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I watched the Apple iPhone event this afternoon and found all the emphasis on the cameras to be over the top. I know that Google has received praise for the cameras in the Pixels so I get that Apple wanted to proclaim loudly they have the best camera. I am not a camera nerd, all I want is the camera on my phone to take decent pictures, which it does. I don’t care about all the whizzywigs, and I wouldn’t buy a smartphone because it has the best camera. It feels like Apple is still playing the features game to convince people to throw down $1k on their phones, case in point, the portion of the event that got into the details of the A13 processor.
When I look at this comparison of phones, I am drawn to the Pixel 3A XL because it has enough features for the lowest price.
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I wonder if I am the only person who thinks Apple should do the same thing they did with the iPod and make the Apple Watch work standalone or with Windows? The tie to iPhone constrains sales, in my opinion. The iPod didn’t really take off until it started working with Windows, and if Apple really wants to sell watches, they need treat it like a standalone product.
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Happy Apple event day! Does the Internet have holidays?
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What exactly is personal about the personal computer?
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The irony is that more democracy—ushered in by social media and the Internet, where information flows more freely than ever before—is what has unmoored our politics, and is leading us towards authoritarianism.
The Founders of the United States did not consider democracy as the best form of government, which is why they created a Republic. We have been dismantling their invention ever since.
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Emotional programming has been happening since Gutenberg. It is what advertising is all about, and the Internet is the optimal platform for emotional programming. It takes constant diligence to recognize when you are being manipulated and for many that is just too much work.
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Definition of Insanity
Home Run hitting is vulnerable to breaking down. Combine that fact with an aging starting rotation and an inconsistent bullpen and you have a summary of the Chicago Cub’s last two seasons.
The Cubs currently have 5 batters with 20 or more home runs, and one more, Jason Heyward at 19. No Cubs hitter has a batting average of .300 or better, Anthony Rizzo is hitting .286. Even if you add Ben Zobrist to the mix, the Cubs lineup is too much the same making it easy to defend.
I understand the resistance in parting ways with the talent that got you the World Series three years ago, but I think it should be clear now that unless there are some diferent players in the lineup next year, you are going to end up with the same result.
Many will put blame on the manager, but he is not the person responsible for the roster, that lies with the front office. You clearly see a bias towards a single style of player that is good but not diverse enough, and that really doesn’t give Madden many options to change things up.
Ownership has some hard decisions to make during the off season. It’s easy to decide whether or not to spend money, it is much harder to decide whether the people running your team know how to change and if you do replace them, with whom?
I expect the Cubs to replace Madden because that is the easy choice that just about every team makes at this point. A different leadership style might spark a different emotional result, but it won’t change how teams pitch to the Cubs.
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Happy 906 Day!
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I find that ars technical publishes the most in depth reviews of Android, and so I can recommend their review of Android 10 if you want to know all the details.
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Google’s official Android site has flipped to Android 10, so I assume today is launch day. I’ve been on the beta but not sure when I will see the official release on my Pixel 2. Update: My Pixel 2 just displayed the notification that Android 10 is ready to download and install! The rumor was true.
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Today is the first day back to school for many kids, young (elementary/high school) and old (college). School years can be one of the best times of your life, although for most at the time it isn’t appreciated. While I hope to always be learning, school years, particularly college, provides the best access to people from whom one can learn. Of those who are in their first day of college classes, I am a bit envious.
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As I write this, the 2019 Chicago Cubs have not scored a run in two and half games. In September. When you need to win games to win a division and/or make the playoffs.
The Cubs currently do not have a single player hitting .300 or better. What you have is a lineup of power hitters, and as appealing while the home run is a fan favorite, relying on it is not winning baseball. This lineup is too easy to pitch against.
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Summer’s end
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Healthline: The rhomboid muscle is located in the upper back. It helps connect the shoulder blades to the rib cage and spine. It also helps you maintain good posture.
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Things that make you go hmmm…
When I look at my keyboard I see the label on the C key completely worn off. The A key is half gone. E, D, V, N, and M are partially gone.
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Rumor has it Android 10 will be released on September 3.
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Congrats to Brent Simmons for shipping NetNewsWire 5.0, which is the latest incarnation of an old RSS reader for Mac. I understand the app has been entirely rewritten from the original release that Brent at one time sold.
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“You don’t have to wait for something “meaningful” to come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more meaning in joy than you will ever need.” from “A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle a.co/dzBIRzn
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Chromecast Overheating
I’ve been using Chromecast ever since Google first started selling them, and upgraded to the Ultras when they became available. One is attached to each of our two TVs, however I also have an Apple TV connected to the basement TV. I primarily use the Apple TV because I find the apps are better, for example the MLB app has a catch up feature only available on Apple TV.
I do occasionally stream ball games using the Chromecast on the Living Room TV but it has he annoying behavior of performance degrading after a couple hours of streaming. All of a sudden what I am watching starts stuttering and becomes unwatchable.
I don’t have solid evidence, but I suspect the Chromecast is overheating to the point after a few hours the performance suffers. The OS on the device might be throttling down performance to protect the CPU. The Chromecast is very hot when I touch it. I probably should get an HDMI extension to move it further away from the back of the TV.
Given my experience, if someone is in the market for a streaming video device I recommend the Apple TV unless you find the price prohibitive. I think the UI is good and it has had solid performance.
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Adult Required Reading, contemporary books to read inspired by school required reading.
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I now have 250 entries in the Site Index of my wiki.
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Tomorrow I will be a guest in the MobileViews podcast and to prepare I have written down my mid year Orchids and Onions awards.
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On one hand I don’t like to see the cooler weather because it is a sign that summer is drawing to a close, on the other hand, I am enjoying the refreshing cooler breeze.
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“What the world doesn’t tell you—because it doesn’t know—is that you cannot become successful. You can only be successful. And what is that? There is a sense of quality in what you do, even the most simple action. Quality implies care and attention, which come with awareness. Quality requires your Presence.” from “A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle a.co/4iyJkLX
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Today I discovered NixOS, and the web site provides a nice VirtualBox appliance to easily download and test it. What I find is that it runs very well in VirtualBox, better than the Debian installs that I have built in it.
It functions differently than Debian, particularly package management and installing apps, so there is a learning curve.
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