Sunday Endorsement – 31.05.2020

May 31, 2020
5 min read

📱 Tot Pocket

I was very skeptical at first. I mean, who wouldn’t be – €21.99 for a very limited note taking app. But after much consideration and keeping in mind the possibility to refund (yay Europe) I decided to give it a try. I’ve been trying to find an easy to use note app for a long time and nothing could come close to what I wanted. Notes.app was where I kept all my notes and didn’t feel like simple jotting app, I’ve tried Bear for a year, but it just replaced Notes and I never was a Markdown fan, I wanted something with rich text support. Drafts came close, but I always felt overwhelmed by it and after a week there would be tens of notes which I couldn’t remember what they were about.

Tot is light, colorful (it even changes the color of keyboard to match the dot and what surprised me most – even 3rd party keyboards get colored). I didn’t like icon at first, but recently they’ve added Mobius, which is now my favorite. I use all but one dots for something already and love it.

One disclaimer I have to add – I’ve had a data loss with the app. Just yesterday I was walking around town, listening to the audiobook and adding some notes, including citations I’ve transcribed myself. When I came home and opened an app – there was nothing. Just one word I’ve put as a placeholder when I created the note. And now I can’t shake the feeling of distrust. I hope it was a one time thing, but I’m not sure when I will be able to trust the application fully again.

I can’t recommend an app costing €21.99 to everyone, but if you look at screenshots and read the description you will know if the app is right for you. It is for me.

đź“ş Drive To Survive – Season 2

“Netflix are a bunch of cunts, aren’t they? I would love for them to play that.”

At the beginning of the season two they immediately let you know – this time it’s bigger, we have Mercedes and Ferrari now, but that somehow ruins it a bit. It became more pristine. The most controversial things were mostly when drivers and principals mentioned the documentary or Netflix.

But I still would recommend watching it. And I feel like it is much more interesting to those who have never watched F1, because otherwise you would already know what happened.

One additional note – I was the victim of advertising. After watching the show I went for a walk and had such a strong desire for a Red Bull I went to the store and bought one. Marketing works.

đź“ś Stratechery – The Google Squeeze

Half a year old article, but still very interesting. I never though how much advertising there is on Google. The screenshot which shows the results, where you have to scroll 3 pages in order to get to the organic results is worth the read alone.

I’ve compared the article with my own usage and it is the same in some instances and completely different in others. I hate the hotel module of Google. It always feels like some shitty websites want to give you a very bad deal. When I’m looking for a hotel I always go to booking.com. Always. And, as it turns out, that’s what they’ve tried to do – incentivize people to go straight to them. I guess it works.

⌚️ Pride California Watch Face

With the most recent update of the Apple Watch there are a couple of new Pride watch faces. One of them is California with Pride colors. It is my favorite watch face right now. I’ve been meaning to write about watch faces and how they all are bad for some reason or other. There are customizations, but it always feels like there could be more. But in terms of look – this one is just amazing.

One note – the process was a bit cumbersome. I had newest update on my Apple Watch, but new colors weren’t there. I updated my iPhone to iOS 13.5 and could choose a new California color, but it wouldn’t show up on my Watch. Only after restarting the watch did it work.

đź“š Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

I’ve laughed a couple of times while listening to the book. It is probably the best memoir by a businessman I have ever read. It is more about motivation and drive and less about the decisions themselves. I’m sure that in order to build such a monumental company there have to be more controversial stories, but this book is not the place for them.

Ending is just beautiful. The book itself is very personal, but ending takes it to the new level. I didn’t want for it to end. One of the strongest recommendations I can give. Everyone should read it.

Sunday Endorsement – 24.05.2020

May 24, 2020
4 min read

đź“š Samsung Rising: The Inside Story of the South Korean Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech by Geoffrey Cain

“Fuck Steve. He’s dead and we were right. Samsung was right.” – this quote says quite a lot about Samsung culture. The story told in this book shows what happens when a company becomes too big to fail. When the whole country is depended on Samsung doing well.

If you’ve never been to jail, you’ve probably not worked hard enough – could be the mantra of Samsung management.

There are very interesting anecdotes and stories. But by the middle of the book you realize it’s mostly stories about mistakes, investigations, corruption charges etc. and less so the story of the company. I don’t like Samsung as a company, never owned a Galaxy phone, because I felt like they were just copying Apple, but even for an Apple fanboy, this book is a bit too much.

After finishing it, I was not sure on the history of the company, but I sure as hell knew that the dynasty has fallen.

đź“ş Drive To Survive – Season 1

“To finish first, first you have to finish”

Great documentary with an outstanding access to the drivers and teams, in the middle of the season, I’ve had a longer review written here, but can’t recommend it enough. And I’m already looking for ways to watch F1 season when it comes back.

đź“ş The Last Dance

Another great documentary I’ve finished this week. Again, never watched basketball, but enjoyed it so much. It’s about personality, team and most importantly leadership. Very different in style from Drive To Survive. It talks about the history, while Drive To Survive is more similar to the reality TV.

🎙 Dithering Podcast

Two of my favorite people in tech blogging got together and created a podcast. I had a little bit of doubt before subscribing as it is a paid podcast and there is no “demo” or even one free episode, but decided to try it out, I can always unsubscribe if I don’t like it and loose just $5. But of course I liked it. I’ve now listened to all the back catalogue and am listening as the episodes get out – three times a week. If you know John Gruber and Ben Thompson, you probably will have a feeling what a podcast is about and it will probably be correct.

This paid podcast model is very interesting and the first one I’ve tried. Almost all of the podcasts I listen to are ad supported with some help from listeners in form of Patreon or something similar. This though, paid up front subscription with no ability to try it out before is something I didn’t see before. The one time I’ve paid for a podcast was with a No Agenda show, which is totally listener supported (they even call listeners producers), but it is optional. They call it “value for value” model and I like the idea of it.

đź“° Halide – Year 3

I started using Halide long time ago, probably as soon as it got released and it was on my home screen ever since. And I love reading their blog. It is interesting and honest. Reading about the struggles that current situation has brought (who would have though that nobody is traveling and using photo capturing app) made me realize that I can’t even fathom the real impact the virus had on all of us.

📸 My Photo From Thailand

This week my photo (at the top), got picked by the editorial team of Unsplash and my stats got crazy for a couple of days. More than 300,000 people saw it and some of them even saved it. An amazing result which gives the motivation to take more photos.

[TV Show] Drive To Survive – Season 1

May 23, 2020
3 min read

I’ve never been a fan of F1. I’ve heard a lot that the cars are becoming more and more the same, so I couldn’t understand why would anyone watch the same cars go around the circuit. But after watching The Last Dance, I’ve decided to pick up another sport related documentary. And I now can say I was wrong. The cars are not the same, they do look similar, but there is a lot of room in engine choice and its calibration. Drivers are very different, with individual talents and styles. And as it turns out, what happens between the races, sometimes can be even more interesting. It’s like a soap opera.

What stood out the most comparing to The Last Dance – the access. Sure there you had all the major players from that time, but it was about the past, people are more open, at least 20 years had passed since those events and nobody from them plays anymore. Here, it is a series about current events and it is really astonishing what the drivers and team principals were saying, considering they see each other at work after the show airs.

The absence of two top teams was very notable. It’s like, yeah, we here grownups are racing and winning and you – afterthoughts. can have your silly documentary.

The F1 itself is a very interesting sport. There are competing teams, but that absolutely doesn’t mean the drivers work together. It is probably the most individual out of team sports. It happens, when two drivers from the same team crash into each other in battling for position. This is madness in close to any team sport, but not unthinkable in the F1.

It is a team sport in regard to mechanics. You can be the most amazing driver in the most powerful car, but when you stop in the pit and a mechanic doesn’t tighten the screw properly, you can finish the race early because of that, unbelievable. Imagine Michael Jordan not finishing the match because a guy doesn’t lace his shoes properly.

“To finish first, first you have to finish”

Regarding documentary itself, it was a bit too focused on drama. You see all the crashes, stops and loses of the drivers and after that you realize the team is in a third place. So it wasn’t all so bad, wasn’t it? As of right now, I am looking forward to the F1 season resuming, I want to watch races. Didn’t choose which driver to support yet, will have to take a look at the whole race. Which is my main concern right now – sure, I’ve enjoyed watching highlights from the whole season, but would the 2 hour race be as enjoyable to watch?

[TV Show] The Last Dance

May 18, 2020
3 min read

I’ve never watched a basketball game from start to finish in my entire life. I have never seen Michael Jordan play. This is still one of the greatest TV shows I’ve seen at least lately.

When I was about 10 years old my parents bought me a Chicago Bulls T-shirt. I knew it was an NBA team and I knew Michael Jordan was one of the greatest, if not the greatest player in basketball. I didn’t know those two were connected.

Imagine creating such a public persona, without even social media. He became famous by being the best at his sport (just look at the player stats from Chicago Bulls, he still holds almost all of the records).

I was watching this documentary and it was like living through those moments. I didn’t know the results of the games or series, so it was almost like watching live sports. Hell, I was just 8 years old when Chicago Bulls had won their last Championship (and I turned 1, when they won their first).

What I’ve learned is that Michael is an amazing leader. I actually enjoyed watching old time sport players, they know how to talk, they can construct sentences. This is a bit rare in today sports.

I agree with what M.G. Siegler wrote, there is too much emphasis on MJ being a jerk. I remember when Steve Jobs died and everyone started reading his biography, regardless of the interest in tech, it was the common knowledge he was the best leader there is. And a lot of managers, after reading a book, got only one piece of advice from it – in order to be great, you had to wear the same clothes all the time and be a jerk to everyone around you. It’s like they never read the part about his talent, about his hard work, inspiration for others.

The thing that stood out the most for me, was how often did Jordan say “it became personal for me”. Although the basketball is a team sport and Jordan couldn’t have won the Championship by himself, his personality still was bigger than the team.

The greatest moment of the documentary was when Chicago Bulls lost, MJ instead of having a vacation immediately got to training. He didn’t tell anyone to do the same, but “if the best player in the world trains so hard, you have to train at least as hard”. Leading by example. Although he is a jerk a lot of the times, he always was leading by example. He worked harder than anyone, he played to win and that gave him the right to demand the same from his teammates.

Sunday Endorsement – 17.05.2020

May 17, 2020
3 min read

Starting today I will write weekly post about things I’ve enjoyed over the week. It could be a movie, TV show, book, article, photo, app, experience, absolutely whatever.

This week is mostly about TV shows as I’ve finished a couple.

đź“ş Westworld – Season 3

I’ve finally finished the latest season and the thought I had throughout it stayed with me by the end – it became a victim of its own success. The story is a bit too much. Almost like a matryoshka, a story, in a story, in a story with “holy shit” and “turns out” moments all the time. A bit too much for my taste, but still the picture is great, actors are amazing. Worth a watch.

đź“ş Outlander – Season 5

We’ve started watching this TV show a couple of years ago with my wife. In the beginning it was great for both of us. My wife liked the love story and story about old times, I liked battles and violence. In the last two seasons especially there is just too much of a love story. Series became very slow, there are whole hour long episodes with nothing happening at all. Story became too simple and predictable. Although picture in 4K HDR is stellar.

đź“ş Narcos: Mexico

I’ve watched all two seasons in a couple of weeks. Great show, almost as good as the original Narcos. The one thing that surprises the most – it’s based on the real events. And it scares you all the time. I’ve caught myself watching the show thinking, “very nice imagination those writers have”, just to be surprised by a narrator and historical footage. I can’t even imagine people living the way it is portrayed in the show.

đź“š Deadpool: The Adamantium Collection

This is a collection of all the comic books about Deadpool from the very beginning until the year 2016. 25 years of stories about my favorite superhero. After watching the second movie about my favorite superhero, I’ve bought the comiXology version of the collection. I’ve started reading it about a year ago, but somewhere along the line just stopped. Picked it up this week and finished all of it. This is the first comic book I’ve read as an adult and probably the first series I’ve finished.

I’m not sure this is the medium I enjoy a lot, but some issues were fun. Also, reading comic books on the 12.9’’ iPad is amazing.

Sincerely

April 21, 2020
1 min read

He is back. My favorite stand up comic, after two years of exile, is back and is better than ever (he even physically looks better). Religion, illnesses, travel, holocaust all the good stuff that are expecting from him. And yes, he faced the whole “thing” there as well, with humor, but not over the top.

Was this the best special? No, but it couldn’t be, considering the circumstances. But it was good as hell. It is the first one. It’s cautious. Can’t wait to see what he does next. 

On a more technological note. It’s not often in Latvia you see Apple Pay anywhere, so it was a blast using it. I’ve went to the website, clicked just one button and bought the special. The website thanked me by name and I got all the relevant links to my e-mail, never filling out any forms or registering. Just like that. Magic.

iPhone SE: It’s Not About The Price, It’s About Value

April 17, 2020
3 min read
Source: apple.com

When Apple announced iPhone SE earlier this week there was a lot of enthusiasm about the price, which in US starts at just $399. That is a lot of the phone for the price. Better still, as some pointed out – Apple announced the phone the same week OnePlus decided to go in the top tier price territory.

We live in a world where a brand new iPhone is undercutting every single phone OnePlus has released this year in price

Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD)

But what is even more amazing is the value you get buying 2nd generation iPhone SE. Sure you can choose from a lot of option in this price point in the world of Android. Huawei, LG, Motorola, Samsung will have you covered, but will you get the same amount of phone for the same amount of time?

For $399 you get the same processor as in iPhone 11 Pro, just think about that. This phone will get OS updates for at least 4-5 years and it won’t be slow. The best you can hope for with Android – it has the latest OS when you buy it. It also has a camera a bit better than last years iPhone XR. It has great battery life, wireless charging, it is spec-wise top of the line smartphone.

Before the phone was released, hearing all the rumors, I couldn’t have imagined that it would have A13. I was thinking that at best it would be last years processor, so it doesn’t look as capable as current top tier model, but Apple has outdone itself. I will be recommending this phone to a lot of people. I know a couple who already are waiting for it to be available. Some have 1st generation SE, others 6-8 types of phone.

The Perfect Coronavirus Phone

Final thought, it could be an exaggeration, but it is true. First of all because of the price. As many of us are not sure what the future will bring financially, if you need to buy a new phone, this is the strong contestant. Second – masks. Right now a lot of people wear masks, especially workers in fields that still have contact with people (medical workers, food delivery workers, etc.) and there is talk, that after quarantine is over, masks will be mandatory for going outside for some time. You know what doesn’t work with mask? FaceID. So iPhone SE with TouchID would be perfect for that scenario.

My 10 Years With iPad

April 3, 2020
2 min read

I wasn’t much of an Apple fan when the first iPad was introduced. The iPhone was still not as popular in Latvia and Mac hardware was well out of my price range as I was just starting college.

I’ve watched the introduction and was interested in the product, but not mesmerized by it. One of my classmates brought one to the university one day, not long after it went on sale. She was kind enough to give it to me for a couple of hours, unattended. I spent this time browsing the web and going on social media. I remember making a joke how this was a perfect Twitter client for $499. Little did I know what will it do in the future.

The first iPad I bought was 1st generation iPad Mini. I loved that device, even though it didn’t have Retina display, I loved the size. I liked reading on it, playing games and surfing the web. I even used it for a long time to take notes at classes – even though typing on a virtual keyboard wasn’t ideal I still liked it. But after a year or two it got really slow, so I passed it to my mom and didn’t buy myself a replacement for a couple of years. I’ve had Kindle for reading books, I was in the Plus sized phone club and had a MacBook Pro, I had everything covered, until Apple unveiled the new iPad Pro in 2018.

This iPad changed everything, just as I was taking photography more seriously, having the image right in my hands and making edits looked amazing. I was torn as to which model to buy and decided to go with the 12.9” and don’t regret making this choice.

It replaced a laptop for me, I still have a Max sized phone, but considering buying the smaller one next time. I read books, write, edit photos, watch TV shows and do everything computer related on it. My MacBook Pro is gathering dust somewhere in the apartment. I like the changes Apple made with the introduction of iPadOS and waiting for more improvements. I know there are a lot of problems still, but it looks more ready than ever to be the main computer for a lot of people.

[TV Show] Inside Bill’s Brain

March 31, 2020
4 min read

I’ve recently got a new OLED TV and wanted to see something in 4K, so I started with Netflix and the first thing that popped out was this three part documentary about Bill Gates. It is interesting how it was divided in parts instead of making just one movie, sure there were three different stories, but I don’t think anyone would watch this documentary one by one in a span of couple of weeks. My guess you would either binge it or you would stop whenever.

The visual quality was indeed great, it looked very real on the big screen, although there was some historical footage, which was so blurry you couldn’t recognize faces (but it was very rare).

I’m not a movie critic and I don’t watch a lot of documentaries (unfortunately), but I’ve had a couple of thoughts while watching this I wanted to share.

Western Rich

Although I’m very interested in western culture and I’m much more knowledgeable about it than most of my friends and acquaintances it was still shocking to see two of the richest people in the world talking in the car with one of them driving. I know it is part of the acting, but still, they looked very natural and I don’t see Russian richest people behaving the same way.

The Reason Behind Windows 8

It’s not a secret that Windows 8 was one of the most hated operating systems in recent time, with all those tiles and all-screen interfaces. I didn’t hate it, but it was not loved by me either, but looking at the shots of Gates working I could see how all those decisions got made. Focused management work, you read one article at a time, you write in one document – I bet it worked perfectly for him and a lot of senior management in Microsoft.

Also, as a side note, it was interesting seeing Microsoft ecosystem there, with PCs, Microsoft Outlook, Office etc. As someone who is all-in with Apple, refreshing look.

Books

I was surprised to see Bill reading paper books, I even got a desire to read couple of physical books myself. For the longest time I’m reading either on my iPad or iPhone and lately added audiobooks.

Also the amount of reading is astonishing and those are not thin novels or bullshit leadership books. They are deep and focused on something very niche and to be able to read 14 books in the span of two weeks is just amazing.

Nuclear Power

I actually like the way it was portrayed in this TV show. Because of the two big disasters in the minds of the people of course it has a bad rap in minds, but looking forward it is the most realistic source of energy from what we have available right now.

It looks more like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ad and story about it and all the work it does than a story about Bill’s brain. It’s not a bad thing, they do interesting and important work, but I was hoping for something different considering the name of the documentary.

All this talk about reading and Gates says almost nothing about it during the documentary. You hear other people describing it, but it would be much more interesting to hear the process from Bill Gates himself.

You get a glimpse of how he manages his time (or someone is managing it for him), but a more deep dive would be appreciated.

Looking at the name of the documentary and my expectations I would love a more personal story about himself and not the foundation.

Apple March Non-Event

March 19, 2020
4 min read

On March 18th Apple surprised everyone with the announcement of new and updated products.

It was rumored long ago that there was an Apple event planned for the end of March, but with the COVID-19 going around the globe everyone understood that it wouldn’t be possible to organize. So they’ve published the press release and it looks like either press only got the devices now or are still under embargo.

Let’s go through the products starting from the least important and moving to the most interesting one.

“Mac mini Also Updated Today”

The only update was the storage, it now starts at 256GB, which is the bare minimum today. As someone with the 256GB on all three of my Apple devices (iPhone, iPad and MacBook) I can’t understand how anyone would survive with less.

MacBook Air

Everyone was waiting for an updated keyboard making it’s way through the whole lineup and not just being in the 16” MacBook Pro, this day has come. With the new keyboard, 256GB storage as a base and a new (old) starting price of $999, this is again the best default computer there is. Except, we can’t be sure what a computer is right now…

iPad

Apple unveiled the new iPad Pro, of course it has a new chip, which is faster and more powerful. As a previous generation iPad Pro owner I can’t see how you would be able to see this, as the tablet is fast as hell still.

It has two cameras now, adding the 10MP Ultra Wide to the back, making it look like an iPhone 11. In a year, I am pretty sure that I didn’t take one photo with my iPad Pro. I know there are people who like to hold huge tablet in front of their face at schools and in touristy places, but I’m not one of them. I love editing photos on my 12.9” iPad Pro, but I would probably miss the shot before reaching for the iPad in my bag.

LiDAR Scanner is the weakest point in todays announcement, not from the technology point of view, but from the delivery. If you read everything Apple has provided, it just makes AR a bit better and promising a lot. Knowing Apple there should be a lot more information, either with the announcement of iOS 14 or more likely iPhone 12. It just made sense to include the hardware right now, but the software story is not yet ready.

Magic Keyboard and Trackpad Support

This is the biggest news, not only for me, but reading tweets for a was majority of potential or current iPad Pro users. Seeing videos, it looks like pointer support in iPadOS got much better. And the most interesting thing – it happened today, not in September with the release of iOS 14, but in March with iOS 13.4 (public release in a week).

The best news is that new keyboard with the trackpad is compatible with the now previous generation iPad. The worst news is the price – $299 for the 11-inch and $349 for the 12.9-inch. That is a lot of money, it is actually more than the price of the standard iPad itself. It looks nice, I’m sure the trackpad will be amazing, as Apple always excelled in making those and they now come in different colors. I’m not sure I would buy one yet, will try out pointer support first.

Pretty strong announcement from Apple, if they won’t surprise us again with the everyday announcements, I’m not sure this would be enough for the whole event, but it is more than enough for the press release.

I’m not in the market for a new iPad, as my previous generation 12.9-inch one is fast enough, screen and design didn’t change much and I don’t use cameras. Thankfully, Apple made the new Magic Keyboard for iPad compatible with the older models. Oh, and regarding the MacBook, I have one MacBook Pro already lying around not being used for months, so who need those, right?