Matisyahu's Blog

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

recent posts

  • DeGoogling is harder than I had predicted.

    With all the kerfuffle occurring regarding Trump and his administration there has been a trend developing of decoupling from the United States or more specifically United States based technology giants in favour of domestic providers of cloud services. There is the ‘European Alternatives’ website (link) that I mentioned before which provides a pretty good list of providers but the big stumbling block is in regards to finding DeGoogled phones that are also compatible with carriers in New Zealand. In the past it was fairly easy because all you had to do is find out whether the phones supported the frequencies for your carrier and if they did then it was all good to go but unfortunately with the move to 4G and 5G, and shutting down the 3G network, the fall back to 3G voice will be removed resulting in VoLTE being the only option. The problem is that VoLTE is a minefield due to the lack of any sort of consistent standards that are mandatory along with a whole lot of optional features resulting in the mess that exists today – your phone may support VoLTE but your carrier may not support your phone.

    I say that because I was looking at the Fairphone 6 running /e/os which is a DeGoogled version of Android but the problem is that it may not work in New Zealand and I haven’t heard anything back from the company that sells it so I’m left with a situation of no choice in the matter. It is kind of frustrating that there hasn’t been one standardised way for VoLTE to be setup which would allow you to buy a phone from anywhere in the world, throw in a SIM and everything just starts working. The other option I’m having a look at is buying a Pixel 9 Pro XL and then installing GrapheneOS onto it but I’m concerned that I’ll lose VoLTE compatibility given that the Pixel Pro XL works in New Zealand on Spark and Skinny but will I lose that compatibility if I install GrapheneOS onto it? I’m wondering whether it is more of a hassle than it is worth in the end.

    With all that being said, I’m pretty happy with what I am using at the moment – Google Workspace, Chrome, Samsung S25 Ultra for my phone but I’m sticking with macOS for both computers along with an Apple TV. If there is going to be a change it’ll be upgrading my television by giving my old one to mum and then buy a new one with the OneUI Tizen which integrates into Samsung’s SmartThings which does a better job than Google’s own Home application which has issues when used in conjunction with a Workspace account. I am looking at moving to Quic for my internet service provider because the price is better, more features and less drama when I want to get something done such as changing an email address or phone number so I’ll look at moving ASAP but I’ll stick with Skinny for my mobile due to Skinny Mobile having the best coverage at a reasonable price although if a better offer comes along I’m not going to turn it out. I guess I am a creature of habit where in the past I tend to stay with a provider in the mistaken belief that loyalty is rewarded when in reality if the business doesn’t provide you with what you want at a good price then you should take your business elsewhere.

  • Those cupboards are looking empty.

    Finished work today at 10pm but I stayed online to finish off some emails to make life easier for the team who come in the morning and have to pick up where I left off. When I worked in fast food (sometimes referred to as ‘quick service restaurant’) one of the rules that was consistent was the idea that you never allowed something to carry over to the next week – always make sure at the end of the week everything is completed so that you start a new week with a clean slate rather than a backlog of things yet to be done. I’m now down to some tins of tomatoes (they’re not my favourite flavour so I am tempted to donate them at the supermarket where they collect tinned goods), I’ll keep the beetroot, chargrilled capsicum and sundried tomatoes since they’ll be good for things like lamb burgers, and two bags (6 bags in each) of frozen steamed vegetables that I can heat up in the microwave.

    One thing I am trying is seeing whether I get a good result by soaking chia seeds in milk. Currently I’ve been soaking 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in 120ml of water which really soaks up the water to the point that the greek yoghurt sits on top without sinking into it. I’m going to give it a try with milk because from what I see online it has a pudding like consistency and if that is the case then what I’ll do is buy maybe some flavoured milk then soak the chia seeds in that so then I could have like a chocolate chia pudding.

    I’m probably going to stay up tonight because my sleeping pattern is so broken that I think I need to stay up then go to bed at a set time so then my body clock can reset itself. Although I don’t start work until 13:30 I think what I need to do is start pulling back the time that I go to bed at and wake up at so then eventually I can maybe get up at around 11:00-11:30, jump into bed at around 1:30 listening to a podcast and relax for an hour before I go to sleep.

    I’ve been looking at the website ‘European Alternatives’ (link) – I’d love to ‘decouple’ myself from Google and the big US based tech players but there are problems. For example, I’d love to switch to The Fairphone (Gen. 6) with /e/OS but the problem is that I don’t want to risk spending something close to NZ$1300 only to find that VoLTE isn’t supported in New Zealand. The other option I guess is to buy a Pixel 9 Pro XL then install grapheneOS on it because I know that the Pixel 9 Pro XL VoLTE works in New Zealand so it isn’t going to be a gamble.

    It really is a sad state of affairs that we’ve pretty much got a duopoly of Apple on one side and Google on the other. Oh how I wish for day when there is actually some choice, where services like payments using ones phone divorced from the underlying operating system, where one isn’t forced to sign up for a service just to get the phone setup or if they allow you to set up without an account you quickly realised they’ve deliberately crippled the experience to the point that you eventually give in. I sometimes wonder whether breaking up the big silicon valley companies is the only way to bring about competition and choice. Separate Apple Pay and Google into organisations that are non-profit and work in a neutral way that banks jointly run it like how Payments NZ has members or how in Europe there is the European Payments Initiative being setup an alternative to Visa and Mastercard (in much the same way that there is UnionPay in China. Unfortunately for many people they would sooner sacrifice freedom and choice in the name of convenience and thus the status quo is re-enforced.

  • I may as well have a rest tonight.

    Finished work and decided that I’ll reward myself with a relaxing time at home watching Real Time with Bill Maher (yeah, I know, he can be a mixed bag) and then afterwards I’ll watch a few episodes of the Sandman which has been pretty good so far and I’m also going to see if I can fit in Foundation tonight but if I can’t I can easily do that tomorrow. Regarding tomorrow, I am tempted to head down to the supermarket if I end up waking up early because I might as well do the shopping to get it out of the way but if I don’t wake up early then it is no major issue if I head down on Monday.

    Next week I get paid so I’m hoping that by Tuesday the following week (12 August) that I’ll have completely empty cupboards and an empty freezer so then I can write up not just a grocery list but also the planned meals each night like my mum used to do back when dad was working at mum planned meals to make sure that a budget was stuck to. As for the supermarket shop, it’ll be a big shop and thank goodness I have a freezer because I’ll stock up on some additional food while I’m there so that going forward it is a matter of maintaining stock levels rather than doing a big shop which is a whole lot easier when ones main form of transport is the bus or train.

    I’ve gotten out the Soda Stream machine because I was wanting some bubbly soft drink and I’m in luck that I still have the water flavouring that are low calorie so I’ve added it to it and now I have a tasty drink. What I’m going to do, while I’m thinking about it, is pick up some Pepsi Max syrup to see what it is like when compared to the bottled stuff and see if one is better than the other or whether it tastes the same then I’ll make my decision going forward whether that is the preferred way of having soft drink at home. I’ll need to do some calculations but I’ll also need to look at maybe buying some more Soda Stream bottles while I’m there.

    I’ve been following Mimestream which is a Mail application that uses the Gmail API but I’m holding back from getting it until it uses native push notifications rather than relying on IMAP along with support for Contacts and Calendering in the same application. For me, I want a one stop location where I can manage all my Google Workspace needs – if I have to flick between a mail app and the website then it kind of undermines the whole purpose of purchasing it in the first place. Let’s hope that the feature is added in the next year since it is a pretty important feature at least for me.

  • Because they never really believed what they said.

    I was watching a video from David Pakman today regarding:

    Let’s face it, the people who used ‘don’t tread on me’ and ‘you take take it from my cold dead hands’ rhetoric along with the usual spiel about ‘big government’ were never sincere declarations of deeply held beliefs – how do we know that? these are the same people who were noisy under Bill Clinton but quiet under George W Bush’s expansion of government powers under the PATRIOT act along with many other decisions, noisy under Barack Obama with conspiracy theories about ‘death panels’ in regards to the Affordable Care Act and ‘the imperial presidency’ regarding executive orders, then quiet once again under Donald Trump, noisy under Joe Biden then quite once again under Donald Trump. Long story short is the fact that those who make the most noise use those rally cries not as declaring a philosophical or policy disagreement but simply because “my team isn’t in power” thus degrading politics into little more than competing sports teams devoid of any understanding on what the individual parties are actually running on policy wise and what their underlying party philosophy is.

    This is the reason why the whole Epstein situation in the MAGA ecosystem isn’t surprising in regards to how there is a split between those who sincerely wanted all the information released vs those who stopped the push for the release and have suddenly stopped caring the moment Trump puts out a signal to influencers to stop talking about it. Those who stopped talking never really cared, they cynically used a horrific case to create an audience then use that audience to get Trump elected but never had any interest in wanting the details of the Epstein case be fully disclosed. Those who are still pushing for the release I think are slowly realising that they were used and there was never any intention of having the case fully disclosed to the public – there have been some attempts by some within that ecosystem to back out of the MAGA cult but for most of their audience they’re seeing the repositioning as either an insincere attempt to remain relevant given the shifting public opinion or alternatively view their political takes as nothing more than vibes based that can change on a wim with comparisons to a sailboat being made regarding the influencer being pushed in a direction based on the political winds of the day. You can ride those political winds but eventually your audience will realise that you have no sincere authentic beliefs that make you unique but rather you pander to your audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next 2-3 years we see many MAGA adjacent influencers realise what a massive mistake they’ve made and the question is whether they double down and triple down or whether they go on a rehabilitation tour which will involve publicly admitting they screwed up big time and then demonstrate the change is genuine through their behaviour change over the long term.

    Getting back to happier topics, I went for a walk today of 11.6km, the weather is good and the temperature isn’t too bad – knowing my past experience I’ll be complaining about the heat soon enough when the temperature increases. On another good note, I was approved for two weeks off over Christmas (from 14-28 December). I wasn’t expecting to be approved because the first time around I put it in the wrong system only to then pick it up by accident then submitted it using the correct system. I expected that it wouldn’t be approved since I’d assume many others had gotten in before I did but I was lucky in that it was approved so I’ll be happy that at the end of the year I can relax for a couple of weeks – chill out, binge watch new shows, catch up with family etc. I’m unsure whether my brother, his partner and kids will come to New Zealand from Australia or whether we’ll be going to Australia but then again it is still 4 months away so I’ll see what happens. Christmas lunch this year I’ll probably bring desert although I’m tempted to bring a savoury dish as well.

    Ubiquiti released to the early access channel an update to the UniFi Access Point (all U7 and E7 models except the LR model) which jumped the version from 8.0.58 to 8.1.4 – lots of bug fixes and enhancements with reports that use of MLO (it isn’t enabled by default as it is marked as ‘Early Access’ inside UniFi Network Application. On the topic of UniFi Network Application, that has been updated to 9.3.45 but from the notes in the UniFi Access Point version 9.4.x of UniFi Network Application is being worked on but I don’t see it in the early access area yet. UniFi Gateways 4.3.0 was released around a week ago and normally after a week or so assuming no show stoppers they graduate it to a release candidate but I have a feeling that they want to bring it up to feature parity with the cloud versions of their gateway (I’m looking at maybe moving to a cloud gateway or router that has the UniFi Network Application built in as it is appears that they’re getting updates sooner and then give mum my current gateway since her modem is one provided by Spark and it is pretty old and slow).

  • Finally some good weather.

    Finished work tonight and went for a 12.8km walk tonight and after I came back I could feel it in my legs but it felt good having gotten some exercise after being locked inside for the past few days thanks to the weather. In the mean time the addition of chia seeds has really helped help me stick to my diet – I really wish I found out about them sooner because it has made my life a whole lot easier.

    I mentioned previous regarding Safari Technology Preview 224 and the bug that was partially fixed was related to the allowAllRequests declarativeNetRequest rules so that a higher priority correctly overrides a lower-priority block rule. The bug has two components with the first relating to the main_frame however that only fixed part of the issue issue however after much searching it appears the sub_frame part of the bug was fixed around 9 days ago (link) so hopefully that’ll make it in a future Technology Preview and make its way into Safari 26 or maybe one of the first updates they release.

    Some good news came my way, I won some Woolworths cash from the rewards card along with some from work so the big question is whether I head down to the supermarket before work to pick up a few things or just wait until Monday. I’m leaning towards waiting until Monday because I’d prefer not to be stressed out before work – trying to get down the road on the bus then making sure I do the shopping fast enough so then I can catch the next bus.

  • And it is raining again.

    Yeah, it is raining again – I was hoping that I could have some walking in but every time I get myself prepared it starts raining so in the end I decided I’m going to jump into bed, watch some television shows and update my blog while I’m at it. During the day there was an alert sent out by the civil defence to send out an alert (link) – something I wouldn’t forget about too easily after the racket it made.

    Apple has released updates for all its platforms with quite a few security fixes not to mention changes in macOS 15.6 (link) but the big bug fix I have been waiting for which has arrived in Safari 18.6 is this (link):

    Fixed 'allowAllRequests' for declarativeNetRequest. (151015324).

    The issue that existed with Safari prior to 18.6 was an issue where websites which made use of Cloudflare (where it verifies whether you’re human) kept hanging on that page with the tick box not coming up. I’ve downloaded and installed the latest Testflight version of uBlock Origin Lite and it is now working with Safari 18.6. If you are using Safari and want a good content blocker then sign up for the Testflight test builds because in my experience it has been pretty stable but then again I only enable all the main filters (I don’t enable any of the additional language based filters). Still more issues that need resolving but I’m hoping that it’ll be something we’ll see in a 26.x updates given that the bug report notes that they’re still working on fixing web extension support not fixed in the release that is being prepared for a stable public release.

    On a side note uBlock Origin Lite 2025.728.1406 has been released ot the Chrome extensions store – I just noticed then that my browser had updated the extension. Everything going well so far, AdGuard hasn’t been updated but going by the github notes there appears to be a lot of activity regarding bug fixes so I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up seeing another beta build being made available.

    An update for Chrome 138 which released today which updated it from Version 138.0.7204.169 to 138.0.7204.184 – the update is available on my Windows work computer and on my personal Mac computers but the update hasn’t made its way to Android yet (138.0.7204.179 will be version number for Android). There were 4 security fixes (they don’t make the details of those security vulnerabilities until there has been enough time for people to update their browser to the latest secure version) but I assume because they haven’t pushed it out to Android as quickly then it maybe due to the fact that Android’s built in security already does a pretty good job mitigating it until the update is made available.

  • Rainy night, back to work Wednesday.

    It was drizzling a bit but I felt the need to get out of the houe to at least go for a small walk – while I was out I put on a load of washing so that by the time I got back it ws all washed. A few more loads later I caught up on my clothes washing along with changing the sheets, pillow cases and duvet cover then after that I got all of last weeks clothes folded and the put away along with meal preparing for the work week. The chia seeds are in the fridge then paired up with some Greek yoghurt provides a low calorie but satisfying meal that will get me through to dinner.

    I was hoping that Apple would release the x.6 update to their platforms but it didn’t happen (it was an outside chance of it happening given that they don’t normally release updates on Monday US time) so hopefully on Wednesday along side a Chrome update that there will be an update for their current platforms. I’ve been following the beta releases of the next platforms and there appears to be a lot of progress but what I do hope is that they take their time – if it doesn’t appear until November then I’m all good because I’d sooner a release where the bugs that exist are really niche corner cases than having a release made to meet an arbitrary deadline only for it to be filled with bugs that should have been fixed up before it was released.

    Daily writing prompt
    Describe one habit that brings you joy.
    View all responses

    Getting prepared for work the night before – being able to start the week with a clean slate with everything up to date and not having to worry about doing anything after work or before work. Part of that prep includes getting all the washing up to date, tidy the kitchen, put the recycling and rubbish out on the kerb to be picked up in the morning, organise a meal prep so that when I need to have morning tea, afternoon tea or dinner that everything is ready to go (I have a limited amount of time for my break so I’d sooner spend the time relaxing and not having to think about getting things done). I guess the joy I get is knowing that my life is a little less stressed because there is a routine rather than chaos.

  • Productive grocery shopping.

    I went off to the supermarket tonight to pick up the necessities – life is so much easier when you write a list rather than flying blind then hoping when you get home that you’ll have what you need for the coming week. I also bought a few extra things while I was there – glass containers to meal prep chia seeds soaking in water so that the next day I can add some greek yogurt on top so then I always have a meal ready to go when I want it thus reducing another barrier or ‘excuse’ I may try to create for myself. I’ve also bought myself a larger coffee mug because the one I have now isn’t all that big one I got from the store is around 1 1/2 times larger than what currently have – will be good on those cold days when I want to have a larger drink to keep my warm which avoids having to leave my desk when I’m trying to get work completed.

    The Greek yoghurt at the supermarket was a good price so I grabbed two 1kg containers that I can portion out when I have my chia seed breakfast in the morning along with the milk with extra protein that have with some coffee concentrate added to it (I grabbed a couple of bottles so I always have some in the cupboard). I’ve finally worked through the first mince today, the second mince I’m going to cook up the whole lot however what I’m going to do is set aside half of it for the next day since I’m not interested in having the whole lot since it would be a huge feed.

    Tonight I decided to have a rest – I’ve thought it would be best that one day a week, normally on Monday, I’ll have a day of relaxing. It’s good to have a routine but it is also necessary to ensure that life doesn’t turn into a miserable existence. Tomorrow I’ll go for a walk but I think that a diet with a bit of variety while keeping in my calorie count will make things a lot better – the big focus I’ve had in the last couple of weeks is not just on calories, carbs and protein but also getting the good fats like omega 3, vitmiins and other minerals that improve ones quality of life.

    uBlock Origin Lite 2025.725.1450 has now been made available on the Chrome extension store with installations being updated. So far I’ve found a slight performance improvement and it is doing a top notch job at blocking content I don’t want to see. As I’ve noted in the past, I was sceptical that MV3 would result in reliable content blocking but I’ve been happily proven wrong. It’ll be interesting to see whether updates for the current Apple platforms will be released on Tuesday NZ Time (Monday US Time) – generally it is done on Tuesday US Time (Wednesday NZ Time) but sometimes there is an early release in much the same way that Google will occasionally push out an update early particularly if there are some important security updates that need to be pushed out asap because there are currently exploits in the wild being reported back to them.

    On a side note, for dinner I had nachos – the key to cooking good mince is low and slow; 500g of mince then two cans of tomato, onion and capscium, add the mushrooms the slowly cooking it so it reduces the amount of water to the point that you get this wonderful combination of mince, mushroom, tomato, onion and capscium. During that process I add some chilli flakes along with steak seasoning (which tastes pretty much like the seasoning that comes as part of the Old El Paso taco kits) along with some salt and petter to season. All of that was topped off with some Tatua sour cream on top along with some corn chips – it was a great meal.

  • Writing up my grocery list.

    I’m finally going to be organised and actually have a grocery list rather than popping down to the local supermarket and hoping that I remember all the things I need to purchase. I’ve also finally started making use of the bag of chia seeds that I purchased – one of those things I purchased as an impulse buy but never really got around to using it because I couldn’t think of where I could use it. Today I finally made use of the chia seeds by putting them into a small bowl (15ml spoon) then I put in 120ml of water then let it soaked for a few hours as it turned into a jelly like consistency – I’ll be buying some Greek yoghurt where I’ll stir it in. Long story short, I’m expanding my repertoire of food I can choose from by investigating things that are healthy but never tried before – the variety making things not as boring knowing that I don’t have an excuse when it comes to options when I am hungry and want something to eat.

    I’ve been following what is happening and I really do feel for those who have been laid off from their job at Intel – the layoffs aren’t just a few here and there, not replacing people when they leave but rather huge reduction in their head count from 108,900 down to 75,000. It appears that after years of share buybacks rather than investing into maintaining its manufacturing and product lead it has come back to bite them in the backside (just as we’ve seen with Boeing and before that the financialisation of GE which has resulted in it being broken up). There appears to be a lot of scaling back of new fabs, focusing on working towards a unified architecture rather than three different core types which is adding complexity and cost, rationalising non-core parts of the business and whether it is worth spending money in areas where Intel has no chance of either matching or beating the market leader plus more.

    I really do hope that Intel turn the ship around because the consumer benefits when there is robust competition not only between Intel and AMD but also when there is robust competition between the fabs run by TSMC, Samsung and Intel resulting in more efficient chips, greater performance etc. I mentioned in a previous post that Intel is working on creating a unified core however it’ll be interesting to see whether we see it being bought forward given that it wasn’t scheduled (based on the rumours) until around 2028-29. What will also be interesting is to see whether Intel spin off their fab to create a joint venture with either Samsung or TSMC and in return the new joint venture will have a secure customer for a set period of time in much the same way that AMD had an arrangement with Globalfoundries when they spun off their fab business.

    One thing I’ve noticed is that the Microsoft Surface Laptop line have been on special more frequently so that could possibly be an indication that Microsoft are wanting to work thtough the stock they have before they do their refresh of their Surface Laptop line up when the new ARM SoCs from Qualcomm are announced. What will also be interesting would be to see what happens with the nVidia based SoC regarding Microsoft adding support to it in Windows 11 25H2 and when it comes to APX support whether Microsoft has some prerelease hardware that they’re testing on so that the release of Windows 11 25H2 has APX support.

    I’ve been following the latest beta releases of Apple’s next platforms – I have to admit, the excitement that I would have in the past has pretty much evaporated where as the obsession with AI by most of silicon valley has resulted in the oxygen being sucked out of the room resulting in other priorities that need addressing being neglected (see my never ending moaning about Safari). Safari Technology Preview 224 has been released (link) with a modest list of bug fixes and improvements but appears that there is still a long way to go to getting bugs in the declarative net request implementation sorted out. I really want to be optimistic about the next release of Safari I also have to be realistic having been let down on a near constant basis.

    Chrome 139 will be stable in a couple of days then a week after that it’ll be made available for mainstream availability (link). Hopefully by either Monday or Tuesday the uBlock Origin Lite release will be available – I’m not completely up with the play but it appears recent changes should result in an improved content blocking experience based on how they’ve ‘Merge all :style() filters with procedural filters’ plus a few other bug fixes. I’m also keeping an eye on AdGuard as well – competition is always good so it’ll be interesting to see whether the AdGuard team is working on AdGuard for the next version of Safari – making use of declarative net request rather than the native content blocking API.

  • The day went quickly.

    Work today went fairly quickly and for the last couple of hours I had some time off answering the phones to get some office work done. If I had the choice of not having to answer a phone all day and instead focus on paperwork then I’d be a very happy chap – the same reason why, when I worked at the bank, if there was the opportunity to work in a non-customer facing role I would jump at that opportunity but too bad those sorts of jobs are highly sort after and the only time a position is available is if someone leaves and the list of those applying is huge.

    I went for a walk tonight, the weather wasn’t too bad and it was fairly quiet but the fresh air felt good after being stuck inside all day – the one opportunity to get out of the house and move about. Sometimes I don’t feel motiviated but then I remind myself how good I feel after coming back from going for a 8-12km walk so I end up getting out of the house. I’m wearing my ulra baggy hoodie which allows me to cover my hands in the sleeves since I don’t have any winter gloves at the moment – that is something I need to buy myself.

    uBlock Origin Lite Version 2025.725.1450 has been made available with Microsoft Edge once again having it available in their extension store before Chrome – I assume the development team submit them both at around the same time which makes me wonder why/how Microsoft can approve extensions so much quicker than Google. Personally, I would be open to use Microsoft services if it weren’t for the arbitrary way in which certain features don’t work with business editions of Office 365 (Samsung Gallery synchronisation with OneDrive, Microsoft Phone Link only working with consumer accounts etc). It’s the one thing that keeps me in the Google ecosystem which is the fact that all accounts are the same, what works with a consumer account works with a Workspace account.

    I’ve found a new television series called ‘Sandman’ – I’ve started watching a few minutes of the first episode of the first season so it’ll be interesting to see what it’ll be like. There are a few others that I’m looking at watching – it’s funny how in the past it used to be movies that would be the main draw but these days I much prefer watching television series with ideas that are spread over several episodes or seasons where ideas can be fully developed rather than trying to squeeze everything into a single release.