I think my brain has become too inflexible to switch from Apple Podcasts. When I objectively examine Apple Podcasts versus Overcast or Pocketcasts, it’s easy to see where it comes up short. Queue building is very basic and well hidden, intro and outro skip settings are not there. But I still keep using it over what seem to be better choices. Maybe I should just stop thinking about it since it obviously doesn’t matter enough for my brain to break the connection.

With all that said, the AI generated chapters are really useful to me. One of the few uses I have seen for the tech that makes sense.

I don’t give a shit about these two companies fighting.

Having a Mac with non Apple accessories can be like death from a 1000 paper cuts. I have a Logitech G305 mouse and it does not support smooth scrolling on MacOS. I know it can be done because both Linux and Windows scroll smoothly with this mouse Fortunately there is a little app called Mos that’s solves this problem. Why you need a third party app to make non-Apple mice support smooth scrolling? It’s not in Apple’s interests I guess, open ecosystems aren’t really their thing but you would think that Logitech might get a little bit better treatment since they have worked with Apple on several accessories. I guess everyone is a second class citizen in Apple’s eyes.

I gave Apple $610 dollars CAD today to upgrade my son’s iPad from a 9th generation to the latest model. I didn’t like doing it because I was forced into the decision. Yesterday, Apple raised prices on damn near everything. Looking around I saw that Bestbuy still had the base model iPad for the old price so I struck. My plan was to wait until Christmas but I don’t trust even the new higher prices will stay that same until then. Some analysts are predicting RAM could still double in cost by this time next year!

You can blame AI Datacenters for this trouble and you definitely should. But let’s not forget that Apple has a profit margin of like 37% on their hardware. They chose to transfer almost all of the increased component costs over to the consumer rather than touch that margin.

I’ve mentioned before this before but it seems that the reasons for using Apple products are getting smaller and smaller every year. They chasing the insanity of an unending growth story that will surely end.

With more ads added to the App Store and now ads in Apple Maps I have to wonder what the point is of paying premiums for Apple hardware? I already give Apple money each month for iCloud storage and Apple Music, could I not get a break from the ads with that? Granted these two are minor in comparison to other services like Google’s but it still rubs me the wrong way. Plus there is no indication that it will stop in the future, ads for Apple Music? Ads in Photos?

Subscription creep is another thing that’s been driving me up the wall recently. My wife is a prodigious photo and video taker and we are quickly approaching the 2TB limit on our iCloud storage. To move to the next tier would take our costs from $12.99 CAD a month to $39.99 CAD a month. There are no options in between! In comparison Google has new storage plans available that will give you 5TB of storage for $26.99 CAD a month. I am working to clear out duplicates and low-quality photos (she for some reason takes a ton of pictures of the inside of her pockets) but at some point I will run out of chaff while the wheat keeps growing. Then I am kind of stuck.

This article from Matt Birchler brought up a point I meant to relay when I bought a 4k monitor for my Mac Mini. I kept hearing the usual pundits say that the only real solution for the Mac was something “Retina” i.e. a 27" 5K Display. Looking at the prices of those I couldn’t justify spending more than my Mac Mini for a monitor. So I went with a Dell S2725qs and guess what? Its good! Is the 5k clearer? Probably but I have not seen one in person. Would it be double the cost clearer? Hell no.

As I move back into the Mac ecosystem after years away, I have been content to buy Apple’s lower end products despite the FOMO that you’ll hear from a very vocal subset of the Apple community. In each case so far I have been content with my choices, in fact when I purchase an iPad later this year its going to be the base model, it will suite might needs without fail.

Head’s I Win, Tails You Lose

The Claude Mac app is not a good app. It practically demands that you keep it open and will refuse to close when I shutdown my Mac. I understand they want you to be able to access Claude at a moments notice but that is very user hostile.