Matisyahu's Blog

As mentioned previously I went to the App Store and saw that macOS hadn’t been updated to 15.5 but out curiosity today I clicked on ‘Get’ to see whether it would download 15.4.1 or whether it would download the latest version being 15.5 and it appears that although it says 15.4.1 on the App Store it downloads the latest version of macOS straight from Apple. I’ve updated the USB installer so I’m all good to go if I need to do a clean install without having to depend on an internet connection.

I had a look at PB Tech for the UDR 7 and UniFi U7 Pro access point to replace my existing setup of a UDM and Unifi AP AC HD primarily because I’d like to take advantage of the greater local network bandwidth when it comes to throwing around files. I’ve put a question to the experts over in Geekzone primarily because I get kind of nervous when I see early adoption of technologies based on past behaviour of wifi vendors adopting a technology when it hasn’t been fully finalised which can cause compatibility problems down the road (people around my age will remember the draft-n adopted by some which caused problems down the track). The big question is whether I order it from a New Zealand vendor who never seems to have it in stock or do I just buy it direct from Ubiquiti then get it sent to YouShop then from YouShop to New Zealand so then at least I’m not waiting for an eternity. I am also looking at the possibility of setting up some PoE security cameras to replace the current Arlo setup which relies on batteries which require regular recharging where as the Ubiquiti security cameras use PoE and integrate into the UniFi ecosystem.

On the issue of networking, I am looking around at providers to see what they have to offer when compared to what my provider is offering today. At the moment I am currently with Skinny but I am looking at 2 Degrees or One NZ with the benefit of 2 Degrees being their interconnections with cloud providers I use for work along with support for IPv6 along with a potential deal between power, internet and mobile phone service. I was tempted to go with 2 Degrees but their electricity charges are more than what I am paying at the moment even with the discount per month that they’re offering.

Just having a look through the cost of building my own computer – if I were ever going to jump ship it would be a ASUS AMD based for a laptop and for the desktop I would build my own since I’d prefer to go all AMD (CPU and GPU) – the question is whether I go with Windows 11 or Fedora Linux. On one hand Windows 11 has the benefit of a large array of titles, better hardware support and integration with the Android ecosystem (if I were to move I would also change phones) but with Linux there are fewer dramas such as not having to log into a Microsoft account. That being said, I have to admit, even if I grow weary of the iPhone or Apple TV I’ll end up sticking with macOS for the long term because the alternative is so much worse. I like to keep my options open even if it means trying to get different ecosystems to work together.

Regarding the whole AI/Apple Intelligence, I can help but feel as though the media has created a storm in a tea cup, that the only people who really care about AI/Apple Intelligence are those in the media echo chamber who have convinced themselves that AI is the most important thing that every end user wants. The reality is that when you get out in the real world and talk to ordinary people, apart from the novelty of mucking around with ChatGPT for ‘shits and giggles’ the reality is that most people haven’t got it listed in the top 10 things they must have when deciding which smart phone to buy. For me, when it comes to WWDC I’m more concerned about Apple getting the basics done right rather than flights of fancy around AI that serve little or no benefit to most people. When it comes to the basics I am referring to iCloud integration such as improving Mail app/iCloud reliability, improving web extensions support in Safari, improving the standards compliance of the Webkit core along with many other shortcomings.