Last week I bought a blue Nintendo DSi XL and am playing Phantom Hourglass for the first time. Emulation be damned!
Then today I snagged a Switch 2 from Target on the way out of town. Played Mario Kart World in tabletop mode with my wife and had a blast!
I’m a sucker for Nintendo, what can I say?
If you’re curious about Jony Ive’s new company io joining OpenAI, I recommend listening to episode 565 of Upgrade. Jason’s pessimism mixed with Myke’s enthusiasm is chocolate and peanut butter.
I got into design because of Jony’s work but I’m deeply skeptical of this union.
NBC getting permission from the family of the late Jim Fagan to be their AI sports announcer entirely misses the point. They’re not hiring a living human to do this work. How do we get the next Jim Fagan if there are no more jobs?
(Full disclosure: I’m not really into sports.)
The App Store should have worked this way since day 1.
From Jay Peters at The Verge:
Apple Cannot:
- Impose “any commission or any fee on purchases that consumers make outside an app”
- Restrict developers’ style, formatting, or placement of links for purchases outside of an app
- Block or limit the “use of buttons or other calls to action”
- Interfere with consumers’ choice to leave an app with anything beyond “a neutral message apprising users that they are going to a third-party site”
My favorite thing with reviews on Pitchfork is that anyone could possibly classify music as a 10.0 or a 7.8. For example, Bon Iver’s latest album SABLE, fABLE is accurately described by Alex Robert Ross as melancholic, beautiful, and exuberant. It’s also an 8.1 out of 10.
I loved this post by Cory Doctorow. It is bananas how we have collectively ceded our privacy online:
… we should just update privacy law so that doing certain things with your private data is illegal, without your ongoing, continuous, revocable consent.
Obviously, this would come as a severe shock to the tech economy, which is totally structured around commercial surveillance. But the fact that an extremely harmful practice is also extremely widespread is not a reason to keep on doing it – it’s a reason to stop.
Mini Regret
I bought the base M4 Pro Mac mini and have a twinge of buyer’s remorse after seeing the base M4 Max Mac Studio. For $600 more you get 2x the GPU, 2 more CPU cores, 12 GB more RAM, SD card slot, and more ports.
The only downside? Less cute.
Former President Barack Obama at Hamilton College (ABC News):
The most important office in this democracy is the citizen, the ordinary person who says, “No that’s not right.”
And
Most times it’s been easy to say you’re progressive or you’re for the freedom of speech and not have to pay a price for it. Now we’re at one of those moments where it’s not enough to say you’re for something. You may have to do something and even possibly sacrifice a little bit. … We say we’re for equality. Are we going to risk something for that? Are we going to stick up for it when it’s tough?
It’s been a week.
I’m working on a new app and the process is completely addicting. There are nights when I need to veg out and watch TV but I mostly just want to work on it.
With Cursor AI I can get way more done in a night but my Swift skills are invaluable for directing the LLM to make good code. Exciting times.
New iPads
As the world crumbles into disarray Apple unveils the iPad (A16) for $350 and iPad Air (M3) for $600. The compare page shows minor differences: processor, laminated screen (P3 color), keyboard/pencil support. The base iPad is a steal and is more than enough iPad for 90% of people.
Every episode of Severance is the best episode of Severance. That said: wow s2e7 (Chikhai Bardo) was riveting, beautifully shot, and exceedingly sad.
What I love about Urbana
Yesterday it hit mid-50s. In central Illinois this is cause for much celebration. I went on a few walks, got some food, and observed the following:
- A cluster of students leaving a neighbor’s house, all speaking French.
- Two women holding hands, one with an eye patch.
- At lunch at the new H Mart, practically everyone was speaking Korean or Japanese.
- A group of students fundraising on the Quad for the war in Ukraine.
By all counts, a town in the middle of cornfields should be as plain as a slice of Wonder bread. Instead it’s abuzz with people from all over the world. People who came here as students or teachers to better themselves and others.
Archie, Mary Me
I love Song Exploder, I love Alvvays, I love Archie, Marry Me. This episode has been in my queue for a while and I finally got around to listening.
Molly Rankin, in the episode:
It was one of my first attempts at really trying to execute writing something that I would listen to. Until then I was writing a lot of stuff I wouldn’t go out of my way to hear. I wanted it to be a classic pop song.
The lyrics remind me so much of my wife and our wedding. We had plans for a larger wedding but then COVID hit and we turned it into an outdoor family party. With the exception of my friends and faraway family not being able to attend, it turned out to be way more our speed.
“Forget the flower arrangements,” indeed.
An absolute crazy thing is that the only time I’ve seen Alvvays play was in the foyer at the Krannert Music Center in Urbana, IL at Pygmalion fest in 2016. After we paid to see Car Seat Headrest, Alvvays were just playing in the atrium for free where local jazz bands play on weeknights. It was unreal. Here was the band I loved just there. It was a really fun time.
From Bowie to Bowie
I’ve been on a Bowie kick recently (because check notes: Bowie is amazing). Some recent listens: Blackstar ★ (2016), The Next Day (2013), Scary Monsters (1980), “Heroes” (1977), and Ziggy Stardust (1972). It’s unbelievable that his last album (and death) was 9 years ago. From Lazarus:
Look up here, I’m in heaven. I’ve got scars that can’t be seen.
This song absolutely rips. Knowing he was dying when he wrote it rips through you. I remember hearing the album in the day it dropped and again two days later when the world learned he had passed away. It took on an entirely new meaning.
There’s been scuttle online about an asteroid hitting earth in 2032. Matt Webb’s post captures what I found entertaining about the overall sentiment. It reminds me of the great song Five Years whose drumbeat lives in my head rent-free.
Also, who could forget the greatest tribute to Bowie: “This is Bowie to Bowie, do you hear me loud and clear, man?”
When it seems like the world is in disarray, clutch onto art.
Watched and enjoyed His Three Daughters tonight on Netflix. Takeaway: don’t let small things ruin big relationships in your life and don’t leave things unsaid.
I joked that in the time that the Super Bowl would air we could watch Lawrence of Arabia instead. But it’s honestly been a very entertaining game so far.
Today is a monumental day. I hit the maximum amount of tabs in Safari on the iPhone. (It’s 500 in case you were wondering.)
I also discovered you can long on on a tab group to copy all URLs (to stash into Notes).
Cowboy Carter Wins
Catching up from the Grammys: congrats to Beyoncé for Cowboy Carter winning Album of the Year, which I called back in my Q1 2024 update.
I’ll be flabbergasted if it doesn’t win Album of the Year.
It’s the first time a black woman has won this award in 25 years which is insane. Her performance at the footyball game was sublime too.