A lot of Ujico's albums as Snail House are more chill/downtempo, but I love the Alien Pop series. Really creative producer. Here's his Bandcamp for those new to him: https://0101.bandcamp.com
I don't think he's a permanent member of any circle but he also does some clubbier tracks on doujin releases: I've heard him on compilations from Wavforme, Unitone, and Riparia Records.
Often times when duckduckgoing (is that the right term for that) advice for products, I use the !ddgr key to directly search reddit for advice. But in a post-blackout world, I need to do this a lot less. So I want to know what the best places are to get reviews and advice for products that are human and not top 10 listicals.
I only had occasional luck with this even on Reddit. Some smaller subs for hobby stuff had genuinely good advice, but a lot of times it'd just be people repeating the same brands and products with a shallow recommendation. And there was a lot of astroturfing. Over the years I've learned to ask elsewhere:
For major appliances, the best approach I've found is to find a local business – a well reputed one that's been around for years, and does service as well as sales – and simply ask the salespeople what they recommend. If the shop's willing to warranty it, it's probably good enough.
For gadgets I tend to start looking at recognizable review sites that are easy to skim (RTINGS is especially useful, but Ars, The Verge etc. all have decent reviews) and then expand out to YouTube for the products I'm most interested in. Sometimes it's a good idea to look up the company itself for anything that might change your mind about them (Western Digital's unlabeled change to SMR drives is a recent example).
Shoes and clothes are the hardest thing to get good advice on. The most useful advice I've received has been very general stuff about what to look for in fit and quality. I've also found that high ethical standards from a clothing company tends to go hand in hand with quality and longevity.
Cars are an area where Reddit was still helpful. YouTube can be helpful here, but not so much typical car review channels: the most helpful YouTube videos are often from people who've owned a particular model for a year or so and can speak with experience about its quirks.
Finally, and most of all, I've learned to check the instinct to look up reviews. It's worth spending some time to research stuff between you and the ground, or that you'll use daily, but I've wasted too many hours comparing details that really don't matter. Make sure it's something you legitimately care about before you reach for other people's opinions.
I knew about Wi-Fi and cell towers being used to improve location data, but this is nifty too:
Ultra can cache orbit predictions for up to a week. That means you can go offline and still get an immediate location fix because you don't need to wait for your watch to decode that information; it's already there.
I used to carry an independent GPS device while hiking, but mostly stopped because my phone gives much better data with fewer anomalies. I still sometimes carry it on trips so I can match the GPX data to photos with Houdah Geo.
On that note: I kinda wish I could export GPX recordings from Health/Fitness. It feels redundant that I have a "hiking" workout and a Gaia recording running at the same time. Gaia's able to export tracks as a workout, but of course there's no heart rate data etc. in Fitness if I do it that way.
The Verge article is paywalled for me, but the screencaps Alex shared in his toot don't really support his summary. The article mentions that Threads can import content from Mastodon as an example of the sorts of things ActivityPub supports, and that's about as close as it gets.
And then there's this:
The company is planning to create a roundtable for administrators of other servers and developers to share best practices and work through problems that will inevitably arise, like Meta's server traffic putting strain on other, smaller servers.
Emphasis mine. How would Meta's server put strain on other, smaller servers if it's not federating with them?
I'm fully willing to believe Meta wants to EEE ActivityPub, but this particular claim doesn't seem to check out.
"Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7," the company says when describing Kernel and WebKit vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2023-32434 and CVE-2023-32435.
Just bought my first mechanical keyboard, an Epomaker RT100 with Flamingo switches. Is it normal to be accidentally pressing keys (mostly shift and spacebar) while just resting my fingers on the keyboard? Is it because I've only used membrane keyboards up until now, and I'll eventually get used to the new sensitivity? Or should...
Or should I swap the switches out for something heavier/clickier?
Definitely. You made a good choice getting a hot-swappable keyboard. That makes it easy to experiment with different switches until you find one that's comfortable.
You might find that changes over time too, or even that you have different preferences for different keys or contexts, so it's worth keeping the old switches around.
But don't try to convince your fingers that they need to be retrained to type more lightly. The reason there are so many different kinds of switches is that different weights and haptics feel better for different people.
It's really just about the sound. Jon Porter's Verge review is one of the ones I read. He calls them "competent", but:
Fairbuds XL don't offer a particularly detailed sound… Listen to a layered track like Paranoid Void's "Null," and the Fairbuds XL make it harder to hear the separation between guitar and bass. It's the same with Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight," where all the string instruments feel less distinct.
LTT (video) didn't like the emphasis on bass, especially at the expense of the mids, and the measurements at 11:05 seem to back that up.
My own taste is somewhat the opposite of this profile. Sometimes I want bass, but I often find it overwhelming and every Bluetooth headphone I've tried is a little too warm for me out of the box. I'm losing some hearing in the upper mids, so having them drawn back like this isn't good for me.
A lot of nuance and empathy in this piece, it's worth a close read.
As women, we didn't feel we should have to defend ourselves against such a ridiculous statement, we shouldn't need an uncomfortable public confrontation; but why did none of the men say anything? This is where it got interesting. They felt they didn't want to speak on our behalf, didn't want to be perceived as jumping in and taking our voices. We were surprised, we felt they didn't have our backs and didn't see it as an issue. They felt confused as to how to act.
I've had similar experiences on both ends of that. Confrontation is wearying so usually I just do an internal eye-roll and move on. But at other times I've felt something ought to be said, but thought I lacked the expertise or lived experience to make a convincing case.
Starting with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma, users with an Apple ID will automatically be assigned a passkey, allowing them to sign into their Apple ID with Face ID or Touch ID instead of their password.
Unfortunately on iOS, the backup to Face-ID for the iPhone's Keychain or PassKeys is the iPhone's passcode. So anyone that has access to your phone and knows the passcode, can use the phone's passcode to log-in to iCloud or Apple ID with this feature.
Multigreg writes, I set a screen time restriction with the passcode, without the option to remove it using the Apple ID. I tapped cancel and hit skip. When I try the forgot passcode link, it still guides me through the options to enter my Apple ID or device password or find a forgotten Apple ID…
So the mitigation that we said last time, that specific one about the screen time password, if you did that on your phone, just remove it because it's not actually helping. I mean, I don't know if you want to remove it because it will slow them down. It will slow down the thief a little bit because now they have to go through the forgot password flow, which is kind of annoying. And you know, so it's a speed bump, a tiny speed bump, but that's about it.
AFAIK the best advice we can give people is to set a strong device passcode and never use it in a public space. Always use FaceID, and have "Require Attention" toggled on.
Maybe this is just a contrarian view, but I see "AI" as a potential rather than a technology. Right now, transformer-based technologies are what most of us mean when we talk about AI, and it's not clear to me how much more potential that idea really has. When I look at how much energy it takes to set up something like GPT-4 I see us pushing hardware to its limit and yet the outcomes are still too often unsatisfying. Significant breakthroughs are needed somewhere in that architecture just to do the kind of things we're trying to do today at the fidelity we expect and without breaking the bank.
The technology we have today might be to AI what the phonograph was to audio recording. As a technology we hit the limits of its potential pretty quickly and then… we fixated. Entirely different technologies eventually led to the lossless spatial audio experiences we can enjoy today, and seem more likely to carry future potential for audio too.
In that analogy, GPT might just be like someone arranging 8 gramophones in a circle to mimic the kind of spatial audio experience available in some headphones now. Impressive in many ways, but directionally not the path where potential lies.
I've seen a few sites welcome the news with glee, as though Reddit's leadership is going to be strongly affected. That's childish and myopic. This is bad news for everyone.
Whether or not Reddit pays, we should assume the data will make its way into the hands of people who (further) weaponize it against Reddit's users, e.g. people who've posted risque photos of themselves or shared compromising details through throwaway accounts can be doxxed or matched to their normal accounts via their IP or other common details. PMs and other private account details might contain mailing addresses and other private or compromising information, too. (Edit: as Phoeniqz points out in replies, the article author assumes this is not the case based on Reddit's and BlackCat's statements about the leak.)
If Reddit knew about the breach earlier and didn't do their due diligence to alert users, then that's further condemnation of their leadership and priorities, but it doesn't undo the damage this might cause users.
If Reddit were to pay BlackCat, then it would further enrich, reward, and encourage them. If, as is more likely, it doesn't, then the blowback it receives (especially from any high profile consequences of the leak) might encourage other companies to pay up in future.
Based on our investigation so far, Reddit user passwords and accounts are safe…
Now, look again at what BlackCat has promised in this leak:
Instead, BlackCat is teasing such revelations as "all the statistics they track about their users," and data concerning how Reddit "silently censors users."
80 GB of "statistics and data" about Reddit's users is a lot. It may not contain raw IP addresses, but we know that IP matching is one of the ways Reddit catches sock puppets, so there may at least be a hash that could be used to identify accounts held by the same users.
Am I going too far worrying about PMs and other details? Maybe. It really depends on the honesty and competence of BlackCat and Reddit, and the article author's assumptions based on their statements.
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger today published an interesting and expansive interview with Apple VPs Kevin Lynch and Deidre Caldbeck, discussing all...
Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I just did the same hunt, and came to the same conclusion.
I ended up getting the PBTfans Dolch set from Divinikey which comes with a decent number of relegendable caps: I figured that way if I missed them I could make my own media keys. But I'm getting along fine without them – I've been on the Mac long enough that I'm pretty well drilled on the ones I use.
Very happy both with the caps and with Divinikeys' service. I ordered a couple of other things from them – some new switches and a better switch puller – and both orders went smoothly.
Although plant milks have been consumed for centuries in various cultures, their popularity has skyrocketed over the past decade. People choose plant milk over dairy milk for a variety of reasons.
I hope I didn't mislead you here, but I've never actually tried making it myself! We always buy it from a shop. This is the one we usually get, but I think that particular brand is only available in America.
That's pretty interesting, though – do you usually make your own plant-based milks? Is that your preference or is it hard to find them in shops where you live?
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense and some of it resonates with me too – the Tetra Pak problem especially. We don't go through nearly as much milk but it still bothers me that recycling is such a dubious prospect for those cartons.
Gurman: Apple to add hearing tests, other health features to AirPods (www.bloomberg.com)
"Likely several months or even years away," after the shift to USB-C:...
Snail's House - インベーダー☆ (INVADER☆) (youtu.be)
Best places to get human reviews/recommendations outside of reddit?
Often times when duckduckgoing (is that the right term for that) advice for products, I use the !ddgr key to directly search reddit for advice. But in a post-blackout world, I need to do this a lot less. So I want to know what the best places are to get reviews and advice for products that are human and not top 10 listicals.
What training with the Apple Watch Ultra taught me about multiband GPS and failure (www.theverge.com)
Turns out, running is a mental sport.
Meta's upcoming AcitivityPub-enabled app Threads will only come with an "import from Mastodon" option. The new network won't federate on day one. (mastodon.social)
Full report is on The Verge.
Desert Island Discs: Book edition.
Stranded on an Island. By random chance you've got your three favourite books with you....
Today's iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS updates address zero-day vulnerabilities (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
"Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7," the company says when describing Kernel and WebKit vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2023-32434 and CVE-2023-32435.
Accidental keypresses on my first mechanical keyboard
Just bought my first mechanical keyboard, an Epomaker RT100 with Flamingo switches. Is it normal to be accidentally pressing keys (mostly shift and spacebar) while just resting my fingers on the keyboard? Is it because I've only used membrane keyboards up until now, and I'll eventually get used to the new sensitivity? Or should...
The best wireless headphones for 2023 | Engadget (www.engadget.com)
Here's a list of the best wireless headphones you can buy right now, as reviewed by Engadget editors..
Men need to speak up against toxicity targeting women – and on their own behalf | Opinion (www.gamesindustry.biz)
In the wake of GDC earlier this year, several reports emerged on social media and in various games publications detaili…
iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma Add Passkey to Your Apple ID (www.macrumors.com)
Starting with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma, users with an Apple ID will automatically be assigned a passkey, allowing them to sign into their Apple ID with Face ID or Touch ID instead of their password.
How do I find keycaps with the same side print on them?
Supported Devices for Apple's 2023 Operating Systems (tidbits.com)
Covers macOS 14 Sonoma, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17, including feature-specific requirements.
Which current technology has the most potential?
Which will explode in the near future in your opinion and why?
Apple vs. Apples: A Truly Weird Trademark Battle (www.wired.co.uk)
Apple, the company, wants rights to the image of apples, the fruit, in Switzerland – one of dozens of countries where it's flexing its legal muscles.
What do you think of the reddit hack that supposedly happened? (www.forbes.com)
Apple execs discuss third-party watch faces and watchOS 10 design decisions in new interview (9to5mac.com)
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger today published an interesting and expansive interview with Apple VPs Kevin Lynch and Deidre Caldbeck, discussing all...
I like it.
Recommended sites to buy keycaps? (shipping to USA)
Ordered a Keychron K2 which should be arriving next week, but I wasn't really feeling any of the keycap selections on their website...
The 10 best plant-based milks (proveg.com)
Although plant milks have been consumed for centuries in various cultures, their popularity has skyrocketed over the past decade. People choose plant milk over dairy milk for a variety of reasons.