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.