Category: Modern problems

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Rain & Thunder on a Saturday evening.

The thunder & lightening in the sky mirrors my mood at the moment, But I love it so much I’m calming down rapidly enjoying the sound of rain on the roof, and rumbling in the sky.

It’s so calming for me. Even Jesse seems to be enjoying it. He’s curled up in the chair, head on the arm snoozing. He’s completely unbothered by the noise and that bodes well if we move someplace in the future that has weather.

What had me raging was I love the modern age!

NOT!

I’ve finally gotten to the point that I’m ready to donate Jerry’s car to a charity organization. It’s got over 300K miles on it, still runs, (although at the moment the battery is dead.) Nothing though that a little time on the battery charger wouldn’t fix.

So, I called the same veterans donation organization I called last year to get rid of the dead trucks. 

Last year, getting rid of two trucks took one phone call to these folks. They collected the information, and they scheduled the pickup date in one phone call. They showed up on time, we filled out some paperwork and that was that. Military precision and efficiency.

96 hours later they sent me an email telling me what the trucks had sold for at auction and appropriate tax information.

It was a good experience. So I called them again on Thursday.

This time I was talking to a heavily accented Indian woman. Sigh…Last year it was an American dude, possibly a veteran. This year there was question after question and the woman was having a hard time understanding the answers. Last year, the guy answering the phone answered with the name of the organization I was donating to. The questions were few and straight forward.

This year the woman answered the phone as some weird donation firm and when I asked if she was part of the actual organization I was trying to donate to, she hemmed and hawed about it then said she was part of some donation clearing house that would direct my donation to the proper organization. Uhh, Okaaaay.

She didn’t schedule anything, she said someone would be calling me later. They didn’t call, they sent 4 text messages, and 3 emails. From a completely different organization. Okaaaay. One of the emails had a link to schedule the pickup. I clicked  the link and scheduled a pickup for Monday. I got 2 more text messages and an email confirming the pickup date.

I heard nothing on Friday from any of the (now three) organizations.

This morning I was out walking the dog, then came home dropped him off at home and went out to run some errands. At some point my phone must’ve rung, but I didn’t hear it and didn’t look at my phone until I got home.

There was a voicemail, again heavily accented that said, “I’m calling you regarding your vehicle to be picked up.” That was it, nothing else.

AND????

About the time I’m thinking what the hell, and fuming about the complete lack of telephone etiquette, I get another text message and an email from the third organization saying that the pickup had been cancelled.

The email was asking if I still wanted to donate.

What the actual FUCK? Now I’ve got four different organizations involved in this chain of Clusterfuckery™ and apparently the vehicle is not going to be picked up.

Well yes, I do still want to donate the vehicle, but not to you!

What the hell is wrong with people? Do they not think that perhaps someone might have other things to do than exist to answer their phone calls?

I’ll find someone else, preferably someone that does not involve any of the last three organizations.

I mean, why is everything so damn complex?

Oh well, back to listening to the thunder and rain on the roof.

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Interesting. The rush for new iphones & watches doesn’t seem as fevered this year.

Something I watch after each Apple iPhone release is the backlog.

I had to wait for weeks when I wanted to get an iPhone 12. It was almost 2 months when I got my Apple 5s.

I had to wait for almost a month to get my Apple Watch Ultra. They just weren’t available. I got my ultra because I happened to duck into a store to look at their display model and found they had a few in stock. It wasn’t the band color I wanted, but I had the unit in hand and bought it knowing I had a collection of bands at home from previous Apple Watches.

This year, yes, there are shortages in some stores but nothing like in years past. It looks like I could head down to my local Apple Store, or my preferred Apple Store in Orange County & pick up a new watch and phone today if I was of a mind to.

We’re less than one full week out from the release date. In years past, no-one would have stock.

I see two possibilities. 1) Apple is better anticipating the demand, 2) Folks aren’t running out to drop a ton of money on the new products.

Perhaps it’s a combination of both.

I might replace my current Ultra, I’m thinking about it. My watch is 3 years old. My phone is 2 years old. Technically I could replace both without thinking too much about it. The watch battery is showing signs of age but it still gets me through a day and then some, more or less.

Apple Watch Ultra on Wrist Pocket My phone is showing signs of normal battery degradation but it’s not annoying me, generally speaking it does what I want it to do, with power lasting until bedtime.

In both instances, I’m intrigued by the new features but not enough to be drooling or demanding Apple take my money.

The trade in values do tend to make upgrading a tad more attractive. I wonder if other people are in the same boat?

Maybe people are starting to question the yearly rush to get the new “shiny”. Or maybe people are seeing that the products are kind of iterative and that waiting multiple years between upgrades gives them more value for their dollar.

I’m interested in the AirPods Pro 3. I’ve really enjoyed my version 2s and an update in that area would be welcome.

It’s just interesting to note that the rush doesn’t seem to be as intense as it’s been in the past.

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For the first time in a very long while…

I’m actively considering downgrading from an Apple update.

IOS 26 is pretty on my phone. It’s also pretty on my watch. But it’s very annoying.

Notifications half the time don’t show up on either my watch or my phone. Sometimes on one but not on the other, and sometimes on both. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.

I’ve checked and rechecked the settings and all the troubleshooting steps I can think of, and those suggested by Apple. Even turning off the “New” features doesn’t help.

How they could fuck up something that worked so well, is beyond me. I mean phone calls, and messages from known contacts not ringing? REALLY? That’s kind of basic stuff.

Thing is, it’s not any glaring “This is IT,” issue. It’s death by a thousand cuts. It’s little things.

For example, when starting a workout on my watch. In IOS18 I’d hit the action button on my ultra, that would take me to a list of workouts I’d done in the past. It was logically sorted by most frequent. I could tap the workout I was going to do and be off.

Now, hitting the action button takes me to the last workout I did. FULL SCREEN, No list, with a “Play” button.

If I want to select something else, I’ve got to roll the crown to see other selections.

They added an un-necessary complication to the process. The previous way was clean, direct, and simple.

It’s a minor thing, but it’s annoying. Then on the phone side you’ve got live activities which is fine and maybe even useful. But if you open the fitness app even after you’ve completed a workout and stopped it using the watch, there’s a screen showing the summary of that completed workout with a green check in the upper right hand corner.

Okay, but what I wanted out of the fitness app was something completely different, and now I’m forced to press the green checkmark to get to the underlying data screens in the fitness app.

Again another unnecessary step.

The whole of the OS is filled with extra, unnecessary steps that make working with my phone like answering 50 questions at a damn gas pump.

I just want gas! Take my money and turn on the fucking pump!

I’m not having a battery drain issue with my phone as so many others are, Because I’m not using it. Really, I’ve noticed I’m going to my computer for even the slightest bit of information.

Maybe this is just settling in stuff. Maybe I’ll get used to it. But I don’t need an interrogation from a device that is supposed to be my assistant, every time I interact with it.

Maybe this is just the age we live in.

Even researching the roll back process is annoying. I entered a search on how to roll back then found an article from Macobserver, fine. I tapped on the link, then Macobserver wanted age verification. WHAT? Then they wanted me to click on a check box the proved I was human. Then cloudflare pops up with a “Verifying” dialog and I still hadn’t gotten to the fucking article.

Why does everything have to be so complicated? I bailed on their page and made a different selection. Even then I was pounded with cookie notifications, an AI chat box to help answer my question, a Google login prompt, and some EU notification. ALL OF WHICH prevented me from reading a text article related to the question I asked. I couldn’t even see the title of the article to verify if it was what I actually wanted.

I bailed on that page, and went to the next listing in line. Finally! There was an article describing the process without all the bullshit!

Maybe I’m just cross.

Then again, maybe I’m just sick of bullshit at every turn of my existence.

It looks like downgrading from IOS 26, while possible, has a rather high risk of fucking up my phone, and data. I’ll have to reach a much higher level of annoyance before I undertake that project.

It’s got me thinking though.

I’m convinced that dumping the web hosting and this blog entirely, is in fact the right thing for me to do. It’s become such a headache I’m not interested anymore.

Between endless demands from the EU regulators to verify the owner and contact information on every single web domain, and them telling me that they’re implementing new rules to protect the delicate sensibilities of their members. I’m over it.

Gee Thanks Obama! You fucking moron! Turning over the domain registration to the EU was a fucking brilliant idea!

Well, the internet was a good idea, while it lasted…

I wonder if I can still get a print version of Encyclopedia Britannica? Why yes… it’s 2K on Amazon.

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On a lighter note…

IOS 26 logo-3903750623.I’ve got all my Apple devices set to automatically update. 

Last night I noticed my iPad telling me that there was an update to the current iPad OS and an update to iPad OS 26. 

Without thinking I pressed the update this evening button. In retrospect I seem to recall that I wanted the latest security update to my current iPad OS, but I probably “Fat Fingered” it and said do iPad OS 26. I couldn’t figure out how to undo the selection and figured, “what the hell”. I went ahead and answered all the new OS questions then put the iPad down. I even remembered to plug it in.

This morning I’ve got a single device that’s got the new OS 26. That includes the journaling app. So now I can type with an actual keyboard to make journaling entries instead of using iPhone mirroring.

Much more direct and a pretty nice experience.

After playing around with the new OS, for a while I decided, “What the hell?” I’m in the process of updating all the devices in the house.

Highlander rules apply, “There can be only one!”

This is going to take some time. The computer, phone, HomePods, and Apple TVs are pushing the router and my fiber connection pretty darn hard. Having the iPad already updated makes the HomePods easier because it can initiate (and monitor) that process without worry of it rebooting.

In a few hours, I’ll have a unified OS experience and if it screws up, I’ve got yesterday’s backups. Wish me luck.

While I’m waiting, I can use the iPad for other computer things that need to get done.

Generally I like the new OS on the iPad. I’ve had to make some tweaks to the Home Screen and it’s different when I switch from one app to another. I’m not sure I like that as much as the old way, but it’s not a show stopper and it may just be that I’m used to the old way. Some of the apps are hanging around on the very edge of the screen. It’s not like “Stage Manager” but it looks like they’re trying to remind you that something else is running in the background. Or it could be a bug. I don’t know for sure. I’ve seen my iPad do this kind of thing in the past and restarting it made the problem go away.

I should have restarted the iPad after the update was complete. I’ll do that as soon as I have another device up & running completely.

The Liquid Glass appearance is nice although I’ve gone for a solid appearance of the time when I first open the iPad case. The liquid appearance is a little too busy due to my background.

If you can’t reach me for the next hour or three. Leave a message. 

Have a good day.

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Tomorrow is new OS day

I was going to say Apple Christmas, but that actually starts on the 19th or a couple of days later when shipments of new iPhones start showing up.

Looks like this year I may update my Ultra. It’s got the O2 Sensing back online although it’s not on device like it was in the original Ultra. They’ve supposedly shifted the computations over to the iPhone to get around Massimo’s patent lawsuit.

Massimo has responded by filing suit against that too. But the sensors are still there, the appeals are still pending, and Massimo hasn’t figured out that they could make a hell of a statement by simply saying, “Hey, we’re a healthcare monitoring company. We make a ton of devices used in the medical industry and are interested in making everyone’s health better. To that end, Apple can use the disputed technology freely with the proviso that they make mention of our company’s technological innovations. Upon which the blood O2 sensing in the Apple Watch is based.”

It would be a hell of a PR move, save everyone time and money, end a bitter dispute, and put Massimo front and center, in a positive light. Yeah, Apple may have gotten away with something, but the larger win might be worth it and their case may have been enough to make Apple less likely to play around without paying patent royalities.

At this point the only people getting rich in this dispute are the legal firms anyway.

There are rumors that Massimo is spinning off their consumer monitoring device into a separate company or division, probably in an attempt to isolate their actual medical division from the legal conflict.

I’d bet Apple would go for it. America is the only country where they have to disable the onboard sensors. I’m not sure, but I think the EU courts told Massimo to go pound sand.

The new Ultra has other features that make it a decent upgrade to the Ultra v1.

Still deciding about it. And I’ve got plenty of time. Pre-Orders are reporting 8 – 12 weeks out for delivery. I’ll be interested to see what the initial reports are from people who get the first units.

The iPhone 17 Pro is also interesting. It seems that I’m only interested in iPhones when they have blue as an available color. The cameras (front & back) are vast improvements over what I’ve got in my current phone. The battery life and cooling system are also of interest. My phone gets a little toasty in some use conditions. Fortunately, I don’t encounter those conditions often enough to have it be a pain in my butt, however it would be nice to not have to concern myself with those situations at all.

I’ll give it some thought, maybe I’ll just wait for another “Blue” year.

Given the change back to an aluminum frame, maybe I’ll wait & see what the real world usage feedback is, before making a move. It’s a very expensive product and if mine is working fine, perhaps waiting another couple of years wouldn’t hurt.

Probably the most interesting thing is the AirPod Pro 3. I really like my AirPod Pro 2s. They’ve been out for a few years now. It’s likely the improvements will make me demand Apple take my money.

Better heart rate sensing during workouts would be welcome. I’m pretty confident I understand why my heart rate is all over the place when I’m walking or doing other activities in colder seasons just using my watch. Perhaps a secondary set of sensors would prevent the dropouts. But cold is cold and the human body is always going to divert blood flow away from the body surfaces to maintain core temperature.

It’s possible the ear canal works the same way. Equally possible is that heart rate measured at the ear canal would be less affected, since the body is going to keep the brain fed as a priority.

The improvements to sound quality is a win, and translation functions might be very interesting. I wonder if people will be less likely to be nasty if they realize everyone around them knows what they’re saying even if it’s in another language? Likewise, I wonder if Apple translation will be adapted to translate some of the urban speech that now sounds more like another language as well.

Rough math, if I updated everything. It’s the cost of a new laptop. Wow!

Then again, the power of the phones in our pockets has eclipsed the first few laptops I owned very significantly.

The question probably comes down to “So I need that kind of computing horsepower in my pocket, or on my wrist?” Better questions to ask might be in the arena of tracking, and privacy. Having a smart assistant in my pocket opens the door for having that assistant “rat me out” to someone who is not my friend.

I’m not sure I’ll update to the new OS immediately. Maybe I’ll wait for my devices to do it automatically. It’s likely that waiting for the automatic update to take place will take a week or so, that might allow me to avoid the inevitable first release bugs.

We’ll see.