The Art Of Not Asking Why

Not specifically an Apple thing, but Apple-emphasized. To put it simply, it’s Money. The way Apple splits people into can-haves and can’t-haves is financially clear and functionally obvious. Much of what Apple sells is.

Google is another example, with the state of their affordable phones/laptops (Chromebooks). They can utilize these better, but since it isn’t profitable to the company, these devices get the backseat. Meanwhile, tech journalists publish the Oohs and the Ahhs because most tech journalists are in the can-haves camp themselves.

I’m probably more agitated because in the past I wasn’t able to afford “luxury tech,” and later I was briefly a teacher to kids in similar situations. It’s also important to mention that Apple and other big tech companies kill independent shops which offer repairs and used devices for affordable prices.

Still, it gets worse. After we buy expensive tech, we keep buying it a bit every day by selling our data. The amount of information our tech spews about us to advertising companies is mind-numbing. I’d bet that if we had a law forcing companies to only sell data from people who opt-in for, say, 5% of the profits, a lot more people would be able to buy luxury tech.

So once again Apple “introduces” technology people can’t afford to do something they don’t need.

The last post makes me think I should write an update on how life’s been without (well, almost without) Google apps entirely on my Phone. Turns out it’s quite possible, and I barely miss it. And no, I didn’t switch to iPhone as a personal device :)

This morning I re-discovered the Wikipedia of digital maps: Openstreetmaps. I had an account there, but I haven’t used it in a while. Turns out the community is more active than I thought: a certain edit I made to a coffee shop a day ago was updated and adjusted an hour after I posted the extra information. It makes me consider contributing to the local maps in my area.

To recap: I’ve been using Organic Maps on my Android (thanks to Adam), which I recently wiped to install GrapheneOS.

self-portrait of NK by NK - from Florence

Added some of my old posts from the old blog and realized that the time on those is all around midnight. I use the schedule post option in MB, and while I scheduled a day for the past, I didn’t schedule a time.

Another thing I learned: footnotes, which I used to use on my old blog, still work here in MB. Emacs converts those to lines of HTML when I export to markdown and it works fine. I need to adjust the CSS around those a bit, but otherwise it works fine.

At my usual corner, taking a sip, having a thought.

A few additions to my wiki today on the more technical side of things. A new CaptainLog as well.