Excursions

Safari is a browser, wish the updates to such an important app wasn’t tied to OS upgrades. I do not want my whole OS to be upgrade — just give me the new improvements in browser.

Most companies hate monolithic updates, with Apple it’s the other way round.

Best update in iOS 12? Post upgrade it asked for iCloud password 0 times. That is many ones less than what the experience was earlier. Folks at Apple were listening after all, may be they just weren’t making noise. A great improvement.

Incredibles 2 was underwhelming. Action (which was sleek, no doubt) won over balanced narration. Very similar to other animated movies (Despicable Me, Megamind) — unlike one from Pixar.

Log message: downloading beta profile. See you on the other side.

Just performed a Windows 10 reset - because it was getting bogged down by the loaded crap. Reset description read it will remove the crap and only keep bare minimum.

Now all the apps that were actually used are removed and the system is loaded back with default crap 🤦🏽‍♂️

I am still not sure how Apple continues to justify minor Siri improvements on yearly iOS upgrade schedule. Siri needs to be always improving, continuously learning. It might already be, but rarely visible.

I run Google Analytics today on my site. I really need not run any Analytics on my site.

I think I will remove all the Analytics from my site. I rarely check what they analyse anyway.

Been so long I have been away from writing anything. I think that sort of phase when consumption gains mind share. And then one drifts into a slack blob chomping mindlessly on anything that comes your way. I hate these phases.

Browsers continue to make mockery of the web standards. Just look at the behaviour of autocomplete on input fields in different browsers. No consistency at all.

Come’on SRH, no less than 160 to defend. Make #IPL2018Final worth the 4 hours.

I hate the continuous scrolling paradigm adopted by many websites (Quartz, Venture Beat) today to move you to next articles. That’s a sleezy little hack to gain more reads/clicks — and so more ad impressions.

So much potential in world is wasted on plotting best ads placement.

Planning a family vacation is not easy. So many parameters to think of.

The seduction of access to privileged (non-public) data is irresistible. Prioritizing data because it’s exclusive is the pitfall that all analysts must resist.

Horace Dediu has a very valuable advice for his fellow analysts.

Google gets even more interested in podcasts now. Currently, they look primarily focused on improving the podcast discovery plus streaming experience.

However, I feel soon that will shift to recording and publishing podcasts too. YouTube Audio. With Google Audio ads.

When @bradyharan first referenced his new podcast, about all the podcasts that aren’t made, on one of the episodes of Hello Internet, I wasn’t sure the premise would be fun. But man, The Unmade Podcast is a must listen — go subscribe now, it’s full of fun ideas.

I keep hearing that there are parts of the world where using Facebook is a necessity. I wonder what are these places? And what’s the reason? I am not being snarky here, I am genuinely curious. Are there any real anecdotes?

Amongst the mountains, facing the green valleys. A calmness eventually sweeps in.

I am surprised there exists another social network that I did not hear about earlier (it’s launched in 2016) - hello network. And given that it has existed before the kerfuffle around Facebook, there is no reference to privacy of data. Difficult to sell in today’s world.

I’m surprised that cause and medications for an ailment as simple as headache is still not known. Reason? Well, there are multiple types of headaches with varying symptoms and ongoing research 🤕

And of course the one I typically get (Cluster) is still an solved mystery.

The more I think and hear from the voices (a lot smarter than I) talk about the rumoured Apple’s transition to its in-house chips for Macs, I realise this is going to be way tricker than I initially thought. There are too many variables I failed to think about initially.

The latest ATP episode covers few of them really well. I had to put down my thoughts to appreciate how big a deal this is.

1. Transitioning the developers for the Mac is not going to be easy as-is. The lack of earnings from the macOS platform is already a cause of concern for the developers and Apple. Supporting a new chip architecture would be an overhead, irrespective of how easy Apple makes it.
2. Macs are used for developing the software targeted at beyond the Apple platforms. A different chip design just adds another variable to the test-support cycle.
3. It’s easier to say Apple will only move the non-pro macs to in-house chips (most probably based on ARM architecture) than to make an OS, already loaded with bugs, to simultaneously support two chip architectures.
4. In a scenario (worst case) of Apple failing to keep up with competitors on performance, will they be ready for another transition? Or are they in this for a long haul, irrespective of what the competition delivers?
5. There is a possibility of the chip design team running low on bandwidth if they are to support two platforms. This can, of course, mean that there won’t be deserved attention to the iOS platform — the money-earner, hence the more important platform for Apple. Eventually, Mac will get ignored (again!). Another possibility, of course, is Apple just doesn’t see two platforms existing simultaneously in its future. And hence the next point.
6. I do not think it is just a coincidence that this rumour is going hand in hand with another rumour around Project Marzipan. I believe there is some close relationship between the two - either as a strategy or as an enabler.

Whatever the truth behind the rumours be, upcoming WWDC promises to be an exciting event. Even if they do not chalk out the whole strategy, would be interesting if we do see any early signs.

As I look at the hundreds of links bookmarked over the years of browsing, I am stunned how can this be useful to anyone. It’s a mess - broken links, links relevant only for that time, useless user guides, pointless references. There’s hardly anything useful in here.

I simply love the podcast The Truth. Every episode has a unique fiction to narrate, with an intriguing presentation.

Short audio fiction is difficult to nail, these guys do so every time. Recommended.

I am almost on the verge of deleting the YouTube app from my phone. The algorithmic overloads have wasted hours of my last few days by keeping the recommended feed fresh with things that would interest me.

And I hate the fact that I fell for it every time.

Every now and then, it’s better to let the mind go completely blank. Many a times it is forced by overload of the incomplete tasks.

In middle of one such phase. Just so many things around to tackle, better to just coast along — let things happen as they do.

Another day, another update on Facebook’s grey terms around their product usage. Now it’s Messenger, the trainwreck continues.

I won’t be surprised if one of these days we hear they have been actively listening over the phones’s mic. A stretch I know, but what isn’t these days.