I’m not an expert, so take this as far as you’d like — reading has real benefits to our brains such as improving vocabulary, improving critical thinking skills, and improving focus. I don’t think short form videos give us the same brain benefits.

Here’s an article from Piedmont health on the benefits of reading. I haven’t seen such an article for short form videos, but am open to it if there is one.

https://www.piedmont.org/living-real-change/health-benefits-of-reading

On the other hand, the older I get, the more excited I am to greet the next day.

I also enjoy an earlier bed time than I used to, usually.

Ah damn, and it looks like almonds are grown mostly in California. Adding insult to injury.

California-grown almonds account for 80 per cent of the world’s commercial almond production.

(From https://davidsuzuki.org/living-green/the-best-plant-based-milks-for-the-planet/)

3 months ago I cancelled Spotify, following yet another price increase. I went to Tidal for the 2 month trial, and another month full price.

This month I cancelled Tidal, following their deprecation of Plex integration, my finding a couple tracks with bad meta data, and some other here-and-there’s where the service was lackluster.

I’m current on Apple Music.

I like that Apple Music has lossless, like Tidal did. The Apple Music algo seems a bit better so far, even comparing to Spotify or the last time I tried Apple Music (~3-4 years ago). And, one of the things I didn’t know I wanted, music videos for my morning jam time, are better with Apple Music.

I imagine I’ll be staying here for a while.

In my rural area’s 50 mile radius, there are just gas stations with to-go bags. The gas stations are, at best, convenience stores.

I uninstalled the app after seeing it was just an advertising opportunity for those gas stations.

Alternatively, if they are happy with their pro-grums, familiar with the interface, and not getting gouged worse than the next cable subscriber — consider letting it rest.

From things like being able to punch in a channel number to having the cable company to call for issues, folks in that generation might really prefer paying.

I’m basing this on my years of experience with a now 60-something and now 80-something. YMMV

Apple urges developers to not use DeviceCheck for anything beyond basic device verification, and if you’re a developer that’s also misusing it, then you should definitely cease that—there are probably more reliable ways to check whether it’s the same user trying to access an account from a device or not.

I don’t think I care about not being able to erase the device ID. It seems useful to have this, actually, for back-tracing if need be.

Snapchat probs shouldn’t use the DeviceCheck services improperly. But hey, that’s just like my opinion, man.

More, not very interesting, info on DeviceCheck services here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicecheck

It was probably Aspen Dental.

It’s not so much the motivation, but the just doing it. Shia has a great video on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsQAXx_ao0

Sonic sage playlists FTW

Similar - I signed up for my Spotify account with a VPN, as it was only available in Europe / UK / something like that. Have been paying for as long as I can remember.

With our family account, we had a house account, wife, mother, grandmother, and myself. In reality, only 2 of those accounts really got used.

The family verification emails were definitely annoying. But the yearly price hike with few important feature improvements, combined with things like audiobooks being for the primary account only, caused me to re-eval.

Now, my wife is on a student plan on Spotify, and I’m trialing Tidal. I expect to stick with Tidal based on lossless and higher pay for artists. If I don’t, I’ll likely swing over to Apple Music. Switching and migrating playlists is pretty painless, overall.

In any case, I’m glad I’m out of that abusive relationship with Spotify.

My thoughts exactly. I gain almost nothing with this design change, as compared to keeping the current or similar-to “bar” form and folding out from there.

I’m starting to have visions of Zoolander and his ridiculously small cell phone…

I just switched from Spotify to Tidal, and am enjoying lossless audio. We’ll see if I stay or go here.

It’s fun to try a new algorithm, too. I used SongShift to transfer my tracks and playlists (have been using that app for 5 years or so now).

I have a Soda Stream and use powders. The trick is to turn your powder into a “syrup” first.

Mix your powder with 1-2 oz of water, stir it well (I use a hand held milk frother), and then put that into your bubbly water.

They might miss out on the convenience of AirPlay, though. AFAIK you cant do DLNA streaming to the Apple TV.

AirPlay really bridges the gaps for me, wrt having any app available on my tv at any time.

Combined with steam connect, it’s a decent multi use box with solid, non-intrusive updates. Just wish the garden wasn’t so unnecessarily walled.

I’ve just started a Zulip POC and it’s been decent so far. Definitely resembles Discord.

Classic, “what the fuck did I do here and why did I think this was a good idea,” material.

I think you can find extremists on all platforms. But the thing that really turned me off is that 9/10 posts had to do with crypto. It’s just not my bag, and the folks on Nostr embrace it (even the platform itself, allowing bitcoin payments over the lightning network).

You forgot to talk about crypto in your post.

Seriously, it’s like the Crypto Corral over there. At least last I checked.

I think your response answers the question.

If configured correctly. Can be fast. IMO, once those statements are less conditional and prone to error, we might see the pro of privacy carry more weight.