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A much needed lazy weekend after a packed week. Clocks have moved back so darkness for the next few months in mornings and late afternoons. Did enjoy a fantastic meal at Ka Pao in Glasgow. Sharing menu is always a favourite…which 3 of us shared instead of 4. Oops.

Apple Upgrades

Upgraded to the iPhone 17 Pro and AirPods Pro 3 in September and that feels enough time to scribble some thoughts down. The iPhone’s move back to aluminium has meant a pop of colour finally in the Pro phones. I love the orange but it will scratch up more…but I always use a case so not a biggie. I don’t mind the camera plateau stretching across the whole phone, but looks more and more like a Pixel. The camera’s upgrades are actually noticeable especially the move from 12 to 48MP for the zoom lens. The x4 instead of x5 delivers a much better photo than the 16 Pro. I’ve compared a few taken from similar spots year and year and it’s a pretty big step. The other noticeable change is the lack of heat – the 16 Pro would feel hot from time to time and I’ve not noticed it once with the 17 Pro. Overall a positive upgrade but lets be honest, its all become pretty incremental.

Not so positive – eSIM’s. The transfer did not go well, ended up with no cellular data/phone/texts for three days as the transfer needed unpicked by EE. Even a visit to the shop didn’t resolve it…but I now have a working old fashioned SIM instead.

The Airpods Pro 3 were an insta purchase when Apple said the noise cancellation was improved. Actual results have been more mixed. The new Pro’s sound better but they fit in the ear differently and I still can’t settle on a proper fit. I either get slightly more outside noise or the tighter fit means they click with every step. The case is also slightly lighter, slightly bigger, feels cheaper and as the battery is less needs to be charged more.

Alongside the new hardware Apple launched iOS, macOS, iPadOS 26. For me this has been one of the worst of the yearly upgrades. Liquid Glass feels unfinished. So many readability issues, so many animation bugs and I hope that the .1’s when the come out address a lot of the problems. Worse is macOS. Liquid Glass is pretty ugly in a number of places but I’ve had so many software problems since upgrading. Safari – redraw issues, every page complaining about memory issues, needing frequent restarts. Spotlight – app searching fine, everything else broken. Can’t find a file, no clipboard history and I’ve tried many of the fixes but for whatever reason it’s broke. Finder – craps out from time to time connecting to a network share. Every thirds or fourth wake from sleep there’s no menu bars, no system menu’s. Need to sleep again or reboot. Couple all that with many graphical glitches, two hard crashes and once when the keyboard just wouldn’t work until a reboot…can’t wait for the first proper update to hopefully address these issues.

A positive is iPadOS. Proper windowing and quite a number of improvements finally mean the software is stepping up to the hardware. Swap out Files for Finder and it would be fantastic.

Always look to chuckle at Windows and BSOD’s and the ugly bugs they’d have throughout their operating systems. Not anymore, the quality of Apple software feels at an all time low especially when you throw in Apple Intelligence and Siri. A real shame as the hardware is streets ahead.

What I Read

• UK designates Apple and Google as having ‘strategic market status,’ opening door for more regulation – good. Bring on alternative AppStore’s and side loading.
• OpenAI acquires Software Applications Incorporated, maker of Sky – Amazed Apple never tried (maybe they did?) to acquire this but as OpenAI were already investors maybe it was out of reach.
• Govan is the secret economic engine of Glasgow. Do locals benefit? – great article showcasing investment around Glasgow but when you see some of the poverty in Govan its hard to say that the whole area is benefiting.
• Why the Shutter Button Matters So Much to Photographers – something a phone or software button will never recreate well. Camera control on the iPhone requires too much pressure to work effectively as a shutter so all it does is launch the Camera app.
• Roc Camera – interesting device, stepping away from computational photography and AI
• Xbox fully surrenders the console wars: ‘Halo is on PlayStation going forward,’ a fact that just doesn’t seem real – Microsoft have been bringing their AAA titles like Forza to PlayStation but announcing a remake of Halo for Xbox, Pc and PlayStation feels like the beginning of the end of Xbox as a console brand. Perhaps the next generation of consoles from Microsoft will also be the last.
• Loving Celebrity Traitors and also cracked through Slow Horses which is good as ever if a little safe/samey. Also (finally) got into Battlefield 6. Such a great return to form after 2042 was such a bust at the start of its life.

• Feeling a bit beat up after the last two weeks. Work busy and a little bit of ill health coupled with a lack of sleep has left me feeling bust. Also entering that time of year when I start and finish work in the dark so important to get out for some fresh air when I can. Also getting increasingly frustrated with the bugs on macOS Tahoe. I do hope 26.1 focusses on bugs only as this release feels more like an early beta.
• Indefinite Backpack Travel – I always struggle to travel light so it amazes me how much and yet so little is packed into this one bag.
• A cartoonist’s review of AI art – thought provoking post from cartoonist Matthew Inman on the threat and also disappointment of the growing use of AI for sketches/comics/graphics. Some is great, vast majority is slop.
• Agile is Out, Architecture is Back – AI has a lot to answer for but there is an over reliance on agile.
• The 20 bytes of code that fixed Antennagate – you’re holding it wrong! Love that 15 years on we’re still finding out new things about the iPhone 4.
• Synology Reverses Policy Banning Third-Party HDDs After NAS sales plummet – the right decision but too little too late for me at least. My custom NAS is doing well and I’ve no regrets on ditching Synology.
• How I Reversed Amazon’s Kindle Web Obfuscation Because Their App Sucked – when you buy a book, it’s yours. It will age, get damaged, you can share easily and sell it on again and pass on to charity shops. Why should you buy a book from Amazon that ties you to them forever. Ugly.
• A deep dive into the rss feed reader landscape – comes from Lighthouse which is a paid for cloud hosted feed reader but it’s an accurate summation of where the market is right now. Still view RSS as better way of keeping on top of things vs social media.
• Album Cards: Rebuilding the Joy of Music Discovery for My 10-Year-Old – ❤️ – this is so good. Want to do something similar over the winter months as a small project.
• The World Trade Center Under Construction Through Fascinating Photos, 1966-1979 – remarkable images of an iconic structure
• Space Harrier at 40 – scary that games I loved are now this old. I’ve played this in a normal static arcade cabinet and also a couple of times in a motion one – it felt like the future. So good.
• Blue Lights has been one of the best police dramas in years but episode 1 of season 3 felt a bit flat. How foolish was I – devoured the other 5 over a weekend on iPlayer and it was tremendous. Highly recommended.
• Peacemaker season 2 kept up standard from the first season. Loved it…and it might be the last?
• Celebrity Traitors has been an autumn gift. Only 4 episodes in but probably the best series so far. Alan Carr – who knew!

• A week off work was much needed. Time to recharge although sleep was awful until Friday night – grrrr. Made terrific progress with the custom NAS – now got all the basic docker images installed, Plex humming along nicely and all the data from the Synology is migrated. Thats a blog post I need to write – what hardware, why Unraid, how I’ve found it a few weeks in compared to Synology.
• Storm Amy felt was a rude awakening that we’re well into autumn. Got most of the garden winter ready…fingers crossed that I don’t need to cut the grass again but will really depend on a cooler October.
• Why I gave the world wide web away for free – Tim Berners-Lee is made different to today’s tech leaders.
• Sora 2 is here – some of the videos I’ve seen Sora 2 generate are amazing…but it’s more slop. I’ve not bothered downloading OpenAI’s social media app that’s full of the videos being generated but seeing them seep elsewhere.
• Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? – Amazon really is stuffed full of shit sellers so you need to be more aware than ever when ordering…but they also have made it really easy to tower and return anything with problems. While not always the cheapest they were for 90% of the components needed for my NAS build.
• DHH Is Way Worse Than I Thought – there’s been many tech leaders who’s actions have been suspicious over the years but have kept their real views hidden…except they aren’t hiding anymore. Grim.
• Complying With ‘Demand’ From Trump Administration, Apple Removes ICEBlock From App Store – compare this to when Apple stood up to the FBI – we’re in a different world now.
• In Praise of RSS and Controlled Feeds of Information – another shout out for RSS from actual blogs rather than sifting through feeds of shit forced on you via X, Bluesky, LinkedIn or one of the Meta platforms. Mastodon while not perfect is so much better than any alternative right now.
• Always invite Anna – this really hit home. I’m not the most sociable but also recognise how it feels not to be invited. Beautiful post.
• Microsoft revamps Xbox Game Pass plans and hikes Ultimate to $29.99 a month – everyone expected price rises were coming but this is excessive. I guess the loss of COD money had to be made up somewhere. I’ve got another 9 months of Ultimate paid for, but will drop down after that and go back to buying the odd AAA game I want to play. Not sure what’s next for gaming at Microsoft – rumours they might not do any more hardware and it feels like they’ve set fire to Game Pass.
• Jumped on to macOS Tahoe this week – should have left it until a .1 comes out. Buggy and crashy.
• And one game I really am looking forward to that comes out this week is Battlefield. Loved the demo and the sneak peaks into what’s coming in multiplayer and some of the single player game looks really good. Are they back?

• Lingering manflu has hung around all week. Still convinced it was covid as I felt so lousy last weekend…similar to last years covid. The test was negative although maybe post a couple of confirmed covid bouts I’m handling infections differently now. I could well do with the irritating cough cough to piss off.
• The death of Charlie Kirk was tragic. I’d seen the close up video on social media ahead of his death being confirmed, but it was pretty obvious from the video he wouldn’t survive. Kirk was someone who I knew little about, mostly because the little I did know was repulsive. His rhetoric was right wing, racist and anti feminist. I’m alarmed at the amount of people posting video’s after his death and saying things like “I didn’t agree with everything Charlie said”…swap Charlie for Adolf and would they be saying the same? Maybe they would given the rise of Reform and the flag shaggers in the UK. Kirk said in 2023 “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”. There were over 46000 gun deaths in 2023 in America. Life comes at you fast. Whats clear though is that there are parts of society that see political violence against the left as fair game but when it’s one of their own it’s a different matter. Difficult path ahead.
• It was iPhone event week and once the dust had settled, I see that as one of the better year on year upgrade events for a long time. AirPods Pro 3 looks to be a meaningful upgrade on the current generation. The base iPhone 17 got a great set of updates that probably saw the biggest year on year change. The iPhone Air – a brand new phone (replaces the Plus) – looked so good but one camera and sticky battery life won’t tempt me off the Pro. This years Pro’s saw solid upgrades to the camera, improved cooling thanks to the shift back to a unibody aluminium and a vapour chamber and – finally – some actual colours probably thanks to aluminium again. So this coming Friday I should have a Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro and a new set of AirPods. The orange looks great although once lots of people have had it for a while will it look dated?
• Finally got the custom NAS up and running and data transferring from the Synology. Lots of faffing about with motherboard patches and bios losing settings that held me back but looking forward to wrestling with Unraid and getting the services I want up and running.
• Back in the 90’s there was a clear leader when it came to soundacrds – Creative. The Story of Creative Technology is a great trip down memory lane and was timely given my motherboard faffing this week.
• Five for 50 – Some timely advice from Anil Dash who has had fingers in many internet pies over the years.
• Techmeme is 20 – still one of my daily drivers, owner Gabe Rivera explains why this new aggregator is still thriving after all this time.
• The story of how RSS beat Microsoft – of course RSS was going to win.
• How Britain built some of the worlds safest roads – a lovely data rich post on why Britains road are so much safer than in many other countries.

• Feeling miserable thanks to a cough/cold/flu. Running since Wednesday I’ve suffered a snot explosion over the weekend with aches and pains all over. WFH for next couple of days I suspect to get through the worst.

• Apple event next week. Most hardware seems leaked already unlike the Jobs era when there were always surprises. What I’d want more of from Apple is to make better use of the health data it captures. The vitals above show my last few days with some obvious outliers thanks to the bug I’ve picked up. Why isn’t there any action from that change – ask how I am, is there something wrong, then act on my responses with guidance. Feed in my health changes to ChatGPT and I get a ton of advice and links out to NHS. Apple need to pick up the pace and stop kissing Trumps backside.
• Labours in a bit of a mess. Should Raynor have gone? Yes, she can;t be housing minister and screw up on tax and Labour have set the bar higher now for ministers. It’s clear though she’s been hounded and targeted by opposition MP’s and the press – is it due to her combative nature? Her background? Either way when you compare Raynor to what Boris Johnson did – unlawfully prorogued parliament when in Government, prosecuted and fined for holding illegal parties in Downing Street, ignored bullying across government, backed friends ground guilty of breaches on paid lobbying, lied to the Queen, placed lovers into paid jobs…and lets not talk Covid. As for Reform – I hope they will come unstuck but the pools are worrying.
• Reclaim our flag – seeing saltires flying around Glasgow recently it reminded me of 2014 and the Indy vote – but there’s a fight in Scotland at least to claim the saltire. As ever, shady right wing facists are at the heart of this.
• How Apple AirPods Work – Great video on some amazing tech. If AirPods Pro 3 come out this week it will be an insta-purchase. Best Apple product in years.
• M365 Copilot fails to up productivity – I’m not surprised by these findings. For the cost per user per month you need to be using Copliot often and worth good results to make it worthwhile.
• Alien: Earth continues to impress. Episode 5 this week was up there with some of the best bits from the movies.

• Back to work last week and as ever a holiday leads to a massive backlog of mails and tasks and one from which I never really catch back up on during the first week.
• For the last few years I’ve set myself a yearly walking target of 2000km. Usually I hit that in late October/November so with time to spare. This year I passed 2000km on August 27th, so if I keep that rate up it will be 3000km. However weather and darker nights will trim the distances down but good to get it ticked of so early.
• Tremendous news that Norway has down selected the T26 frigate and agreed that the UK will supply five frigates to Norway. Gives a massive secure pipeline for shipbuilding on the Clyde well into the 2030’s.
• New iPhones are only a couple of weeks away – I really like the look of the new Google Pixels, not enough to leave the locked in world of Apple…but what I really hated was the Jimmy Fallon Made by Google event. Awkward.
• iPhone event also means iOS26, macOS 26 etc being released in the next 2 weeks. I’ve stayed away from the beta’s but seeing some of the icons here I don’t much look forward to Tahoe.
• The Death of Agile: Why Tech Giants Are Abandoning Scrum and What They Use Instead – Interesting read…I do think too many are wedded to agile even when it doesn’t deliver…like a cult.
• Who do Britons think are overpaid and underpaid? – some wild stats here. Would be good to see median salaries for these roles.
• They Used to Be Good, But Now They’ve Turned to Evil: The Synology End Game – it’s why I built my own NAS. Update on that – it’s alive, Unraid is nice, copying data is not. In Synology’s favour, the devices consume fairly low amounts of power and mine is 10 years old and still going strong. I doubt I will be able to say the same about my self built NAS.
• The Last Tokens – brings back memories of The Big Apple in Sauchiehall Street in the late 80/early 90’s.
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a disgrace on Switch 2 – is this due to the Switch 2 being underpowered, the lack of developers getting Seitch 2 dev kits or greedy dev’s? Whatever the reason, pick this up on Steam or another console.
• Enjoyed F1 the movie probably more than I should have as there was a high amount of cringe. Mission Impossible Final Reckoning was underwhelming. Too long, too much angst. Alien Earth is mega and it’s great having Peacemaker back.

• Thankfully got the upcoming week off…in fact this was day 1! Lots to do but it’s nice to focus elsewhere fora change. Today was all about the NAS build. Mostly there as all cabling done although it ain’t tidy…yet. Will finish tomorrow morning and hopefully it boots first time. Then it’s onto Unraid, config and the start of the migration from the Synology.
• I’ve fell into a bad habit of capturing lots of tasks in Todoist…and then promptly ignoring the app every day and wondering why I’m missing actions. Partly overload of work, partly an increased amount of procrastination. This post on falling back to a simple text file for actions made me wonder if the app/tool was at fault and not me. So there I was, looking at a variety of new tools…but it’s just more procrastination. More excuses. What I need to do is get back to basics with Todoist and get on top of the simple day to day tasks. Maybe Reminders on iOS 26 is the answer…….STOPIT!
• Alongside the NAS this week I hope to get a 3D printer setup that I was gifted – thanks Shak! So I now have a Bambu Lab A1 with lots of accessories. Got a few ideas of how I want to set it up and already have a small list of prints to experiment with.
• National Drought Group meets to address “nationally significant” water shortfall – weather in the UK has been hot and dry this year and water shortages are a real thing. The article was full of the challenges facing the UK, steps that have been taken and finished with some good advice…until this last point “Delete old emails and pictures as data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems“. Really? Maybe stop using so much bullshit AI would have been better advice UK Gov.
• Can’t pay, won’t pay: impoverished streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy – there’s too much on each platform, consolidation needs to happen, prices have went up above inflation and the big cable providers will want to build there bundles back again. Anyway, back to my new NAS. Hmmm.
• How I accidentally became PureGym’s unofficial Apple Wallet developer – this is genius. You do wonder why PureGym haven’t done this already or employed this guy.
• Loved the latest episode of The Talk Show with Louie Mantia. It’s over three hours but it flew by. Lots of talk on Liquid Glass and Alan Dye but it was the history of Apple that Gruber and Mantia brought to the conversation that was the most enjoyable. I’m also in the minority that sticks to light mode, hate’s the icons changing when going to dark mode and find light text on dark backgrounds so hard to read…which is why RSS wins given both Mantia and Gruber’s state are hard on my aging eyeballs.
• Liquid Glass. Why? – I kind of like it on iOS and iPadOS but it’s a mess everywhere else. Time will tell if it’s all been for a new bit of unreleased hardware.
• Battlefield 6 beta has closed and…I loved it. Will be buying this when it comes out in October -a real return to form.
• Superman was a joy. Straight in, no massive setup and it had heart. Looking forward to Season 2 of Peacemaker later in the week.
• Alien: Earth – first two episodes were cracking. Felt like a mini Alien film but with more tech/business sci-fi