Apple MacBook Air M4
Apple released a refreshed MacBook Air with the M4 processor and a new color—sky blue. And I’m not upset because the new color is my favorite or because it’s refreshed with the M4.
I’m upset because I could have gotten the 32GB RAM model for a lesser cost than what I paid for my MacBook Air. It’s a great time and price to buy a MacBook Air. This made me quickly compare it to other laptops, and honestly, nothing comes close to the MacBook Air, especially in terms of battery life and the performance the M-series chips deliver.
At $999 for the base model with 16GB of RAM, there is absolutely no competition for the Air.
Apple U(n)I(ntuitive)?
I always thought Apple UI to be very intuitive and well thought out. If there was one thing that Apple excelled at, it was that its critics hate them for - clarity on how to use their products through intuitiveness to the point that people felt they were being told how to use Apple products.
It seems that slowly that is fading off in the face of their new releases. One particular usecase I want to talk about is the widget situation/ today screen on iOS. Up until I think iOS18 the left most screen “overview screen” was where you would add all your widgets. But with the newer releases which provides users the ability to add widgets to whichever screen and wherever you want kind of causes a confusion.
Why do we have the overview screen? And what is its purpose now?
I like the overview screen, where I keep all the widgets I want to access on there. But now that widgets can also reside on any screen, I am kind of running into a situation where I feel like there is just too many repeated widgets spread across various display screens in various focus modes, and my overview screen.
And this also extends over to iPadOS and macOS. Where now I seem to be having duplicate widgets. It is starting to kind of get a bit annoying to get feeling that you are seeing the same widgets and information on multiple places.
It just seems unintuitive to me.
I like things more comparmentalized, which helps keep my mental model simple. Widgets-> Overview screen and apps in the home or display screens.
I know that customization is something that was marketed heavily but the sad part of that is I feel it is a neither here nor there kind of situation. You can customize focus modes and select which screens to show for each focus mode but still have one overarching overview screen. This is where everything starts to fall apart. Because now I have to deal with cognitive load of which widgets are part of overview screen and which ones part of the display screens. Leading to sometimes having repetitive widgets - causing annoyances for me from time to time.
While some people may enjoy this level of customization, I think the “half-and-half” nature of the current system just ruins the experience, causing more confusion for users.
Media consumption
The truth about Tariffs: The ultimate Guide to busting inflation myths
Vidaamuyarchi
The memes have been soft on this movie. Let us just leave it at that! I forced my wife into watching this movie with me and I think it would be a while before I can get her to agree on my choice of movie to watch.
Maintaining my dexterity with colemak and qwerty
I have been able to type at around 90 WPM on both QWERTY and Colemak. However, I have completely switched back to using QWERTY. From time to time, I entertain the thought of returning to Colemak, only to realize that it really isn’t worth the inconvenience.
Nonetheless, I’ve been able to maintain my speed with both layouts at 90 WPM. The key is simple: I practice occasionally whenever the thought of Colemak crosses my mind.
There is an underlying moral to this: had I stuck to just one layout, I might have achieved a much higher typing speed and had more time to explore other pursuits and hobbies. :)
Through the lens
