I found this amazing piece of software called ‘Mimestream’ (link) which uses the GMail API which means it properly deals with labels, it uses a push based API which means you get notified when new mail arrives rather than the mail application having to poll the server in the background which should help when it comes to battery life on laptops. So far, even at 0.7.0c it is very stable with new releases being made available on almost a weekly basis (sometimes quicker than that). It’ll definitely be at the top of my ‘to buy’ list once it is released but even at the beta stage it is very reliable (keeping in mind I’m not a hardcore email user). There is work on adding address and calendaring functionality so it sounds like the long term goal is to turn it into something akin to Outlook but for GSuite/Workspaces.

I’ve been following UDM (UniFi Dream Machine) firmware development and I have to admit that at this stage I am pretty disappointed. The standard firmware that comes with a UDM (1.5.7) doesn’t support my ISP out of the box which necessitated the need to upgrade it to the latest beta version which introduces its own set of issues regarding bugs relating to memory leaks etc. At this point I am very tempted to looking at getting three Google Nest Wifi routers then daisy chaining them together using ethernet cables under the house which would give a strong coverage for the whole house. The big problem is about getting the ethernet cables installed – I wouldn’t be able to fit under the house but I’d be more than happy to pay someone $100 cash in hand to get under the house thread the cables through because once it is threaded through it’ll all be sorted. That being said, I’ll wait and see what Ubiquiti ends up deciding to do because it is a great kit but it really isn’t living up to its full potential at the moment.

I’m looking forward to the Chromecast with Google TV to arrive because at the moment I’m using my televisions built in software (Tizen since it is a Samsung television). It is ‘ok’ in terms of ‘it does the job’ but the responsiveness is bad not to mention that it doesn’t support 5GHz wifi so I have to enable it on my access point. Looking at all the videos on YouTube it appears to be as fluid as Apple TV (maybe they’ve migrated over to Flutter for the UI?). I’ve sold my Apple TV, bought the Chromecast with Google TV and I’m $150 up which will enable me to pay for my new tyre so I’m a happy lad.