Blot
I’m trying something new with my blog (again). I’d been keeping blog items in my “stream” site but it required too much work to publish. Instead, I’m giving Blot yet another spin and piping the posts into my feed under the “Social” category.
Being able to post with such little friction (create a new document in iA Writer, write something, sync via Drive, profit.) should help me post more than I currently do.
As an aside, I’m keeping things relatively private so there’s no crossposting or anything like that enabled on the site. If someone finds something interesting and shares it, so be it, but I’m not going out of my way to publicize what I’m posting. I want to write for me and I think this will help with that.
03.21.25
Music
At the beginning of the year, I moved off Spotify. I started building up a local library of my own music, including a vinyl collection and digital releases (primarily via Bandcamp).
Now, a few months in, I find that I enjoy music a lot more. I’m more intentional about when I listen and what I listen to. I’d love to see more people try this, but it takes work. I had to find a good rhythm and new places to discover things to listen to. To some extent, Spotify and other streaming services make this part pretty easy but there are plenty of places to do this, including Last.fm and Bandcamp’s discover page.
Games
I’ve started playing Elden Ring again, and it’s clicking a bit more with me this time. I’m going for a strength build and taking my time with more things, more exploration and fewer repeated fights against the more challenging enemies, and it’s paying off so far.
Atelier Yumia came out today, which I’m looking forward to starting. It’ll be a nice change from the dark and drear of the lands between.
Trying something new
I have a blog on my website, which I’ve refined to the point I think I like(?). That said, the publishing flow with static websites doesn’t jive with how sporadic I feel like actually writing something.
So, I’m trying something new. Blot has added support for iCloud, so I’m setting up some of my stuff there and testing it out a bit. If it works out, I’ll likely pipe new posts back into my primary website as cards, which I’m doing with a variety of other things, essentially a “now” page.
I love how easy it is to open up a doc in iA writer, jot down some thoughts, and have them appear on my blog. Hopefully, this will entice me to write a bit more.
No need to reply
I looked at replies from a certain microblogging platform about what happened yesterday. Most people either have zero context on anything that’s occurred long-term and don’t care to develop any, or they have longstanding grudges with omg.lol, in some cases because they were banned from the service (lmao) for making offensive comments and are using this situation as an opportunity to lash out rather than seek professional help.
One thing seems pretty clear, though: the loudest people are almost entirely middle-aged dudes that appear incapable of shutting the fuck up and not inserting themselves into every conversation.
It’s pathetic.
They’re painful to read, but I’m glad I did. The childish narrowed-mindedness galvanized my decision to leave the platform.
Scattered thoughts on Tapestry
I’ve been a longtime Reeder user, so when Iconfactory announced Tapestry, I knew I had to check it out. Here are some initial thoughts.
TL;DR: the app is okay but needs work.
- Having everything in one place is, for me, perfect. It forces me to slow down and avoid bouncing between apps.
- The UX is clunky and confusing in certain areas, like interacting with cards in the feed or setting up and maintaining feeds.
- Something that’s not a unique problem to Tapestry is that there’s no ability to interact with posts from the feed. You need to tap on the post, which opens an in-app browser. Next, you log in, and “like” or “favourite,” then return to Tapestry. It’s not great.
As an aside, I’ve heard one of the main issues with Tapestry and apps like it is that they’re simply a means to an end, something we use now until everything is standardized.
I disagree with that idea. The internet is messy, and we’ll always need apps like these to bridge the gaps. People will always want to reinvent the wheel with new specs and standards; getting all of these things on the same page will take decades if it happens at all.
- They talked a bit about it on Mastodon but the fact that it doesn’t work with RSS services, especially self-hosted ones, is basically a non-starter. I get the reasoning somewhat but it’s a huge pain to manage large libraries of feeds right from the app.
- On a related note, Tapestry’s connections list and ability for third-party developers to integrate is really impressive.
- I find the different colours used for each feed to be overwhelming. I wish there was a monochrome option.
- To be honest, I’ve never liked Iconfactory’s design style. It’s opinionated, which is great, but it doesn’t jive with my tastes at all. This’ll keep me from using the app for any extended period of time.
This is a good start and there are a lot of people who are really going to love this app. I’ll be interested in checking in with it again in a few months and seeing what’s changed.
Finding out
As someone who visited Micro.blog fairly frequently until last year, even building an Android app and theme for it, I was stunned by how poorly Manton handled the situation that unfolded last week.
I’m surprised he would deflect Adam’s points, insert himself into the discussion, and then spin it as if he’d been attacked. I’m confused why he couldn’t give a clear answer to people asking about his working relationship with Vincent, who has, at a minimum, failed to clarify his stance on LGBTQ+ people and, at worst, decided it’s a priority to support Elon Musk, both financially by paying for Twitter and with masturbatory praise for work he’s largely uninvolved in.
As an aside, Manton says this is okay because Vincent likes rockets. I think Melanie had the best reply to this:
liking a fascist because you “just like rockets” is like saying you like hitler for his paintings: no you don’t, those rockets (and those paintings) are shit. good rockets don’t explode, those are called bombs.
So, after days of painful back and forth, Manton chose to give Vincent the benefit of the doubt and continue to have him involved in Micro.blog, and that’s fine; it’s his choice. This way of thinking got us into our current situation and doesn’t hold Vincent accountable for what he’s done and continues to do, but… sure.
I deleted my account a year ago, but if I hadn’t, I’d be doing it now. Adam raised a valid point about Vincent’s conflicting values, and Manton made it about himself. He did a lot of telling and very little listening. If he can’t see the issue here, it’s not a place I want to be.
Trying something new with music in 2025
I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, so this isn’t that. Instead, I’ll just say I’m doing something a bit different this year and moving away from streaming services like Spotify [1] [2] [3] and Apple Music. I’ve decided to try buying and maintaining a proper music collection.
So far, I’ve digitized my record collection, set up a new Bandcamp account, bought some albums, and created a new combined library on my existing Plex server. I’ll be posting updates throughout the year on how this works out.
Please don’t buy an Echo Show
We’ve had an Echo Show 15 in our kitchen for the past 3 years. We use it for photos and weather, keeping track of our family calendar, and setting up quick timers while cooking. While the design leaves much to be desired, it’s been… fine.
However, Amazon recently released an update that has completely ruined our experience. We see ads for random Amazon products every time we glance at the screen. I’d heard about this happening to people before, usually from US users, but I’d never experienced it. We paid for this thing. We paid to hang an advertisement on our kitchen wall.
Frustratingly, the UI was tweaked in preparation for the upcoming Show 21 and against all odds, it’s worse. The font size has been reduced, making it harder to see from a distance, and the widget requirement has gone from ⅓ of the screen to ⅔. If you’ve never used it, this might not make much sense, but I’ll try to explain.
The screen, which we have displayed vertically, is essentially broken into thirds. You could previously have a large, single widget in the bottom third and then a gallery of rotating “cards” like weather, photos, sports scores, etc, in the top ⅔. Now, you have to use the bottom ⅔ of the screen for widgets or not use them at all. Because we were only using the calendar widget on the bottom ⅓ of the screen, this means we now have a giant empty space below that unless we fill it with a grocery list widget that connects to an app we don’t use, a weather widget that shows the temperature we already see on the top of the screen, or one of the brutal third-party widgets like a “fart button.”
Since we opted to close the widget section entirely, the ads, part of the rotating cards I mentioned, now take up the entire screen.
It’s awful.
If you’re considering buying an Echo Show, don’t. If you’re tech-savvy, build your own, check out a Google Nest Hub, or wait to see what Apple has planned for next year. Investing in a smart display should make your life easier, not be a constant reminder of how little your time and attention matter to the company that made it.
What Nintendo does
As news broke yesterday about the latest bed Nintendo has decided to shit in, targeting a longtime fan with DMCA strikes for sharing videos featuring their games, I was reminded of a few things.
Unfortunately, this kind of hostile behaviour is what we’ve come to expect from Nintendo. Never mind the cute alarm clock or music app—they’re one of the most needlessly customer-hostile companies. Remember the Nintendo Creators Program? Or the restrictive guidelines they’ve enforced on Super Smash Bros tournaments over the years? So why do we celebrate them every time they release something cute or nostalgic?
What’s particularly frustrating, as we’ve seen countless times in their battles against emulation sites, is that Nintendo themselves aren’t interested in offering any legal way to play many of the games featured on Crandall’s channel. They even shut down the virtual console back in 2019 and cut off access to over 400 classic titles.
As much as I’ve loved their games and hardware over the years (my first console was an SNES!), it’s hard to keep cheering for a company that refuses to work with its customers in any meaningful way or, worse, punishes them for their loyalty.
Nostalgia isn’t a pass to treat your fans like shit.
Zenless Zone Zero’d
Zenless Zone Zero is a game I’m excited to play, but things have changed recently. During the last round of beta testing, I was banned for trying to run the game on my M1 iMac.
If you’re not aware, one of the stipulations of beta testing ZZZ is that you agree to install the game on only one of each device type: PC and mobile. You can put the game on your phone or your iPad, not both, and you can install the game on a single PC, not two.
When it comes to the iMac, I know that I’m essentially (because there’s no macOS version) installing the game’s mobile version, but it didn’t occur to me at the moment that it would count against my device limit. To me, my iMac is a PC category device. In hindsight, this makes sense from a technical perspective because there’s no macOS version, and you’re installing the iOS/iPadOS version. However, how do they expect the average person to know this? I’m reasonably tech-savvy, but not everyone in the beta is.
Regardless, I installed and ran the game on my iMac and, shortly after trying to run it and realizing it didn’t support keyboard and mouse, promptly removed it. The next time I logged in, I was greeted with a screen informing me that I’d been banned. After doing some research online and contacting support, it was clear I’d broken the rule around device limits, and the ban wouldn’t be lifted.
I mean, I get it, but really?
Fast-forward to this week, and the game is now available for pre-order/pre-registration. On PS5, the game costs $13 (a first for HoYoverse?), and I feel weird about it. Given my excitement for it and my experience during the beta, I’m still going to play the game (assuming I’m allowed to?), but I’d be lying if I said this experience hadn’t put a damper on it.
Phones
Robb posted about the phones he’d owned over the years, and it reminded me of a note I’d started a while back and never finished, chronicling all the devices that have occupied a place inside my pocket.
I know the timelines of some of these are blurry, and I’m confident I’m missing a couple somewhere in there, but I think I got most of them. I’m ignoring all the pre-smartphone devices I’ve owned, but for the record, my first phone was a Nokia 6110.
These are as chronological as possible.
“Smart” phones
- Blackberry Curve (8310)
- Blackberry Storm (9530)
- iPhone 3GS
- iPhone 4
(Mostly) Android phase
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3
- Nexus 4
- Nexus 5
- OnePlus One
- Moto X (1st generation)
- iPhone 5
- iPhone 6 Plus
- Nexus 6
- Nexus 5X
- Nexus 6P
The big iPhones
- iPhone 7 Plus
- Nextbit Robin
- OnePlus X1
- Essential PH-1
- Pixel 2 XL
- Pixel 3
- iPhone XR
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- OnePlus Nord N1002
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15 Pro
Phew. Quite the list. Let’s break down some high (and low) lights.
Best “fun” phone
The OnePlus One was such a great phone to mess around with. Flashing different ROMs, swapping out the backplate, etc.
Worst phone
This was, without question, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The plastic phone felt cheap, the TouchWiz UI was sluggish and ugly, and the battery was terrible… I used it for a couple of weeks and returned it. This was where I first felt intrigued by “phablet” devices, but it was otherwise a brutal experience.
Best Android phone
My “panda” Pixel 2 XL was the best Android phone ever, though the Nexus 6 was a close second because of the size and stock Android.
The Pixel 2 XL was a big, sturdy, gorgeous piece of hardware with a smooth, pure Android experience. Using the devices I did, it was as close as I ever felt that Google got to replicating the iPhone experience.
Best iPhone
This is a really tough call. The iPhone 4 had the best design, but the iPhone 6 Plus stands out because I’d been waiting for a giant iPhone for so long. I never liked the rounded sides of those generations of iPhone, though, so I think the iPhone 12 would be where I’d land. It had a great design and tons of power, and iOS was firing on all cylinders then, too (iOS 14–17).
That said, the iPhone 15 Pro has been great, but I don’t think it would be where it is now if not for the evolution we saw from the 12.
In closing
Now and then, when I’m at Best Buy or wherever I check out Pixel phones, I am a bit tempted, but I wouldn’t say I like the direction Google’s taken with their Android UI. The performance of those devices has come a long way, but I just can’t see myself wading back into the Google ecosystem at this point. Nothing is doing really cool stuff with their hardware, but, again, anything involving Google or the Play Store at this point is a non-starter.
The iPhone does it all for me. I’m deeply rooted in the Apple ecosystem and happy with what I have there.