The blog post titled “How technology has changed the world since I was young” by Noah Smith lacks a very significant impact of the Internet on the world, which is our expectation of and thus perception on time. People who never lived in a time before the Internet have no concept of not knowing what is happening in the world in near real time. Such people have never lived in a time when it was not possible to buy something and have it delivered the next day… and in many cases that day! Consequently, such people expect change to happen much faster than those of us who lived before the Internet. I think the source of much tension in our society today is the battle between those who expect immediate change and those who are used to change taking years if not decades. Every battle over rights in the United States comes down to those demanding immediate change and those who either don’t want change or want to at least slow down change.
I am grateful for mornings like today, when the temperature is mild and there is a nice breeze with the birds chirping and fluttering about. I might sit here all day.
Yesterday the Chicago Cubs swept the NL Central leading Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs are currently 3.5 games behind the Pirates with a 31-37 record, the Pirates record is 34-33. The strategy for the NL Central should be to maintain at least a .500 record and you will have a chance to win the division come September, and based on that the Cubs being 6 games below .500 is a concern, but plenty of time to make it up as long as they keep winning series. Unfortunately, today the Cubs start a series against the Baltimore Orioles who are a better team with a 43-25 record. If the Cubs can win this series, they then travel to Pittsburgh for another three game series and an opportunity to make up ground. It’s not too early to emphasize the importance of winning a series, and I think this one with the Orioles is an important one.
Yesterday I experienced something for the first time, a strong downpour of pea sized hail. I was in the basement and yet it sounded like the roof was caving in. I did not see any damage after other than a lot of leaves on the ground.
Is the Vision Pro an iPhone or a Newton?
I like sharing pictures on this blog and I wish that micro.blog had a simple way for creating photo albums. I just returned from a trip and I would love to be able to upload pictures that I took during the trip to a separate page that I can just link to rather than post all the pictures to the main blog page. What I desire is to batch upload a bunch of photos, be prompted for a date and place and have the software automatically make a photo page. The only photos plug-ins involve changes to the “default” photos page or converting a blog to something like Instagram.
I am not very sophisticated in managing my photos, they upload automatically to Google Photos and I use Syncthing to make a local backup. I can, and do, make albums in Google Photos, which used to be made automatically but no longer do.
In the butterfly exhibit of the Milwaukee Public Museum. Google says this is a Heliconius.
I am experimenting with and learning about the wide angle lense of my Google Pixel 7a. I like how this picture turned out.
Railhouse Brewery Outta The Blue
Vision Pro might be the ultimate test of the Apple cult. Could be a John Sculley / Apple Newton moment.
Apple mythology states they enter a market when they have a better take on it. In what way is Vision Pro a better take on prior AR / VR solutions? Definitely not with the hardware, looks like Apple is putting all their eggs in the software basket, which is interesting for a hardware company.
I was not expecting to be able to watch the Apple WWDC keynote, but Murphy has enabled me to do so and I am jotting notes during the session.
Is it me, or does some hotel cancellation policies feel like a scam? What I am seeing is to be able to cancel as late as 24 hours before some hotels are charging $50 or more a night. Some times it’s worse. I made a reservation at a hotel a few weeks back that only allows free cancellation up until a week before the check in date, no matter the price, and that just seems wrong. I wanted to pay less per night in comparison to other hotels, so I made the reservation with the sinking feeling Murphy would get me, and he did as I had to cancel today, which is check in day and that would have cost me the same cancellation fee if I cancelled two days ago.
I can’t help but feel that the “inflation news” has given all businesses liberty to find all sorts of ways to make more money
Stand off king of the hill
The Chicago Cubs are nearly five behind the A.L. Central leading Milwaukee Brewers, which is where I said they were back in December, before the season started.
First Impressions Of The Google Pixel 7a
Google announced and began selling the Pixel 7a earlier last month, and I ordered a Sea colored version from Amazon about a week later. The Pixel 7a is replacing the Pixel 4a that has been my everyday carry phone for the last three years. I really like the size and feel of the Pixel 4a and so I was not eager to up-size to the newer phone, but it has come to the end of the road with Android and there are features the 7a has that make the upgrade a “no-brainer.”
My main concern about the Pixel 7a has been its size and glossy back. The Pixel 7a is taller than the Pixel 4a and because of that I find it harder to operate with one hand. The weight, however, is the most noticeable difference. I am finding that due to the weight it is more comfortable holding the phone in my left hand, but in a position where I can’t scroll apps with that same hand and as a result this phone requires more two hand operation than the Pixel 4a. The weight and size difference is also noticeable when I put the Pixel 7a in a front pant pocket. Fortunately, the size do not make these use cases impossible, just different and I suspect the difference will become less noticeable over time.
The back of the Pixel 7a is more “polished” than the Pixel 4a, but it doesn’t feel so slippery that I fear it is going to quickly slip out of my hand. I purchased a really nice Latercase that does not add much weight or bulk and gives a more matte like feel to the back of the phone.
Battery life appears to be better, but I don’t know whether that is simply because the battery is larger or the Google Tensor G2 is that much more efficient. Accubattery is showing that screen of battery consumption is at 2% or less, which is definitely better than the Pixel 4a that is closer to 3%. Battery life is an item that requires a longer duration to evaluate.
I don’t know if it is just me, but I think pictures using the wide angle lens have a bit of a fish eye affect. (See the last picture on this page for an example.) I don’t think the camera app clearly indicates how to switch between cameras.
I really like the under screen fingerprint scanner, although that may be more due to the fact that scanner is on the front of the phone rather than on the back. Now I know exactly where to put my finger and therefore the scanner works more accurately. The face unlock also works ok, but doesn’t seem to trigger fast enough. People complain about the speed of the finger print scanner, but I find it plenty fast.
As I expected, it was a real pain to move the Pixel Watch from the Pixel 4a to the 7a. Google really does not understand what is a technology ecosystem, it’s not just a suite of products that have the same appearance, it’s products that work together with little effort by the user. The fact that one has to factory reset a WearOS watch to move it from one Pixel phone to another is the clearest evidence of Google’s cluelessness when it comes to tech ecosystems. At least the Pixel Buds were automatically recognized and work.
Of the new features I get with the Pixel 7a, I like the wireless charging the best, although I am still working on how often to do the charging. I bought the Pixel Stand and have it on my desk where I could put my phone during the work day, but what is the impact on battery health from keeping the phone on the charger for extended periods of time? Articles on lithium batteries say it’s best to keep the phones between 20% to 80% charged given that each full cycle has an impact on the life time of the battery. Seems to me though that Google intends users to keep the phone on the stand, so you would think they would incorporate programming to help with the battery health.
Over all I am happy with the Pixel 7a. It’s larger than the Pixel 4a but it is the smallest Pixel, and I definitely think it is better to buy it than the cheaper and older Pixel 6a. Rumor is that the 7a may be the last of the “A Series” pixel phones, but it’s not clear exactly what that means. It could mean that Google will stop staggering the release of phones in the spring/summer and fall/winter like they have over the last several years but keep the “small, medium, and large” sizes, or it could be they drop the phone all together. Given that the Pixel 7a has nearly all the same specs as the Pixel 7, it seems the only reason one would buy the “flagship” phone is to get a larger screen. I really hope that Google keeps a phone that is no larger than 6-inches tall.
Detroit Grand Prix
I am watching the IndyCar practice of the Detroit Grand Prix, which is racing around the Renaissance Center where I worked for nearly nine years. At one time or another I’ve driven parts the entire circuit, and I made turns 4, 5, 6, and 7 nearly every week day. I am seeing them going 70 mph on stretches I wouldn’t dare drive more than 30. The pits are in a parking lot where I used to park when we first started working at that location.
As much as I disliked the 40 minute commute (on good days), I really enjoyed working at the Renaissance Center, particularly when there were events like the Super Bowl and this Grand Prix because at those times it is the center of activity.
The IndyCar car race is on Sunday at 3:45 PM, but if you have Peacock you can watch the practice and qualifying right now and Saturday.
I agree with Bernie. After Biden signs the debt ceiling bill he should file suite against Congress asking the Supreme Court to declare the debt ceiling as an unconstitutional violation of the 14th amendment. The budget process is the time at which Congress set what spending it will or will not do, and Government cannot stop paying its bill it already decided in the budget to take on the cost.
I don’t agree with Bernie that Biden should rather than signing this bill declared the 14th amendment gives him the authority to pay the bills. The 11th hour is not the time to introduce such uncertainty, but raising the case to SCOTUS immediately after word so that there is enough time for process is the right thing to do.
Roses are blooming
I’ve created a public repo on Github that contains an archive of my blog archive files. The files contain blog posts starting in March, 2014 to present. Perhaps some time in the future I will find a way to search against these files. One remaining group of blog posts are on my WordPress site going back to May, 2008. I need to find a way to export those old posts, but that is a bit of a mess because I’ve been cross-posting to that WordPress site from my current blog.