Technology
- Tidal: €11.64
- Apple Music: €7.25
- Spotify: €2.88
- Security
- This is important, both for the people inside and outside the car!
- … but it’s not the only factor, of course.
- Features
- Size, range, etc. — things you can do with it.
- Comfort, and sense of quality
- This isn’t about what you can do with it, but how it feels to do them. In a car, this could be sound (or lack thereof), looks, driving experience, how it feels to open and close the doors, and other small, and large, things.
- Price
- Maybe this shouldn’t be here — but when picking a car, it’s often about getting the most features, comfort, and security for the price.
- (“Quality” can also be interpreted as how fast it breaks, which could also be included in the cost of owning the vehicle.)
- Sometimes Apple will make something more private because they hope it will be a selling point. I don’t mind that at all! That’s “just as nefarious” as them making something good because it will sell.
- Other times, Apple will make something more private that just so happens to benefit Apple and harm their competitors. A good example here, is them locking down the NFC chip on iPhones. (Here’s a good post discussing this.)
- And sometimes they’ll do something that benefits them even though it’s bad for their users' privacy. For instance, they don’t mind tracking us to serve us ads, as long as they’re the ones doing it.
The Beauty of Third-Party Services
and Open Protocols and Standards
I’m very much what you’d might call a software snob. Not only do I care about unnecessary things like how an app looks – I also care about how it feels. I’d also say that apps are an interest/hobby of mine, and I love testing new things. So I love open and portable stuff, so that I’m always able to use the software I prefer. Allow me to explain, with four examples: RSS, Email, Browsers, and Markdown.
RSS
My current RSS reader of choice, is Lire. It doesn’t look and feel quite as nice as Reeder and Unread, but it is still good in this regard. However, I love that I can customise the look, that it caches truncated RSS feeds, and that I can (on a feed-by-feed basis) load an inline web browser. This makes it possible to read blogs with their original design, which I think is neat.
However, my feeds don’t live in one client. They’re synced with Feedbin. This makes it trivial to move between clients, and I can even use several in parallell, as things like sorting and read status instantly sync between them. Maybe I prefer Lire on mobile and Unread on Mac, for instance?
Portability is an important principle here. And if I want to move from Feedbin to Inoreader, for instance, I can easily export my feed subscriptions as an OPML file, which I can then import into Inoreader.
So I’m not locked in anywhere, and I can use the client I prefer everywhere. This reality is what I wish I could have for music streaming as well, as I’ve touched on here. It also shows why I want less bundling and integration.
Notes on cross-platform-ness
My best friend, and fellow nerd, has always been adamant in using cross-platform tools – the reason being that he can be flexible in terms of which hardware he uses. He can easily switch between Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, etc. However, this doesn't gel well with my software snobbery, as most of the best apps (in my opinion) simply aren't cross-platform. I have the same issue with web apps – I love their flexibility and portability, but I don't love using them. So the approach laid out in this post, is my approach to the same idea. But yes, it would be even more robust if I only used web based and cross-platform tools.Now, as opposed to with RSS, there’s not many good email clients… But the same principles apply!
I host my email with Fastmail 🖇️, and I’m very pleased with it.1 But if I still want to switch later, I don’t use an @fastmail.com address. Instead, I use my own domain, hosted on Hover 🖇️ – so I don’t have to change address if I change hosting. I can also change where I have my domain without having to change anything regarding my email.
Now, I don’t like the default Fastmail client – but email being email, I can use a client I dislike less instead!
Browser
Please Stop Saying "Telegram Isn't Encrypted"
You’re not helping - draft 2
Telegram is back in focus these days – and, as usual, not for good reasons. I will write more on this later, as I will have to figure out how to deal with the very real concerns I have with the chat app I use the most. But now I wanted to focus on one thing that’s annoying me a lot, for instance in the latest Vergecast episode.
Why it’s a bad idea to say things that aren’t true
I think it’s crucial to get the word out, that Telegram isn’t as safe as Signal1 – and I applaud those who want to shine a light on that fact. The problem is, that many of them (like Nilay Patel) do it by saying that “Telegram isn’t encrypted”. But what happens if someone has heard that phrase, and then later learns the fact: That Telegram is encrypted.2 They will then perhaps disregard the entire notion, and maybe assume that Telegram is as secure as Signal after all.
My issue with that phrase is that it erases the essential distinction between just “encryption” (or “server encryption”) and “end-to-end-encryption”.
Here’s the difference:
A Good Conversation About Apple and APIs
When comments helps you grow
A couple of days ago, I hastily wrote a quite spicy blog post, about the removal of a good Spotify feature on iPhone. I got some pushback from Jason, and it led to a conversation I liked.
Me and Jason often disagree on stuff – but I always find his comments fair, interesting, and leading to me adjusting my opinions. One important takeaway in this for me, was whether or not this was just a case of someone whining, and putting a spin on, an API getting deprecated. Which is something that sometimes has to happen, but will still often lead to complaints which I often disagree with.
His first comment
I mean, it also could be there was an old way of accessing volume controls, Apple built a new way to work with HomePods, AppleTV, and likely Matter devices. They then deprecated the old API in favor of the new one to maintain one pathway, that yes, means access to its products comes along, but also means one, more modern, more standards compliant API to control devices.
I don’t trust Spotify comms for shit, and don’t know that’s what Apple did, but that story is equally like Apple– get rid of an old API for a new one that does more stuff, misses some functions but adds a lot more, etc. It would also line up with Matter and the addition of these devices that didn’t exist when the original implementation was done.
And for what it’s worth, the bugs that Spotify mention are present with the volume rocker over AirPlay. So, I’m not sure it’s not just Apple’s shit not being as good as it should be, period, versus disadvantaging someone.
My first reply:
The thing is, you can point to a million small examples where Apple makes (decently rational) choices that just so happens benefit themselves at the expense of others. Many of them are of the type “We made this choice, because privacy. That it hampers our competitors, is just a coincidence. So is the fact that we didn’t do this other thing which also would’ve been good for user-privacy, but would hurt us.” If you only look at each thing individually, Apple’s behaviour can often be defended – but you have to look at the larger patterns. Hehe, I agree that it’s a good idea to be skeptical of comms – but I don’t trust “Spotify + Sonos combined” less than Apple, I think. And Apple could’ve decided to comment, but has chosen not to.
And for what it’s worth, the bugs that Spotify mention are present with the volume rocker over AirPlay. So, I’m not sure it’s not just Apple’s shit not being as good as it should be, period, versus disadvantaging someone.
This is a good point! 👆🏻 But I still stand by my stance that these things would be better if the behemoths didn’t insist on competing in more and more markets. (I wrote more about this here.) We would have much cleaner incentive structures, if Apple’s “only” focus was on making their platforms (and hardware) as good as they could make them. (And “competition” would be an important ingredient here.)
His second comment:
How to use your market dominance
What do you do if you’re dominant in some markets, but wished you were more dominant in others?
If this isn’t one of the clearest examples of the problems with too much bundling and integration, I don’t know what is.
So, Apple (the phone maker) is artificially nerfing the competition of Apple (the music streaming service), unless they agree to build stronger integration with Apple (the smart speaker maker).
At imaginary HomePod meeting:
Some guy: “Our speaker would benefit from Spotify integration, but they would rather not build it for free. Should we pay them, like how we demand payment for integration with our stuff?”
Another guy: “No, I have a better Idea: What if we called Federighi, and threatened them instead? We could remove a useful feature that Apple Music (their main competitor) has, unless they agree to our demands.”
Some guy: “Oh, yeah – that’s way better!”
Now, I’m not saying it went down just like that. But it is awfully “convenient”, isn’t it?
So, to be clear, this is the situation:
As I’ve mentioned previously, I moved from Spotify to Tidal this year, due to artist payments. (Now, I’m not sure whether I got that right – but that’s another case.) And the main thing I’m missing from Spotify, is the excellent Spotify Connect. This is both a way of streaming music to different speakers and devices, and a way to control the Spotify playback from any device. For instance, let’s say I start the playback on my iPad, connected to a speaker via a mini-jack. If I then open Spotify on my phone, the playback controls are “live”, like if I streamed from my phone. I can also say “Nah, move the playback to my Sonos speaker instead”.
What Apple has done, is removing the ability to use the phone’s physical volume buttons to control the Spotify Connect volume. So if you listen to Spotify on your phone, with AirPods, clicking the buttons adjusts the volume. But if you then move it to your Sonos speakers, it suddenly doesn’t – it only adjusts the phone’s notification volume. I really don’t like this disconnect.1
Apple is saying that Spotify users can get the feature back if Spotify agrees to integrate with the HomePod – and that’s very problematic.
Imagine me, happy as a clam: I had bought a phone that I liked, and was using a streaming service I liked – party due to how well it worked with my smart speakers, which I also like. And now Apple is jumping in, and making the latter two worse, just because Spotify won’t support a speaker I don’t have.
Making Something Bad Easier to Do, Isn’t Good
Should Be Obvious…
Speaking of bad arguments… This, from The Verge and this from Dan More (good posts!) got me thinking of another terrible take I see way too often:
«People have always done Bad Thing (at great expense of some kind), so Company X making it super-accessible isn’t critique worthy at all, actually.»
Edit 27/8-24:
The Verge posted a good, and very linkable, article called Hello, you’re here because you said AI image editing was just like Photoshop. And the comment section is full of the argument above, and also its sibling:
«We’ve always has to contend with Bad Thing – so drastically increasing the amount of it, is of no consequence, actually.»
"It's a Company" Isn't an Excuse
You’ll often hear people say (as excuses to negative conduct) something like: “It’s a company, of course they’re only worried about profits." Or something like: “It’s publicly traded – they have an obligation to work towards growth."
And I simply don’t accept that. I don’t mind companies trying to be profitable – but how you do it matters. The consequences matters. And if a company is already immensely profitable (and already provides lots of value to its shareholders) it’s toxic, on so many levels, to squeeze at all cost.
We need more unbundling, and smaller markets
On separation of clients and services
People stream movies and TV in many ways. (And few do it in only one way.) You can do it through your phone, tablet or laptop, of course – but I think we’ll find the greatest variety when it comes to other forms: Many people have a TV set in addition to these other devices. But the size of your living area and wallet (or simply prioritisation) influences where you are on the scale of “Small and/or cheap TV that does the job” and “High-end OLED beast with Hi-Fi attached”.
But it’s not only about “More money = Better” – people value different things! For some, a VR headset would be a fantastic upgrade — while if you mainly watch TV as a social activity, it’ll defeat the purpose. And some would never swap their 43" Frame TV for a 77" black rectangle on their wall — no matter how much better the picture is. (Or what about a briefcase TV?)
Both through “privilege” and “prioritisation”, we have widely differing budgets — and also different needs and tastes. That’s why it’s so great, that we don’t have to use Netflix through only stuff that they have made!
Imagine if we could only use their service on Netflix TVs, or while sitting on Netflix couches. While there is a connection, making “a service”, and “the ways to interact with the service”, are two different things – that often require different skillsets. Now, you could say the difference here is hardware/software, and that you do have to watch Netflix through their app… I’m not saying either the situation or the analogy is perfect! However, while your brand of TV might also make great speakers, it’s still nice that you can choose your sound experience separately from your visual one. And I also think it would be better if you could also watch Netflix through other apps as well.
Non-Reversible USB-C
What???
I’m a big proponent of the USB-C Lifestyle™️. All my chargers are USB-C, and so are my electric razor, dremel and screwdrivers. So I, of course, sneer at savages with their USB-A ports, where they have to guess which way is the correct one (and always choose the wrong one first, of course). But this summer, while helping some young family members with their pedalboards, I encountered something that shocked me to the core:
A USB-C usage where you had to put it in the right way for it to work. 🤯
Have We Been Evaluating Music Streaming Payments The Wrong Way?
One question that ofter comes up when discussing music streaming services, is: “How much are they paying artists per stream?" And there are many blog posts, like this one, that have tried to figure it out. It quotes some numbers, that I’ve seen several places, for Average Payout per 1000 Streams:
And this was the number that made me change from Spotify to Tidal last year — even though I don’t care about the increased audio quality, and I like Spotify’s app better. Comment sections are also often filled with things like “Spotify don’t pay artists”, etc.
But we might be thinking about it all wrong because here’s the thing: No1 streaming services actually pay per stream. Instead, all the major ones pile up the revenue, and then divide it to artists2 based on the percentage of total streams. So, even if I only listen to Blur, that doesn’t mean my payments only go to that artist.3
An interesting side effect of this is that, if every user streamed the same artists next month, but doubled their streaming amount, the payouts would be the same. But the blog posts above would have to halve the estimate for Payout per Stream.
So while it’s not totally irrelevant, I simply think payout per stream is the wrong number to look at. The more relevant number, is:
The percentage of revenue that goes to artists.
Allow me to explain:
Please Don't Kill The "Today View"
The boys over at the Connected podcast have discussed the Today View (specifically on iPhone) the last few episodes. And late to the party, here’s my short take.
The Today View is the screen of widgets you get to when you scroll left on your Lock Screen or first Home Screen. And they were speculating that it might get removed in time, as it doesn’t get much love from Apple. They didn’t say that they wanted it to go away — but it was also clear that they wouldn’t really mind.
I would.
Because I think it serves a very specific purpose, and fits very well with my use of Home Screens.
Because I’m a One Home Screen Kinda Guy, which I change with Focus Modes. This also makes me a heavy user of the App Library and Spotlight for launching apps and shortcuts. But to me, the Today View is a perfect spot for something I have no other place for: Widgets I always want quick access to, but that I still don’t use so often that it gets a spot on my one Home Screen.
Similar Apps to Bear and Things 3
I saw a simple question on Reddit today, and it sparked an answer.
Any other apps similar to Bear and Things 3?
Looking for similar apps to these two that perfectly balances minimalism, functionality, and UI/aesthetics.
I interpreted this as not being about the specific functionalities, and the types of apps (note-taker and task-manager), but the way those apps feel. Because, if you haven’t used them, you really should. They are truly special pieces of software. I will write more about some of these apps later, but …
Here’s my answer:
Oooh, I like this question!
I’m the kind of person who really values how a piece of software feels (in addition to looks and works.). But I 100% get that I might seem like an idiot for using pricier, and maybe less powerful, software, just because I think it’s nice, heh.
I really like both Bear and Things, but I’ve gone for a workflow where I mostly use plaintext/.md files, which I then access from different apps. The files are located in the folder for NotePlan, which I use it because it has good task and calendar support, so it fills the function of both Bear and Things. And compared to Obsidian and Logseq, it’s closer to Bear in terms of nice-ness — though not quite at that level.
Here are som apps I’d say are on that level, though:
These are apps that (mostly) adhere to principles of Fast Software, the Best Software, and are filled with details you might not appreciate at first glance.
Two (Ultra-Cheap) DI Boxes From China
One good, one terrible
Recently, I bought a couple of very cheap guitar pedals from China (through AliExpress). I’m working on making some pedalboards for some young family members, and I want to see how cheap I can get it without it being terrible.
My cousin plays the bass (like myself), so I would like to incorporate a DI box in his setup — so I ordered two different ones.
This Rowin DI (€20),
and this Dolamo DI (£16).
And the difference was huge!
🌱 What Makes Telegram Great
Chat apps: Part 2
People, myself included, will endlessly discuss the features and details of their favourite apps for email, calendar, task management and note-taking. But “no one” talks about chat apps — even though many people probably use this type of app even more. I recently wrote about this here, and that I think it’s a bummer that chat apps mostly rely on one of two things: Military-grade security, and lazy lock-in.
I, of course, get why it is like this: Network effects, and switching costs, are of course much higher with chat apps than other apps. A less reported on part of the EU’s Digital Market’s Act (DMA) is actually trying to do something about this, with the demand for chat interoperability! Matrix is also working on this.
However, as someone who’s used plenty of chat apps, one really stands out, in terms of quality and features — and that’s Telegram. I also regularly use iMessage and Messenger (in addition to a bit of Signal and WhatsApp) — and those feel like such a let-down by comparison. This post is me giving concrete examples of why. 1
This is not an endorsement of Telegram, nor the people behind it, though.
(By the way, click here to skip the preamble.)
When Was the Last Time You Heard Someone Discuss the "Quality" of a Chat App?
Chat apps: Part 1
What constitutes a “good” car? (Yes, “car” — I’ll get to chat apps, I promise!) If I were to answer for myself, I’d split it up into three factors (with one added as a bonus):
Luckily, the car market is pretty competitive — so there are plenty of options. And you don’t have to buy the same brand as your friends and family! But I want to compare it a bit to chat apps, and both the market and discussions surrounding them. Because even though most of us use chat apps numerous times every day, I’d argue both the market and discussions are lacking.
To me, it seems like most apps only have one of two value propositions —
even though I’d say all the factors from above applies to chat apps as well: Security (and, the connected, but separate, Privacy), Features, Comfort and sense of Quality, and Price. (The way we pay for chat apps is often with “personal data” and “viewing adds”.)
The first proposition is good ol' “Lock-in”
🌱 Some Scripts for Native Tagging of Markdown Files
One thing I like about Markdown is the way the files are just plain-text files, that can be opened and read in different programs and contexts. As much as I can, I try not to lock down my content, or workflows, into specific apps. But I still want to use nice apps! So sometimes I have to jump through a few hoops to make things interoperate. I’ll go into more detail on my workflows later — but I thought I’d share some scripts I use in one piece of the puzzle.
First, here’s what they do:
What I want is to be able to tag things in the different programs I use, and then automatically apply native Finder/Files tags to the files themselves. If I want to make three tags called “Bass guitar”, “Music” and “Effect pedals”, I would write #Bass guitar# #Music #Effect pedals#. (Notice how the multi-word ones also end with a #.)
The scripts come in three different flavours:
Does Apple "Care" About Our Privacy?
This post was originally a Mac Power Users thread.
One of the questions that started a discussion, was (paraphrased) whether Apple “cares about the privacy of its users”.
I think these are some important nuances to Apple’s decisions surrounding privacy:
And the billions they accept from Google, to make their search the default in Safari, is another example of the latter.
If Apple really cared about our privacy, they would, of course, choose a default that doesn’t track us — like DuckDuckGo. And it feels a bit hollow when they’re like “Yeah, we care about your privacy — but not like not-accept-$20-billion-for-free-care, you know!"
So, while I do think “privacy” is an argument for choosing Apple products, I think they’ve proven that they don’t care about our privacy. Whether that matters, is a different question! ☺️
(This discussion also spurred me to write about my search engine of choice, Kagi.)
🌱 My Search Engine Is Perhaps My Favourite Tech Service
There’s a lot of talk about Google Search these days — and how AI is affecting the search quality. Parts of the algorithm even leaked recently, showing that they’ve actively lied to the public. And the general discussions surrounding whether Google is getting worse, has been going on for way longer. But I’ve sidestepped this whole thing…
A while ago, in my quest to use less stuff from the largest tech companies (and due to privacy concerns), I used DuckDuckGo for over a year. But while I liked the design, I found myself having to type !g, and go to Google, to find what I was looking for.
Then I tried Neeva (RIP). And I liked that I didn’t have to scroll past ads, but the Norwegian results were terrible.
However, for the last two years, I’ve used Kagi Search — and ever since, it’s been one of my absolute favourite tech products. And yesterday they published a blog post called What is next for Kagi?, which I liked, and that spurred this post.
I like being the customer
Micro.blog's Amazing New Reply Feature
Both Micro.blog, and the Fediverse at large, sometimes feel like they’re just a few puzzle pieces away from being really great. And recently, Micro.blog added one of those pieces!
Because, you could already follow my blog, via the username @havn@micro.blog, on things like Mastodon. And if you saw one of my posts on your timeline, you could comment on it directly. However, it was a bit difficult to comment on it from the website here. But look at this beautiful piece as the bottom of my posts now:
And when you click through one of the links, you get sent back to the post and can add your comment.
🌱 Why I Use Fastmail
A couple of months ago, I “recruited” a friend to use the e-mail service Fastmail. And today, in a group chat, I “bragged” about me getting paid a sweet 50 cent (like it’s my birthday) for this! 1 🙌🏻
One of my friends, obviously very impressed by my business acumen, asked “Well, what’s your pitch for Fastmail?” — and this post is my answer to him! And if I’m lucky, I’ll get a whole dollar next month. 🙏🏻
Lovely Attention to Detail
I love unnecessary details. I know that, for many people, this has about zero value. But even if it doesn’t serve a function (and there is an argument for the example in the video below having a function), small things like this simply brings joy. For instance, my mom’s car is nicer than mine - and one of the small things, is that the thump you get when you close the door, is so much nicer! And software can give this feeling as well.
Two quick tips for apps (that I’ll write more about later) that has excellent feel: Bike and Paper
I mean, just look at the way the text moves in Bike! 😍