🌱 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
An Introduction to Mad Max
I recently saw a film poster to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - so I thought I’d might watch Mad Max: Fury Road again. I think I remembered it being pretty good - but after rewatching it, I thought: “Uhm, I think this is the best film I’ve ever seen??"
So I’ve spent some time the last two weeks getting into the Mad Max Franchise. I’ve always known about it, but never really had a relationship to it. But now I’m a fan!
I’m not going into why Fury Road is so amazing here. Instead I’m going to give some pointers on how to get into the series.
Worth your time
There are many famous franchises out there - but most of them take a little lifetime to get into. There’s so much Star Wars/Trek, Game of Thrones or Marvel stuff out there. But Mad Max is much more manageable, and the high notes are so great, that it’s absolutely worth your time.
You can absolutely just watch Fury Road, without doing anything else before it. If you’re going that route, you can read this little footnote for a tiny bit of background. 👉🏻 1
I watched Fury Road blind, and then went back to the three old ones - but it could also be fun to simply watch them in chronological order!
Mini reviews of the first three
Things I Enjoyed Recently #1
Here are some of the things I enjoyed this week. (I hope this can be a recurring thing!)
This moving Reddit thread
Married men: What, if anything, are you unable or unwilling to share fully openly and honestly about yourself with your spouse?
Some threads are funny, others sad. In general it’s all wholesome, though, with a bunch of dudes being supportive and open with their emotions. Two things men could do more of. 1
The new Dua Lipa Album
Just a rock solid pop album. Good stuff!
The first Razorlight album
This is such a solid indie pop album, that I had totally forgotten.
This 2 hour long video game video
“The 100 Games That Taught Me Game Design” by Game Maker’s Toolkit is both enlightening and entertaining!
Mad Max
I think I might want to see Furiosa in the cinema - so I rewatched Mad Max: Fury Road. And I think I’ll go as far as saying it’s my favourite movie. I mean, how can you make a better action movie!? I’m not a movie buff, though - so if you have movie tips you think I’ll like if I love this, please come with them!
I’ve also watched, and liked, the first two in the series. The hype for the second one is very warranted! Its influence on everything post-apocalyptic can’t be overstated - and I was very impressed over what they managed to do with the available budget and technology.
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! 😍