I love having a weekend that is zero drama and doesn’t require me to do anything more than the bare minimum. I went for a long walk last night and then came back had a small nap then woke up, went down to the supermarket to pick up a few items then came back home to have a small snooze and then I went for another walk tonight before having a shower then jumping into bed to watch some videos. It was an uneventful day – exactly the way I like it.
After a brief period of quiet Ubiquiti have pushed out updates and early access builds for their devices – from the cloud key through to the gateway devices. The gateway (non-cloud) has been updated to 4.3.1 which has the feature parity of 4.3.9 – at the moment it is a release candidate but generally after 7 days, assuming there are no showstopper bugs, it is upgraded to a stable release then gradually rolled out. There is also an early release for the U7 access points and from what it looks like it’ll probably be the 8.2.x version that’ll end up getting released. At the moment MLO is a bit iffy (based on what I read in the comments section, and it is marked as an early access feature) so I’ve left it turned off. For me I’ve got a rock solid Wi-Fi connection from my laptop so no complaints from me.
uBlock Origin Lite has received an update to uBlock Origin Lite 2025.928.1920 and funny enough Chrome received the update before Microsoft Edge which is a little out of the unusual. AdGuard 5.2.80 was made available for Chrome (on Edge it is still on the MV2 version but I’d say that they will move to MV3 once Microsoft no longer supports MV2). I’ve stuck with AdGuard because I’ve come across weird situations where the webpage will hang when using it where as uBlock Origin Lite doesn’t display the same sort of behaviour. I wonder whether the difference is due to uBlock Origin Lite being a pure DNR based content blocker where as AdGuard relies using its own in-house way of doing things.
Thank goodness that day is over – having to deal with a customer who blames us for their screw up and yes I understand a person can be frustrated but when you’re a fully grown adult you should be able to first take responsibility for your screw up and secondly to control the ‘big feelings’ that you’re having in regards to what took place. After dealing with that particular individual I needed to go for a walk to work that stress out of my system so I went for a nice long walk which took me past the foreshore where I enjoyed some nice sea breeze not to mention that tonight wasn’t frigidly cold so the experience was a lot more enjoyable than in the past. While I was on my walk I dropped in to the petrol station to pick up a drink and a light nibble on my way home – had a bit of a craving for something sweet.
Funny enough, on my way home I noticed that a lot of road work being done, the bike path being built along the train track is being built through to Melling which will link up with the new Melling interchange. Personally they need to go all the way and address the intersection where the Kennedy Good Bridge is along with the Silverstream turn off so then it is possible to have the Hutt Highway to be completely free of lights from Wellington all the way to Masterton. While I’m dreaming, how about a tunnel for vehicles and trains out to Wainuiomata (it was talked about decades ago) along with connecting up the Melling line to the Hutt Valley line at Manor Park (maybe even double track it) so that there can be an express bypass from Masterton straight into Wellington or move freight service to that line resulting in the freeing up capacity on the Hutt Valley line for more frequent service. While I’m dreaming, maybe upgrade to 25KV overhead wires then eventually electrify the whole rail network…I guess one can always dream.
Another day in paradise – working from home then as I am able to finish my shift it starts raining then it stops then it starts again and then it stops. Long story short I decided I wasn’t going to go for a walk and tempt fate so I decided to stay at home and have a quiet nice inside watching Real Time with Bill Maher along with catching up with a few other television shows. Bill Maher can be disagreeable at times but part of life is a willingness to hear the other side of the argument to understand their train of though rather than having an understanding based on a strawman.
There have been several YouTube channels covering the leak of One UI 8.5 rearly builds but it falls inline with the plans surrounding Android 16 which was scheduled to be a two part release with the first release upgrading the underling frameworks (which is why One UI 8 was a rather a minor upgrade) then the second release (which is what One UI 8.5 is shaping up to be) being the apps and user interface changes that make use of the new underlying frameworks. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with One UI 8.5 but I’d say that when Samsung S26 is released it’ll be based on One UI 8.5 and then One UI 9.0 will be released when Android 17 is released but then again we may see One UI 9.0 being based on Android 16 and then One UI 10.0 based on Android 17.
Whatever the case maybe we’ve pretty much hit ‘peak smartphone’ given that the platforms have matured to the point that each feature or change is about improving the quality of life when using it rather than big changes like we’ve seen in the past. A good part of it is maturity but another part of it has to do with ‘Project Mainline’ where Google are able to push out updates and upgrades to system components without having to wait for a major release. A good example of that would be the Android Run Time (ART) which receives regular improvements and bug fixes resulting in improved performance without having to wait for it to be merged into a major release.
There was an interesting article about the Intel Ultra 200 series and how over a year there have been a series of updates in the form of microcode updates, UEFI firmware updates and compiler optimisations which have resulted in improved performance (link). It’ll be interesting to see how things progress and whether the verdict regarding the Ultra 200 series my have been different had the performance seen today been delivered on day one. With that being said, avoid the comment section of the link, the reason why I say that is because all too often ‘tech dudes’ in online forums and on social media convince themselves that something is happening happening when it is not. Intel still has the majority market share when it comes to desktops and laptops, and for most people the end user is happy with the status quo with some gravitating towards the Mac but they’re still very much the minority when you consider the global market share.
As for Windows on ARM, it is an uphill slog – we’ve only just gotten hardware that is worth making Windows on ARM a viable choice not to mention that it wasn’t until recently that you could win32/win64 developers could recompile their apps and get them running on Windows for ARM whereas up until recently if you wanted to target Windows on ARM you had to re-write it from scratch using the Universal Windows Platform (see WIndows RT and other failed attempts). We’re seeing more software companies bring their app to Windows for ARM as the barrier to entry get to the point that it becomes “oh, so it is a compile and I can target both platforms….let’s go for it” rather than having to dedicate resources for what is still very much a niche segment. For me, I don’t use many native applications which most of what I need came with my device and native out of the box so there was no need to worry about the number of native apps (although I admit at this point I’m waiting for Nova Lake because the under the hood changes appear to be laying the ground work for making x86-64 competitive when compared to ARM64).
I was watching the following video on YouTube regarding food banks and there are people who take it upon themselves to punch down on those who need help. This punching down comes with the usual blaming decisions people have made as if everything bad that happens is purely the result of the decisions made in their life and that external factors have nothing to do with where one ends up in life. You can plan everything in your life perfectly, live frugally, save and invest wisely, only have the number of kids you can afford but then suddenly one of you may lose your job, an expected medical emergency deplete the savings you had put aside leaving you vulnerable to an unexpected emergency. It reminds me of a homeless women who was interviewed and how she talked about she was married with kids and a house in the suburbs only to end it losing it all. It as stark reminder of how precarious life is and how it is impossible to plan for every possible eventuality.
The precarious situation that people find themselves in can be traced back to the late 1970s where in response to stagflation (inflation and stagnation) the neoliberal experiment was started – the shrinking of the state, the deregulation of the market and the rolling back of the rights of unions to the point that their ability to the use leverage of withholding labour to force the hand of capital to the negotiation table is severely limited. As a consequence people’s pay and productivity decoupled. The lack of income growth was partially offset by an increase in both parents working but then that didn’t keep up so people began using their savings and saving less then to keep up their standard of living people started to rely on various form of credit – personal loans, hire purchase, revolving loans, credit cards etc. The was an interesting point made by an Thom Hartman (From ‘The Thom Hartman Show’) that noted how up until the late 1970s the credit card was something that the business people would use and very few consumers had but as the wages stagnated, savings went down and banks saw an opportunity to expand their potential customer base so that now people make use of credit cards to maintain their standard of living.
The point I’m trying to make is that even if you’re tried to do everything ‘according to the rules’ the system is ultimately stacked against you. This idea that if you’re relying on assistance, either provided by the government, charity or a charity with assistance of the government as being an example of failure then you’re taking the blame for something you had no part in creating. I sometimes wonder whether people think before they post comments like “if you can’t feed them don’t breed them’ or is this an example of people punching down and scapegoating the poor to make themselves feel good? capitalism needs to perpetual the myth of scarcity so then the working class are easier to divide and fight with each other rather than uniting around a shared common economic interest. That doesn’t absolve people of the responsibility for posting nonsense but I really do wish that people would do a bit of self reflecting rather than posting comments without reflecting on the matter before hand.
Below is an interesting video regarding how people deprogramming a life time of indoctrination which is kind of relevant to what we see today. Eventually Trump will complete his presidential term and leave office with the big question is what happens to those who went along with Trump the whole presidency? what happens today for those who voted for Trump and are suddenly realising that the ‘good times’ of 2016 under Trump was in spite of Trump’s policies rather than because of them.
People are going to deprogramme at different rates but the question is whether we’re going to see a genuine deconstruction and deprogramming or whether it’ll be a situation of people publicly renouncing but still holding onto the views but hide them because they’re no longer socially acceptable.? I say that because I remember the 8 years of George W Bush as president and yet it is impossible to find someone who openly admits to voting for him twice or as someone else pointed out in the video that it was impossible to admit they voted for Richard Nixon 10 years after he stepped down as president. How many are in MAGA who were in the Tea Party who were ‘Compassionate Conservatives’ who were Regan Republicans etc. basically people who believe in nothing and go with the vibes, an empty husk of a person who is what gamers would call an NPC. Such individuals going from ideology to ideology that complete contradict each other but such individuals unable to see the contradiction other than going along with what ever happens to be the dominant zeitgeist of the moment within the Republican Party.
This is the reason why MAGA people can be suddenly against free speech after suddenly claiming to be for it, to talk about free speech yet have no idea that the first amendment is in regards to the government limiting free speech and nothing to do with your employer deciding not to continue employing you because your behaviour bought their business into disrepute. These are the same people who don’t know the difference between a publicly traded company vs. a publicly owned/state owned enterprise by claiming the first amendment covers publicly listed companies because it has public in the description. The toxic combination of arrogance and ignorance, and something tells me that many will, after Donald Trump ends up presidency, will keep holding onto such views so then the next Trump like politician can come along and tap into the psyche of such individuals. I wish that things would change and what bought Trump to power was a flash in the pan but unfortunately I don’t see the mindset that got him into power and maintained his popularity with his base, in spite of all the bad economic news, changing any time soon.
Rather uneventful day at work followed by a brisk walk – I decided to have a shorter walk tonight because I wasn’t in the mood for a longer one but I always like to make sure that I get out of the house and get some exercise after sitting on my backside all day. Anyway, I went for my walk, came back home and then jumped into the shower and now I’m relaxing in bed watching some YouTube videos followed by catching up on the local, national and international news before I head off to sleep.
Qualcomm have announced the Snapdragon X2 Elite which will be shipping in 2026 (link) with the interesting part being that they showed off not just laptops but also mini PCs. It appears that Qualcomm have decided to start moving up from portables to mini PCs which make me wonder how far away are we from workstations and servers given that the Oryon processor was originally designed for the server. Although nVidia is linking up with Intel given that there are many systems and workflow designed around the x86-64 architecture I wouldn’t be surprised if the long term goal is to to have their bases covered by also having their own offering in the ARM space so that whichever architecture ends up coming out on top they end up winning either way.
I kind of wonder whether the delay with the shipping of the nVidia ARM based computer has to do with Windows given that I see Adobe working to get their own software on ARM for Window with plugins of Photoshop for example making use of CUDA so it would serve as a good incentive to provide support for nVidia’s own platform on WIndows as well. It makes me wondering whether we’ll see another big push for ARM64 and Windows when Windows 11 26H2 is released next year for the 2700/2800 series which probably includes many under the hood changes to support new ARM architecture not to mention working to bring more native applications to Windows. For me I would love to see dbpoweramp made available for ARM because at the moment it is available for macOS on ARM64 but only on WIndows 11 for x86-64 – I’m hoping that with the drop of support for 32bit Windows that we may see a version for ARM64.
I’m still holding off getting a desktop because there is a rumoured Arrow Lake refresh but then again the next big upgrade after the Arrow Lake refresh is Nova Lake with the interesting piece I found in an article (link):
AMD and Intel are planning several innovations to the x86 architecture. They joined forces in fall 2024 to form the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group (EAG). According to a post by AMD Vice President Robert Hormuth on LinkedIn, the x86 partners have agreed on FRED, AVX10 and APX, among other things.
Flexible Return and Event Delivery (FRED) is an updated concept for processing interrupts. AVX10 and the Advanced Performance Extensions (APX) reorganize the AVX versions and bring, among other things, twice as many registers. Intel’s Nova Lake, which is expected to arrive at the end of 2026 as the Core Ultra 400 for LGA1954 boards, could be the first Intel CPU with APX and AVX10.2.
It appears that it is going to require Microsoft to make changes to the Windows kernel to support APX and FRED but hopefully it should mean some of the hairy parts of the x86-64 are going to be gradually replaced overtime with maybe Nova Lake and Zen agreeing on the architectural changes. Linux has already started working on it (link) so I wouldn’t be surprised that Microsoft if Microsoft has been busily working on it behind the scenes given the close relationship they have with Intel and AMD to ensure that when Windows 11 26H2 is launched that these technologies are supported out of the box.
Finished work tonight and went for a walk – it felt good that the weather is finally getting warmer with the temperature at 12°C and during the day it was around 16°C. It is great that the weather isn’t too hot or too cold so I’ll enjoy the Spring weather until summer comes but then again it’s not too bad given that I go walking at 10am so it avoid the summer time heat that would still be quite prevalent at 8pm (back when I did an 11:30am to 8:00pm shift). I’m at the moment sticking to a consistent 11.6km every night rather than going to crazy and wearing myself out – I need to remind myself that life isn’t a sprint but a marathon.
Chrome 140 had an update made available today which updated it from 140.0.7339.186 to 140.0.7339.208 with there being a few serious security holes that needed fixing so if you’re on the old version I’d suggest you get yourself updated to the latest version. On a side note, I’ve decided to stick with Google Workspace because the integration the integration with Android is a lot better and on Windows once you uninstall OneDrive and Microsoft Office (that came with Surface) then install Chrome and Google Drive then things work pretty good. I really do wish that the preinstallation of OneDrive was an option rather than something forced upon end users.
I was reading about the Intel-nVidia announcement and it makes me wonder whether part of that has to do with potentially Intel maybe bidding to making the next generation of consoles or offering a viable alternative to the current AMD APUs that are very popular in handhelds. I also wonder whether we’ll see Microsoft maybe licence the XBox software system to third parties so that eventually Microsoft get out of the hardware business entirely to just focus on software and cloud services then leave it up to third parties to develop the hardware. Not much information is known but it appears that Intel is going to keep it’s own line for the low to medium end along with niche markets in the high end with the Intel-nVidia for gamers and those who make extensive use of the CUDA software stack.
It has been raining heavily for the last couple of days so I haven’t been able to get out of the house to go for my nightly walks but I have enjoyed being able to relax. It is good to having a balance of exercise but also enjoying days when you can relax.
Apple has released the first wave of updates for their newly released platform – plenty of people online are reporting how they’re a big update with plenty of bugs having been fixed, performance improvements, I can see a fair number of bugs and enhancements coming to Safari 26.1 although those improvements are limited. I’d say that in the first update they’re going to focus on some of the major already known bugs thus leaving the next update probably including more fixes that currently sit in the Safari Technology Preview to make their way back into the stable release.
Apart from heading out around 2pm this afternoon to pick up a few odd bits and pieces from the supermarket along with some buffalo spicy wings and salad for lunch/dinner. The salad was a Mexican mix with the star of the show being the dressing which has a spicy taste to it. In the previous weeks I would head down to the local supermarket but couldn’t find any in the salad fridge section but they’ve restocked so I grabbed an extra bag to have for my day at work.
I generally stick to the old saying of ‘never attribute to malice that can be explained as incompetence’ or the more commonly known and often quoted Ockham’s razor more commonly known as ‘the simplest answer is usually the correct one’ but I can’t help but wonder whether there is more going on behind the scenes in regards to the FCC pressuring ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel by leaning on local affiliates. Was this pressure about protecting Trump’s ego or is it about undermining the legitimacy of the FCC by setting up a pretence of being accused of regulatory overreach which then provides an opening for legislation to be written up to either curb the powers of the FCC to either be disbanded entirely. The reason I speculate is because it would fit very much in the ‘Project 2025’/MAGA idea of dismantling the ‘administrative state’ (to use Steve Bannon’s terminology).
If one were to explore that idea further, does that explain the reason why RFK is in charge of the FDA and CDC (and other departments overseen by the ‘Health and Human Services’ secretary), to undermine its credibility so then it is easier to disband when the public loses faith in it? is this how the dismantling of the ‘administrative state’ will proceed – claim that the government is incompetent and cannot do anything right, put someone grossly incompetent in there then see it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy? I mean, it makes sense given the number of Republicans who talked about defunding the FBI and then nominate two podcast bros who couldn’t find their backside with their own two hands.
Sigh, Just as a follow up to the previous post where I was talking about tactics regarding how to confront the Trump administration, I was watching Real Time Bill Maher last night and one of the guests on the show was Joe Manchin. On a side note, I have my disagreements with Joe Manchin but I have a lot more respect for him because unlike Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin will tell you exactly why he isn’t supporting a particular piece of legislation and will propose changes whereas Kyrsten Sinema will leave everyone guessing. Anyway, getting back to Joe Manchin said something in regard to section 230 protection in the ‘Overtime’ (the after the show discussion which goes on for around 15-20 minutes) talking about it should be taken away from online planforms.
It appears he doesn’t understand what section 230 does because to get rid of the protection it will result in platforms being liable for what is being published on their platform with the consequence being that most platforms will simply either shut up shop, move overseas or have censorship regimes so severe that it’ll have a chilling effect on freedom of speech. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly no fan of the way in which internet platforms have used algorithms to hook people into doom scrolling not to mention amplifying misinformation, disinformation and rage bait but to remove section 230 protections demonstrates a misunderstanding of what it is there for. Now, if Joe and others do wish to reign in these internet platforms then one option is to implement a rule that if they use algorithmic curation on their platform then they lose section 230 protections but if they don’t use algorithms curation (in other words only show what people subscribe to in chronological order) and people have to opt in to follow someone’s time line (rather than currently on Facebook (as one example) where if you add someone as a friend you’re automatically signed up to their time line) then you maintain your section 230 protection.
The way in which algorithms curate timelines is that they insert content that is receiving a lot of engagement, but the problem is that the algorithm has no way to know whether it is good or bad engagement or whether it is fake engagement (see bot farms) other than people are engaging with it. They have your past behaviour and demographic information and then target what they believe is content you may find interesting. The problem with this is that bot farms make use of that to create fake engagement and therefore amplify disinformation and misinformation – content that otherwise would never have been the light of day through organic sharing between actual humans with accounts quickly get amplified an audience far larger than what would have happened through people sharing content with friends and family members. Something tells me that I don’t see something like that happening in my lifetime or ever.
Normally at this point I’m really looking forward to the final day of the week but apart from the usual work related stuff things have been pretty uneventful. Tonight I went for an 11.6km walk and that was completed in around 1 hour and 40 minutes which good that I am keeping up the pace. I was going to push for 17.4km but I decided not to because I would sooner consistently get that exercise every day than pushing it on one day resulting in me feeling sore the next day – so much so that I cannot work out. Consistency is my focus given that I tend to go from one extreme to another which isn’t good when it comes to developing good long term habits.
I’ve been following the whole Jimmy Kimmel and ABC situation – I am all for freedom of speech but equally I think that many who stand in opposition to Trump need to thing strategically in terms of what is your vision for a post-Trump future. When it comes to entertainment, repeatedly talking about Trump in every monologue runs the risk of catastrophising Trump to the point that you end up creating a climate of doom and that everything is so bad that there is no chance of changing direction. Then there is just plain exhaustion where one just wants to turn on the television and not have to deal with the world for a few hours – being able to enjoy some laughs without having to think about who is in the white house.
If people feel exhausted where they’re constantly bombarded with Trump then at some point they’re going to tune out – “I can’t deal with this” then switch off and disengage. For me it is about moderation in terms of news consumption because I know the more I doom scroll over the news the more depressed and angry I get so I limit myself to an hour or so checking out the news from my favourite sources and then I focus on something else for the day. It is about having a balance because being angry all the time isn’t healthy or beneficial in the long run because eventually it burns you out.
It appears things are getting better when it comes to Windows 11 on ARM (link) – it kind of helps when you tell developers that you don’t have to rewrite their whole application from scratch and forced to sell it through the Microsoft Store as with the case of Windows RT. When software support is a few tweaks and a recompile away it isn’t surprising that Adobe is expanding their product offering available for Windows 11 on ARM. I think Adobe realises that being stuck on a single platform isn’t a good place to be where as at least supporting Windows 11 on ARM give the opportunity for Windows on energy efficient laptops the ability to keep Apple in check as so far as their platform and not being dependent on them.
On a side note, funny the number of noise makers online complaining about how Windows 11 25H2 is a minor update. So let me get this straight, you complain when there are major updates with the risks associated with big changes and now you’re complaining that the updates aren’t big enough but preserve stability at the expense of functionality. Maybe I’m getting on with age but I would sooner have boring but predictable, Windows 11 and Samsung One UI vs whatever is happening over on Apple’s platforms at the moment. I wouldn’t be surprised if 26H2 ends up being the big release given how there is a big jump in build numbers every 2 years – it’ll probably include under the hood changes as well as pushing Windows App SDK forward along with replacing parts of the Windows 11 UI to bring dark mode and greater consistency and maybe seeing a long term plan where control panel becomes a component one can uninstall and remove from the system.
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