Matisyahu's Blog

I finally got myself motivated enough to head to the local tech store to buy a USB-C earphones – NZ$45 for some Samsung AKG EO-IC100 and so far they have been pretty good when combined with Poweramp Music Player and Equaliser I am getting some good audio quality, good bass, no distortion etc. although I am tempted to get a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter so I can use my Sennheiser headphones because on long journeys I find them a lot more comfortable but if I am on my scooter or a short commute to work on the train the earphones do the job quite nicely.

My scooter still has a flat tyre but I’m not in a hurry due to the foul weather which I have been avoiding because it is kind of dangerous on the road not to mention getting cold and wet before work isn’t good. There are plans to move from where I work now into the Wellington CBD but there are many things still up the air but if it does go ahead I’ll take the train in and thus avoid the danger on the road especially at peak time.

Oh, and the merchandise from the merdise store at work (I received a $100 gift voucher) – a jumper, socks, t-shirt and a beanie, all which will be nice to keep me warm when going into work. It is amazing I’ve been at the same place for 5 years and looking forward to many more years to come. Hopefully once I get things sorted out I’m going to invest into some shirts for work along with some new shoes – I’ll probably end up getting hush puppies because they’re the most comfortable.

Apple released an update for macOS 13.5.1 which fixes an issue in the Settings app regarding location settings – I never experienced the issue but then can I have some pretty much needs when using computers. I’m looking forward to Nothing OS 2 – the promise is that it’ll launch in August so hopefully we’ll see the update be made available the end of the moth. One thing to keep in mind with Nothing OS 2 is that it is based on Android 13 where as the Android 14 based Nothing OS is still currently in development. There is a video on YouTube that covered an alleged leaked version but assuming it is genuine I wouldn’t get my hopes up of radical changes, we’re at the point in the product cycle where smartphones are mature.

One thing to also keep in mind is that with the decoupling of Android from the kernel underneath allows OEM’s to maintain a stable kernel that can be carried over multiple versions of Android. Being able to stick with a particular kernel version avoids the chaos in the past of having to port drivers over to the new kernel version then test them along with the work being done with the Android framework that sits on top. For the Nothing Phone 1 the kernel still receives updates but it is sitting on linux version 5.4.210 where every bug and security fix is tested to ensure that ABI/API compatibility is maintained which is important for the drivers so that they can keep working without having to be recompiled or require major patching to get them to work again. The below video goes into greater detail: