- The Smart Case is forgettable at best, but itâs mostly just bad. It has a misaligned notch for the charging cable, it offers zero protection for the mesh canopy, and itâs boring. It pales in comparison to the Wireless Charging Case used by the other AirPods.
- This isnât necessarily a problem with the headphones, but Siri is still lacking. I use it frequently because itâs an easy way to do many things. However, itâs clear thereâs still so much potential thatâs not being realized. Instead of a personal assistant hugging my ears, I have a somewhat competent robot on my head.
- The incredible Spatial Audio feature isnât currently available on the Apple TV. This may be more of a limitation with the Apple TV boxâit is an older piece of hardware. Having Spatial Audio available to me would make for a great experience that would set it far apart from the competition. This is a massive oversight that Apple needs to fix as soon as possible.
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In this case, Iâm assuming this theoretical person doesnât sleep on a bed of cash. ↩︎
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Rest assured, Amazon would not be providing their books to libraries for free. ↩︎
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Except he said it in French with a cool French accent. ↩︎
- Did you open the message?
- How many times did you open it?
- What links did you click or tap on in the email?
- What device were you using when you viewed it?
- Where were you when you opened the email?
I came away from watching Zack Snyder’s Justice League feeling impressed. It was quite the feat to get this one made the way it was.
Now, after reading about Snyder’s vision for sequels, I’d love to see them finish this grand story. There’s no reason not to do them. đ„
Title Card: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
The Man Who Knew Too Much was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1934 by the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation.
The film stars Leslie Banks and Edna Best as the parents of a young girl, played by Nova Pilbeam. The couple become wrapped up in a plot to assassinate a European head of state when a militant group, led by Peter Lorre, kidnaps their daughter.
This title card was immediately striking, and it ended up being the reason why I thought it would be fun to start a series about them. In this one, there are at least six, and most likely more, different typefaces being used throughout, but it never appears distracting. It’s packed with information, but none of what’s written distracts the eye away from the title of the film. “The Man Who Knew Too Much” is written in a unique, stylized typeface and slashes across the screen in an aggressive curve. The rest of the text is shown in plain, unassuming serifs (save for the bit about how it was recorded at the bottom). It’s impossible not to focus on the titleâit grabs at you.
(Be sure to contrast this title card with the one used in the 1956 remake of this film, also by Alfred Hitchcock.)
Also worth watching is the fascinating video from The Criterion Collection about this film’s restoration. Technical director, Lee Kline, narrates the story about their long journey to create a version that looks as if it was just made yesterday. đ
If there was one thing I could change about my body, Iâd forever remove my ability to grow facial hair. At best, I look like a greasy teenage boy, but mostly itâs completely useless. My razor constantly mocks me by demanding a real challenge.
I’ve always been interested in sound design. Sound is utterly important; it’s half a film or the entirety of a song. I have an innate interest in cinematography, but sound design artists always seemed to have the coolest job. It’s a delight to see them at work.
I spent a good portion of yesterday taking apart my old desk and putting together a new one. I’d be okay with the soreness I’m feeling in my lower back if this wasn’t all still a work in progress. On the other hand, it’s very nice to have a new workspace.
AirPods Max Are My Best Audio Buddies
i.
Itâs been a little over two months since I received my AirPods Max, and Iâve used them every single day since getting them. I love them very much, especially so since I used an Apple gift card with a very generous amount placed on it to purchase them.
I wonât bury the lede: do I think you should get AirPods Max for yourself? Probably not. I got extremely lucky with my gift, and I chose to spend that money on something that I thought I would appreciate. Turns out theyâre lovely, and Iâm grateful for them.
As far as headphones go, theyâre both expensive and not expensive at all. Compared to other noise-cancelling headphones in its quality range, e.g., the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, theyâre overpriced. Heck, even compared to other Apple audio products theyâre overpriced. Stack them up next to something like the Audeze LCD-4 headphones, however, and youâll see what a bargain they can be.
If someone was looking to purchase a great pair of headphones, Iâd probably point them in the direction of the ones from Sony.1 Those offer similar functionality and sound for a couple of hundred dollars less than the AirPods Max. To be frank, thatâs the better deal.
However, Iâve been enjoying Appleâs offering and think they fit mostly well in Appleâs audio lineup.
ii. The sound of AirPods Max
Ubiquitous âIâm not an audiophileâ warning.
Appleâs doing a lot of computational work to make these headphones sound balanced and present. Compared to their Beats line of products, these headphones offer sound that doesnât assault your ears with heavy bass. Instead, Iâm hearing bright high notes, a midrange that makes vocals sound like the person singing is right in front of me, and bass that thumps the inside of my head without making my brain feel like itâs being squished.
Apologies for the use of florid descriptions of the way these sound. At least I didnât use âsparklyâ or âchunkyâ or âtinny.â
Everything feels accurate to my ear. Iâm confident that what Iâm hearing is, for the most part, what I should be hearing. Itâs all just there. What Iâm hearing lives inside my head, directly center stage.
Thatâs because itâs not just some magnets moving the air between the headphones and my ears, as many headphones are. Thereâs a computer chip inside each ear cup that processes, tunes, and adjusts whatâs being beamed to them from my phone or other devices. The sound it plays is being styled, but not to alter what was created by the artist. Instead, itâs to enhance the experience for the listener.
The noise cancellation is also the best Iâve ever experienced. Itâs not on par with Appleâs previous best, the AirPods Pro, because theyâre better. Instead of being shoved inside your ear canal it envelops your ear with a soft cushion. I donât experience any of the pressure that some people can feel when they wear noise-cancelling headphones, and I donât think thatâs an accident. Appleâs figured out how to make a pleasant cancellation experience as invisible as possible.
Likewise, their Transparency Mode, which relies on that same magic, is breathtaking to consider. The headphones arenât just turning off noise cancellationâyouâd then only hear muffled sounds from around you. Instead, theyâre using the many microphones in the headphones to âplayâ outside sounds to you, just as it plays music. Every time I switch over to this mode, by pushing the noise control button, I marvel at how it seems like Iâm not actually wearing headphones.
These sound so good that I donât think Iâll ever consider another pair of headphones.
iii. The feel of AirPods Max
There was a big fuss about the feel of these headphones when they came out. Itâs safe to say that everyoneâs concerns are, on the whole, not a problem in the slightest. These are the most comfortable headphones Iâve ever owned, and I look forward to putting them on each day.
The only thing anyone should be concerned about is the fabric mesh on the headband. This âcanopy,â as Apple calls it, will forever feel vulnerable to the world. I fear the day when I accidentally snag it on something and it screws up the fit and feel of the headphones. This is reason enough to invest in AppleCare+ for them.
Otherwise, theyâre outstanding. I can wear them all day without feeling like theyâre squishing my headâa common problem with other headphones Iâve owned. The ear cushions feel like pleasant pillows. The telescoping arms extend to the perfect length for my (large-ish) head. Everything comes together to equal comfort.
Iâve not once felt like these are too heavy. They feel perfect in their weight and distribution. Many people complained about their feel and how much they moved around on the head. I donât know where thatâs coming from. I have a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50X headphones that I use when recording podcasts. Since getting the Max, I dread having to wear these. They do feel lighter than headphones made primarily of metal, but they also feel like cheap pieces of crap in comparison. They flop around, squeeze my head, and struggle to achieve a decent seal around my ears.
AirPods Max glow with the luxury Apple imbues so many of its products. I feel like Iâm wearing something special when I slip these on.
iv. They do fall down in places
Thereâs some stuff about the AirPods Max that do dampen the enjoyable experience:
v. Theyâre the best headphones Iâve ever owned
Surely, theyâre not the best sounding headphones ever made. Put on a costly pair of wired headphones that are attached to an imposing stack of converters, amplifiers, and equalizers and youâd no doubt have a transcendent experience that the AirPods Max will never be able to meet. That also sounds like a cumbersome undertaking, and a damn expensive one.
Thereâs not really a price ceiling when it comes to audio equipment. Audio gear is a money monster. It will consume whatever cash you throw at it, and itâll do it with a greedy smile on its face.
You can find headphones thatâll run you the price of a brand-new car. You can get a digital-to-analog converter (or DAC) thatâs five times the price of the AirPods Max. A quick internet search will give you listings of floor speakers that can cost as much as an enormous house.
The only limit on this stuff is how much your wallet is capable of handling.
I donât want any of that nonsense. If thatâs your thing, then more power to you, but itâs not mine. I value a frictionless experience that can delight my ears. I donât want to be tethered to an amp because Iâm wearing headphones that wonât even function without wired power. Instead, I want to be able to connect to multiple devices with ease, move freely around my home, and play whatever I want whenever I want.
AirPods Max have given me all of that, and I couldnât be more happy to own them. If I had the money, I would buy them a second time (probably for my wife), even if I wouldnât necessarily say other people should get them. If youâve got the expendable cash, then go for it, but again, theyâre so damn expensive. Theyâre still one of my favorite Apple products ever. They consistently amaze me and have been a great companion as Iâve written these words. Iâm a fan for life.
Ghost, my old website platform, announced and released the 4.0 version of their service. I was expecting more new stuffâit looks like it’s all just previous beta features from the last couple years. 4.0 must be the “make it prettier” release.
Glad to be on Micro.blog instead.
Sadly, I’ve never been the best touch typistânever had to take any classes to learn it. However, I find that I actually have some measure of success at it when using Apple’s Magic Keyboard. I don’t have any such luck on other keyboards for some reason.
My taxes for this year have been completed. Time to celebrate! đ„ł
As always, I’m very jealous of people who live in countries where they don’t have to deal with this annual song and dance nonsense. Taxes should not be this complicated.
I haven’t gotten to several of the Oscar nominees yet because most of them are very heavy, and I’ve been desiring comedies lately. At this point, I really need to see:
đ„
The nominees for the 2021 Oscars have been announced, thus starting my anticipation for one of my favorite events of the year. I haven’t seen all of the nominees yet, but it looks like a good assortment of films, as well as a growing and welcome amount of non-white talent. đ„
Nothing has been more life-changing or skin-removing for me as the Salux Beauty Skin Cloth. The exact middle of my back has never been better washed. Coming from a puffy shower scrubber, it took my sensitive skin some time to get used to, though.
Apple just discontinued the HomePod and I think thatâs sad news. Iâve got two of them serving as an amazing stereo system for my television.
Apple can still do a lot in this space. They just need to try harder. Hopefully, this is to make room for an Apple TV sound bar? Please?
A beach trip for a job turned into an opportunity to get a lovely picture of fun bikes on a sunny day. I love this one because it feels like an embodiment of youthful summers. This made the trip out to Malibu, CA more than worth it. đ·
With Amazon on my mind now, Iâm reminded of a discussion I had with my wife about the inhumanity of Jeff Bezos, currently the richest man in the world. Heâs now valued at nearly $200 billion.
Two hundred billion dollars! He makes around $5,790 a second. More money than any person could ever spend in a lifetime.
Does he engage in philanthropic efforts? Yeah, and those are worthy of note and respect. Could he do a lot more with his gobsmacking, immense wealth? Of course. Does he also devalue the lives of his employees to the point where his philanthropic efforts lose a lot of their luster? Fuck yes.
To be worth that much money, and to hoard it as he does, in a time when so many people in the world are struggling daily in poverty, makes him a greedy dragon inside a gloomy mountain. Indeed, it makes him a villain.
Likewise, anyone worth over a billion dollars could easily be considered villainous.
Give this fascinating and horrifying data visualization a look to consider just how insane this sort of personal wealth really is. As your fingers tire of scrolling, understand that having this much money isnât worthy of envy. Itâs hostile. Itâs hateful. That wealth is grown on the backs of all the people, like you and me, that Bezos, and others like him, gleefully stepped on to get to where he is now.
Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon wonât let you. â
I was led to this story by a Dan Moren post on Six Colors and it was just so remarkable that I had to place it here. I’ll also use Dan’s chosen pullquote:
Turns out, the tech giant has also become a publishing powerhouse â and it wonât sell downloadable versions of its more than 10,000 e-books or tens of thousands of audiobooks to libraries. Thatâs right, for a decade, the company that killed bookstores has been starving the reading institution that cares for kids, the needy and the curious. And thatâs turned into a mission-critical problem during a pandemic that cut off physical access to libraries and left a lot of people unable to afford books on their own.
The reasoning behind this is likely to be something to do with capitalism, competition, and yadda yadda yadda. “We can’t let people have access to our product for free. They wouldn’t be compelled to purchase from us then! Why would we let someone else dabble in our product? How crazy would that be?”
Except the competition in this case are the libraries. They are young people. They are people who can’t afford to buy a brand new book whenever they want or have to read something. They are people who have lost work because of COVID (or any other reason) and are looking to develop skills that could make them hireable in another field.
How could any of that send a shiver down Amazon’s spine? What’s the harm in selling their books to libraries?1
Selling their product to a separate entity they couldn’t fully control would cost them some of their power through that dispersion. It would muddy their clear waters. Once they have that power, why would they ever let go of it? Keeping control over their published materials only benefits Amazon, and they’re more than happy to ensure it stays that way. They will not hesitate to employ their considerable wealth and popularity to maintain their monopolistic position.
At this point, I’m ready to follow in the footsteps of @Burk and escape the Amazon myself. This sort of heavyhanded restriction to stories and knowledge is greedy and harmful. I’m not saying I’m surprised by Amazon’s actions here, but I continue to be disappointed in them. They probably believe that they’re making the world better, or at least more convenient to live in, but when that’s done in the name of profit and under the guise of simplicity and affordability, the world just becomes worse. đ
Twitter introducing Clubhouse features happened a lot sooner than I anticipated.
As Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said, “the more things change, the more they stay the same."1
Central Park was just renewed for a third season on Apple TV+, which is great. It’s a fine show.
Makes me wonder what the first show to be cancelled by them will be. Will that be a thing with Apple, or will it be a place where creators can work without fear of being removed? đș
Seems that certain establishments in L.A. and Orange Counties could be able to start opening up as soon as this weekend. People are getting vaccinated, but hey, itâs not like weâve got this thing beat yet! Hereâs hoping there wonât be another (possibly inevitable) spike in cases.
I’ll be spending the next couple weeks adding all of my outdated blog posts from my old website to Medium. It’s not an ideal platform, but I do think it can be a good repository for that stuff. More importantly, it’ll create a portfolio of past work for job hunting pursposes.
The Tracking Pixels Are Coming from Inside the Emails!
Itâs become damn hard to find services online that respect both its direct and indirect users.
We all know about the well-documented practitioners of invading your personal privacyâFacebook, Google, and the like. Their actions are so blatant and widespread that itâs almost become commonplace.1 Theyâre not going to start respecting their users until, probably, a collection of large world governments forces them to do so.
Itâs a massive hurdle, and one that should be leapt over sooner rather than later.
What feels like a more manageable feat at this time is turning our attention toward smaller entities. Iâm thinking of email marketing services. Thereâs no shortage of options available to someone who wants to blast out an email to one person or a million people. Youâre likely familiar with Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, and ConvertKit. Thatâs just a small drop in the email marketing bucket; there are many other options to choose from.
Whatâs remarkable about all of them is the sneaky way they turn the use of invasive tracking pixels into a feature. Tracking pixels, spy pixels, tracking images, or whatever you want to call them are bits of code placed inside an email. They tend to be small images created by that code, usually the size of a single pixel, that run when a recipient opens a message and loads the content within. They can track numerous aspects of the email you just received:
All of them offer this ability, and they all describe this feature with jazzy language about its immense benefits. From Mailchimp:
You can easily find out who has interacted with your marketing, and whether theyâve clicked, bought, or downloaded, so you can create more content that resonates with them.
From Campaign Monitor:
Campaign Monitor drives you through the [actionable insights] process with a complete set of reports, giving you the data you need to revise your strategy and exceed your goals.
From ConvertKit:
Understanding how your audience interacts with your emails helps you make better decisions in the future.
What all that boils down to is âweâve placed invisible code into your email that runs whenever your recipients open them, and all without your or their express consent, because marketing!â
At this point, I should mention that there is at least one email list service that offers the option, and now enables it by default, to turn off its tracking pixels. Buttondown is a service created and ârun by a humanâ named Justin Duke. Iâve enjoyed using it for a while now, and Iâll probably stick with until the end of my days.
Iâve used ConvertKit in the past for Dandy Catâs email list service. Itâs okay. Theyâre all just⊠okay. About a year ago, after learning what these tracking pixels are and what they can do, I asked them if it was possible to turn off their pixels. Their official support message was a friendly, but unsurprising âweâre perfectly fine with how our tracking pixels work and will continue making this a feature of our service.â
None of these larger companies have any interest in changing this default behavior, or even giving users an option to turn it off. Why would they? This analytics information is their bread and butter, which is why theyâll never stop using them if they can help it.
In a Daring Fireball post made on September 3, 2020, John Gruber writes:
Just because there is now a multi-billion-dollar industry based on the abject betrayal of our privacy doesnât mean the sociopaths who built it have any right whatsoever to continue getting away with it. They talk in circles but their argument boils down to entitlement: they think our privacy is theirs for the taking because theyâve been getting away with taking it without our knowledge, and it is valuable.
This was written specifically about ad industries balking at Appleâs use of permission dialogs informing their users that apps may be tracking them. However, I think it also applies perfectly in the case of email marketing services. Thereâs money to be made from the tracking of their emails, so why wouldnât they try to grab as much as they can? Nobodyâs stopping them. Heck, most people donât even know theyâre doing this!2
They package these tracking features with a neat, clandestine bow and reap the rewards. They sell them as a sorely needed benefit to their users, but itâs really an insidious method of making money. Not only that, but they can get away with it because they include language in their respective privacy policies stating that they collect this information. That in itself is frustratingââweâre allowed to collect personal and sensitive information about you because we tell you that weâre collecting this information.â Talking in circles is right. You can see this in action in Mailchimpâs privacy policy. Marvel at how dense and filled with legal-ese that thing is.
I can guarantee you that if this technology gets taken from themâthe email marketing services, the ad agencies, the social networksâthey will collectively cry foul. They would insist that their earning potential, hell, their entire existence, would be in jeopardy because theyâre not able to sell our stolen personal information. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg was one of those people that balked at Appleâs decision to implement those tracking permission dialogs in their software. Business Insider reports:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took aim at Apple on Thursday over its plans to limit advertisersâ ability to track iPhone users, suggesting the proposed changes could hurt small businesses and, by extension, the broader economy.
During Facebookâs quarterly earnings call, Zuckerberg told investors that âactions planned by platform companies like Apple could have a meaningful negative effect on small businesses and economic recovery in 2021 and beyond.â
I feel we can agree that Zuckerbergâs motivations in this matter are less about the health of small businesses and much more about obscuring Facebookâs boundless tracking of its users. Tracking that has a significant influence on Facebookâs bottom line.
Our private information is currently theirs for the taking, and they sell it off to advertising agencies who use it to display personalized ads on the websites and apps we visit. Itâs often said that if youâre not paying for a product, then you are the product. The way the internet has evolved, this saying should be amended to be âif youâre online in any way, then youâre the product.â
Itâs all bullshit, none of it should be allowed, and our personal information should be respected far more than it is. I donât see that happening without powerful intervention, much in the way that GDPR was created intending to protecting citizens of the European Union and the European Economic Area. If thatâs what it takes, then I welcome it. Our personal information should be ours alone.
I just wrote about 1,400 words for a future post and I’m feeling great now. The feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing up the first draft of something can hardly be matched. I think this was a great way to cap off a Monday.
I hope you’re doing well, too. â€ïž
Right-wing Idaho activists burn masks, claiming COVID restrictions infringe on liberties â
I guess the last year and change doesnât mean anything to them. âThe health of other people? Whatâs that?â
On the plus side, I think I found my new favorite Los Angeles Times writer. Richard Read reports:
The protesters appear to inhabit an alternate reality, one in which they claim that the coronavirus is no more dangerous than the flu and that public health directives based on science are dictatorial.
Thatâs some top-notch truth and shade this man is throwing.
Iâd ask these people what they think of their fellow citizensâ right not to become infected by the callous actions of these dumb crusaders, but that sort of thing would mean theyâd have to think of someone other than themselves.
Dr. Francisco VelĂĄzquez, Spokane Regional Health District interim health officer, in an interview for this article:
I donât think the intent is to violate anyoneâs rights, the intent is mainly to protect all of us. I do respect their opinion, but the facts are the facts.
The facts are the facts, but their opinion isnât respectable. Itâs harmful.
This video by Pogo, called Scrumdiddlyumptious, is a great way to start your day. Heck, it’s great at any time of the day. It’s been around for ages, but it’s still delightful. The music, editing, and imagination of it continue to astonish me.
Enjoy the sweetness! đ”
Paramount+ is now a thing. Best that I can tell, except for swapping out a logo and adding some SpongeBob SquarePants stuff, itâs the exact same thing as CBS All Access.
It still doesnât even have a watch list! Isnât that kind of table stakes for a streaming service these days? đș