Matisyahu's Blog

Over the last month or so I’ve been getting my life back on track with the first big focus being getting myself healthy after a bit of health scare. My focus has been on counting carbs and calories with an emphasis on having a low carb diet and eating more protein (from a variety of sources) which help one to keep feeling full for longer. So far I’ve noticed the weight gradually dropping off and combine that with walk each day (nothing strenuous) I’m focusing on getting myself down to a healthy weight. It is the one reason I’m not buying a replacement scooter straight away after the accident because one of the benefits of weight loss is being to choose from a wider variety of 50cc scooters. I’ll get my drivers licence updated because it expires towards the end of January 2025 – a drivers licence is always a handy ID when I need to show it for whatever reason.

I’ve been using Google Workspace for a few months because I have found that the 3 alias for custom domain hosting on iCloud is limiting hence the reason I’ve gone with Google Workspace which supports up to 30 aliases with the cost being only slightly more than the 2TB iCloud option. During the time I’ve been saving up because if one is going to use Chrome and Google Workspace then one might as well go ‘all in’ on the Google ecosystem rather than straddling two platforms and getting a janky experience (the Chrome on IOS is just a shell over the Webkit engine included with iOS because Apple doesn’t allow third party web engines on iOS outside of the European Union). I’ve bought a few things recently, the first being a Google TV Streamer and I’ve set it up Kodi along with downloading the addons for New Zealand – able to get all the channels I want to watch. There is also the other benefit of it having a USB-C port on the back so it is possible to put video files on an external hard disk, hooking it up and playing it through it rather than trying to get casting from one device to another working.

I also ordered a Pixel 9 Pro XL at the same time (I’ll be buying the Chipolo for Android soon to replace the Airtags) and have moved back to using Skinny Mobile – I installed all the latest updates as well as upgrading to Android 15 and so far things have been very reliable. One thing I did find that was strange was back when I had a Nothing Phone 1, when I tried to copy my music over to my phone using OpenMTP the transfer speeds were very slow and unreliable (the app would hang, the phone would disconnect, errors would be thrown) however when I plugged the Pixel 9 Pro XL into my Mac Studio and loaded up OpenMTP then copied some music over the music was copied within seconds, I copied my whole music library which is around 40GB and everything copied over perfectly. Part of the move to Android will mean replacing my Airtags with Chipolo for Android – I’ll buy a 4 pack of them Mighty Ape but I’m in no great rush.

I am looking at maybe getting a replacement security camera setup in the future – one that can run on PoE (Power over Ethernet) that is compatible with Google but I’m in no hurry for that. Long story short, I’ve had an adventurous week so far.