• I think I might hate iOS even more than Windows, though.

This is why iPads frustrate me so much these days. The hardware is more than capable of running a decently powerful OS, but Apple are insistent on crippling them with a big version of iOS. iOS is fine on an iPhone where the limited screen size means I have no particular desire to do anything too complicated, but the same restrictions on an iPad feel like Apple don’t really know how to reconcile what the device can do with not wanting to pull customers away from Macs. I was unexpectedly gifted a 6th gen mini last week which is in front of me as I type and which I’m not entirely sure what to do with.

Yes, they really do. There were a few years of fuckups and questionable decisions, but by and large the devices they make are absolutely solid.

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro at home that’s running Monterey via Opencore as well as if it was still supported. Until recently I was using a 2015 MBP that was absolutely faultless. I now have an M2 Air that may have some issues down the line that haven’t come to light yet, but it seems unlikely. I have two Mac minis at work, a 2011 and a 2014 that are still absolutely capable for the level of work I ask of them. I’m typing this on one of them.

In terms of iPhones/iPads; I’ve had 7 iPhones and 5 iPads over the years, and the only hardware problems I’ve experienced with them have been of my own doing (broken screens, water damage, etc…).

So yeah, the 2016-2019 MacBooks had shitty keyboards and questionable I/O decisions, but otherwise the hardware was absolutely top tier.

And with Apple you can’t choose and pick like with PC. When they decide to try silly things like the touch bar you are stuck with them for years.

This is kind of a weird argument. You can’t choose which keyboard you get with any laptop.

All of this stuff makes me sad. As a long(ish)-time Apple user, it’s been sad to see them go full throttle into hyper-capital mode. They’re literally the wealthiest company on the planet because they’ve spent the past twenty years figuring out how to nickel and dime their customers. Hell, even when I bought my first MacBook back in '07, the guy in the Apple Store suggested getting the RAM upgrade elsewhere because Apple prices were ridiculous even then. Everyone knows they didn’t go with soldered RAM and storage for the performance gains…

But they make incredible hardware, so I tolerate all that shit, making me complicit in the fuckery.

I saw my wife playing this years ago, and always fancied having a go, but never got around to it.

So a few months back we got it going so it could stream to our Apple TV and off I went. Spent a few weeks playing it in the evenings and having a nice time.

Then Ubisoft put out an ‘update’ to it, that broke it completely. A massive update for a ten year old game. Cunts.

So I guess I’ll never finish it, because fuck Ubisoft.

In theory, any MP3 player / DAP that can have music loaded onto it by drag and drop could work with your iPad (assuming you have the means to connect it, of course).

But there are a number of things to consider.

Firstly; storage. Obviously, your iPad doesn’t have expandable storage, so depending on the size of your collection, you might run out of space. Using the same method you’ll need to connect the player to your iPad, you can hook up an external drive of some description. Files should be able to see it (as long as it’s formatted to exFAT or FAT). From there, using Files you can simply drag from one place to another.

However, this doesn’t allow you to change metadata or anything. There are apps you can download that will allow you to do it, but it can be a pain in the ass if you’ve got quite a bit of music.

Finally, there’s where you get the music from.

If you buy from somewhere like Bandcamp, then you can download directly to your iPad, though they don’t make it easy. You can’t buy from iTunes because the app won’t let you open them in Files. Torrents are obviously out, so is CD ripping, as there are no CD drivers for iPad that I’m aware of.

So while it’s entirely possible to run a DAP with just an iPad, it’s kind of a pain in the arse, unless you already have a ready supply of music and it’s either already tagged well, or you don’t really care about that sort of thing. As others have suggested, it might be just as easy for you to pick up a cheap PC. It doesn’t need to have any bells and whistles, just the ability to store music and have some way of managing the library.

But a million people haven’t done that with an iPad, because until now no iPad was able to receive video input. That’s the point of the article.

Can it run Doom?

I picked up a 13 Mini back in March, and will ride this bad boy for as long as I can, in the hope that Apple eventually release another Mini model.

So perhaps it’s true that we hold onto our little phones for longer, primarily because we’re waiting for another little phone to come along.

Thank you x

Yeah, my reaction to losing them is a good chunk of why my wife suggested not getting any more. I don’t deal with it very well. I go to pieces, quite frankly. When I took Feegle for his last trip a few months ago, the vet’s receptionist asked if I wanted to wait in a quiet room, no doubt because my sniffling and dribbling was putting off the other customers.

But Feegle was adorable.

Of the five we had, Wilbur was by far and away the pointiest of nose, and the most questionable of parentage, but I still loved him. He could yoink a Cheerio like nobody’s business.

This was Nac, Mac, and Feegle, at about eight months old, I think.

It was really hard to take good photos of them…

You’re wrong.

No, it hasn’t.

you are a beautiful and lovely person

Bold of you to assume!

Sometimes it’s easiest to think about what we have evolved to do, and compare that against societal expectations of us. By which I mean, as little as a thousand years ago, “staying informed” meant being up to date on the goings on in your village or town, with a vague notion of there being a wider world out there which was the purview of other people.

Over those past thousands years, our brains have barely evolved, but the sheer volume of information we’re expected to take on, has.

So ask yourself whether you have the capability to keep on top of All The News without it getting you anxious? And if you decide that you can’t, then give yourself permission to detach. Listen to one news bulletin a day so you can have a vague notion of events, but bear in mind that there’s almost nothing you can do to affect those events. War in Ukraine? What can you personally do to solve it? Not a lot, I wouldn’t have thought. Earthquake in Syria? Did you cause it? Can you travel to Syria to help dig people out? Seems unlikely. Hell, even if you were in a different bit of Syria, the chances are high that you couldn’t afford to take time away from work to go and offer help.

You’re not a bad person if you disengage.

Stay up to date on local news, be mindful of what your friends and family are up to, but you have no obligation AT ALL to ‘Stay Informed’ if it harms your mental health.

Meanwhile, the UK this summer would be a solid dark blue.

As others have said, there’s always an adjustment period, and before you know it you’ll be doing it without even thinking about it.

When I started at my current workplace five years ago, I was out of shape after spending almost ten years either at uni, or in a succession of office jobs. So going back on my tools as a welder was a massive shock that I wasn’t really expecting. But suddenly, six months or so in, I realised that I was finding the work much less physically demanding, which felt really gratifying. I wasn’t fit by any means (I never have been), but fit enough to do the work.

Then, 18 months ago I got promoted to a desk job, and I’m fat as shit again. I’d be fucked after a day back on my tools.

I disagree. Linus shooting from the hip and making himself look an even bigger ass is incredibly entertaining.

Perhaps, but I see it as indicative of the problem in general. A slapdash attitude where they don’t pause for a second to consider what they’re actually doing, which, you’d think they might try and do under a 20 minute video where they grovel and scrape and beg forgiveness.

Hold up…LMG has an OF? Why? Is Linus getting his dick out to show the size of their fucking screwdriver?