards open. It’s not only a technical challenge, but a huge UN level exercise in politics and compromise. Huge not worthy bow to these unsung heroes.

Kagi Now Uses Wolfram Alpha

Vladimir Prelovac, on blog.kagi.com:

To further enhance our search capabilities and address the issue of potentially misleading AI-generated answers, we have partnered with Wolfram|Alpha, a well-respected computational knowledge engine. By integrating Wolfram Alpha’s extensive knowledge base and robust algorithms into Kagi’s search platform, we aim to deliver more precise, reliable, and comprehensive search results to our users.

This is great news. Kagi keeps getting better, and is now my default search on the desktop. I’d be more bullish it weren’t with how much I now user Arc Search on iOS. Not sure what search will look like in year at this point.

In addition, we are very pleased to welcome Stephen Wolfram to Kagi’s board of advisors.

Someone I’d love to have on my board of advisors without a doubt.

Supernotes New SN Pro Font Family

Tobias Whetton, on Supernotes:

Over the past few months we’ve been designing a friendly new typeface called SN Pro. You can experience it in Supernotes and beyond — it’s open-source and free to use for all your personal and commercial projects. Read on to explore our journey with type and our design considerations, or download here.

I never change the font on Obsidian, but this new font really looks nice. For sure I’m taking a look around Supernotes when I get a chace.

Ming-Chi Kuo on Color Kindles and reMarkable3

郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo), on Medium:

Amazon (the world’s largest e-reader brand) will likely use E Ink’s color e-paper, Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP), starting in 2025 and launch about 7” and 10” color Kindle e-readers.

Demos for the ACeP technology are very impressive — but looked very R&Dish 2 years ago. If Amazon is taking it to Kindle, it must be ready for prime-time.

The main drivers of shipments will be the launch of new color e-reader models by Kobo (mass production in 1Q24) and reMarkable (mass production in 3Q24). It is worth noting that reMarkable will also adopt about 12” ACeP color e-paper with a high unit price.

Some nice spoilers here regarding reMarkable3. My frustration with the remarkable2 are less with regards to the hardware, and mostly with the software. But I can see the appeal of the color version, specially if they keep it as thin.

The market share of color e-readers will increase significantly in 2024, being one of the main reasons why Amazon will aggressively use color e-paper in 2025.

W00t, there’s something very PalmPilot about this category, and I’m happy that it’s not going the way of the MP3 player, but finding the niche were it can grow.

Allen Pike On Doing Once a Month

Allen Pike:

This is true, in my experience. I would say, further: the best way to start actually doing something is to try doing it once a month.

While monthly is not frequent enough for most work habits, it can be unreasonably effective when the activity is atelic — that is, for its own sake. Something you enjoy and find worthwhile, but don’t yet do regularly.

He has some great examples that go beyond writing, really made me think.

However, it also brought me to writing on this blog, for which a quick data dump and visualization showed:

5typos.net posts by month

I can see my children being born, getting married and international moves in the data. But overall, not terrible — and a nice upward trend. Also fun to look at the posts by year:

5typos.net posts by year

William Gibson's Neuromancer Coming to Apple TV+

Apple, on Apple TV+ Press:

Apple TV+ announced today that it will expand its acclaimed slate of science fiction offerings with “Neuromancer,” a new 10-episode drama based on the award-winning novel of the same name by William Gibson.

Acclaimed Sci-Fi slate indeed: Foundation, Silo, upcoming Murderbot. I never got into For All Mankind, but I appreciate that they let it go for 4 Seasons.

2024 Coffee Daily Driver

A bunch of stuff arrived of the past few months to justify sharing a new coffee daily driver setup. I’ve been looking forward to these for most of last year, and I’m very happy with the results.

TIMEMORE Sculptor 064 Grinder

Finally arrived earlier this year after a long Kickstarter wait. Was worried for a while after using my Dad’s Fellow Opus, but those concerns are now gone. I really love the design and build quality. For my AeroPress, Pour Over and (no press) French Press needs, it works great. Big quality of life improvement 2021-05-16 You Can Take My Hand Coffee Grinder from My Cold, Dead Hands 1Zpresso JX

NanoFoamer PRO

Another delayed and recently received Kickstarter. I’ve had all Subminimal NanoFoamer products, and this one finally delivers of the promise of amazing milk foam without much fuzz. I’m very curious about the upcoming Meticulous Milk Steamer, but for now, I think this is the best you can get — save for the the real thing.

AeroPress Clear

Meh. Got his for the novelty of the 2023-04-14 AeroPress Showcases 4 New Products and because my original AeroPress lettering was all gone. Works fine, but the details are a bit off, and it’s more expensive.

AeroPress Flow Control Filter Cap (original)

Crap. Only reason I use it is because the Clear AeroPress doesn’t fit the Fellow Prismo, but it’s worst in every way. Looks like there’s an updated version which fixes most of the complaints, I’ll give a try at some point.

PYREX Heavy Duty Griffin 1003 400mL Beaker

The best carafe for AeroPress hands-down. Cheap, tough, small — been using it for years, and still have no better alternative. Get a nicer one for when you have people over, but this is your daily driver.

Fino 1L Kettle

It has almost doubled in price in the 6 years I’ve had it (still a reasonable $40), but every time I attempt to replace it, I end coming back to it. It’s minimal has survived daily use without one spot of rust. Size is perfect for our use. I widened the hole a bit an use a Target thermometer.

RACK for AeroPress

Build quality is atrocious (it leans to a side), but extremely convenient way to store the AeroPress when not in use.

Monty Milk Art Cups Latte 11 oz.

Got this at on a sale, and enjoy them. Sadly Ana is not crazy about the weight, so she prefers our brown glass set, which — even sadder — only one cup is left.

Astropad Updates Rock Paper Pencil Kit

Juli Clover, on MacRumors:

Rock Paper Pencil combines a screen protector and a unique Apple Pencil tip so that writing on the ‌iPad‌ feels like writing on a piece of paper. The new version of Rock Paper Pencil has a NanoCling Screen Protector that attaches to an ‌iPad‌ using static cling rather than a magnetic edge like the prior version.

I almost got the original one, but the comments of the separation between the screen and the protection held me back. New version seems to address this.

New Apple Sports App

Apple, on Apple Newsroom:

Apple today introduced Apple Sports, a free app for iPhone that gives sports fans access to real-time scores, stats, and more. Designed for speed and simplicity, the app’s personalized experience puts users’ favorite leagues and teams front and center, featuring an easy-to-use interface designed by Apple.

Looks nice, it’s really fast but … no tennis.

Responding Using Your Blog

Nitin Khanna, on nitinkhanna.com:

My blog sits idle most of the time, until I have something I want to write. This may be private or public. But writing goes here. (Journaling, of course, goes into Day One.)

Absolutely love the phrase: but writing goes here. Will try to practice this over the next few days.

COSMIC Desktop Environment Approaching Alpha

The Team at System76 Blog:

We’re on approach towards an alpha version of the new COSMIC desktop environment for Pop!_OS and other distros. Meanwhile, COSMIC testing has expanded to more users around the office. This month, we’re providing updates to the checklist we published in January on remaining tasks for releasing the alpha.

This is looking better and better. I don’t see myself switching to a Linux distro anytime soon, but I do hope this starts a new crop of apps or features for macOS.

Please Apple, give developers public APIs for Stage Manager and let them do their magic.

Tim Urban Thoughts on the Vision Pro

Tim Urban, on Wait But Why:

I’m writing this on a 30-foot screen on top of a 10,000-foot mountain in Hawaii, at a table in an Austin coffee shop where I’m pretty sure other people are taking photos of me to send to their friends so they can all call me a piece of shit. In the last week, life has gotten weird.

Of all the Apple Vision Pro reviews, this one has tempted me the most to do something stupid.

I’m gonna do a demo for sure the next time I visit the US but I feel fairly certain I’ll be able to hold off until v3… but not much longer.

Summary of macOS VM Apple Silicone Performance

hoakley, on The Eclectic Light Company:

Lightweight virtualisation of macOS on Apple silicon does deliver performance that’s impressively close to that of the host

I’m seriously considering setting up a virtual Mac in my work MacBook Air to separate my personal time at the end of the day.

Tried Bunch as a way to more clearly break within the same desktop, but without success.

Before virtualizing, I should try creating separate users. However, that feels inefficient. Or at least more inefficient.

Matt Mullenweg Vision Pro First Impressions

Matt, on Matt Mullenweg:

Okay… wow. The hardware and display are like nothing I’ve ever seen, really feels like it’s from the future. That said, I found the setup clunky and buggy. Some might have been user error, for example I kept trying to “select” things with my middle finger and thumb and not my left finger.

People like Matt have an sensibility for users. Keeping an eye for his comments on the Apple Vision Pro.

PowerMac G4 as Munition

Louis Anslow, on Pessimists Archive Newsletter:

In a classic example of Apple’s marketing genius the munition classification was used in its marketing, it dubbed the G4 a ‘Personal Supercomputer’ and ran a TV ad featuring tanks surrounding the device. Steve Jobs would say at its unveiling that they got the idea after being informed of the restrictions by the US Government government officials.

Love this ad and overall Apple era. Also good point on this, as we look back and laugh on the exponential growth of compute power, and how the present will look in 25 years:

This intriguing chapter in computing history is pertinent today, particularly as calls to regulate AI and once again treat the computing power used to train them as munitions, grows louder.

Castro Podcast App New Owner

Posted by Castro Team, on castro.fm:

We are excited to announce Castro has been purchased by Bluck Apps. Castro is a great app with a long history on iOS and many passionate fans, and it will continue to operate in its current form. This is a return to its independent roots.

I really hope this works out. Been hoping around podcast apps¹ since for a month or so, but nothing follows my mental model like Castro.

Day One Introduces Shared Journals

The Day One Team, on Day One | Your Journal for Life:

Today we’re excited to introduce Shared Journals in Day One, a new way for you to safely share life’s moments with friends and family, while upholding the privacy and security you trust.

They’ve been testing for a while, and I’m happy to start using it. First use is a Kids shared journal with Ana… of stuff only a parent would find fascinating.

I already had a personal journal for this, and copying all the notes wasn’t flawless — it gave an error on media attached, but I don’t know which ones didn’t make it.

Shared Journals are available with Day One Premium. Those you invite can access your Shared Journal with a free account.

Great a approach, I feel confortable suggesting we use this for family trips this way.

Greg Morris on Write Something

Greg Morris, on gr36.com:

There is a tale to be told here. One that having a blog sometimes feels a little like having an unpaid job. A job that you feel like you should be doing better and more often than you are, but I reality you don’t owe anyone that obligation.

Word… but still. I do feel the more I write, do more content should be fresh on the blog.

Apple Vision Get Ready

I’d like anything that starts with Gene Wilder yelling get ready. And with iPhone Hello commercial vibes from 16 years ago, this reaches back into my geek nostalgia like nothing else:

Right now I’m enjoying the introduction of a new category. I do think the Apple Vision is going to be something. Rational me clearly states publicly: I’ll wait for the Apple Vision Air, or whatever the Gen 3(?) at $1.999 of this will be.

Still 16 years ago, I basically said the same thing while holding my Sprint Palm Treo 650, and less than I month later, I had an iPhone in my pocket.