I’ll be flying back to Wellington tomorrow but before I fly out I’ll pop into Silvia Park shopping centre to have a look around, grab something for lunch. Before I fly back I’m tempted to grab some Krispy Kreme doughnuts because we don’t have them in Wellington the only time I get doughnuts is when I am up in Auckland other than that it is something that I avoid since getting my diet back on track with a focus on healthier options. On the other hand I am worried about falling back into bad habits – the old story where it is easier each time to fall back into bad habits to eventually you’re right back to where you’re started then having to fight the uphill battle once again. I’ll think about it but I think I won’t end up getting them in the end because the temptation is good great to go back to square one again after making such progress so far.
The one thing I learnt about social media – when someone makes a reply to your post in bad faith the best thing to do is to not engage with them, mute their account and continue on with your day. I’m happy to have a robust discussion with someone then finish the conversation knowing that we didn’t misrepresent each others positions but we agree to disagree but why spend time discussing something with someone who isn’t interested in a good faith discussion? that is part of the problem these days, people talking past each other, seeing the other person as the enemy if they don’t 100% line up exacly with what they believe, the sort of people who complain about ‘bloat’ in the funding resolution in congress while they ignore that to whip votes you’ve sometimes have to compromise, to grease the skids and get things moving. Life is about listening, negotiation, understanding where someone is coming from – not everything in life is about one person screwing over another person in an attempt to ‘get to the top’, sometimes people actually have a genuine disagreement born out of a different world view.
I had a good day at work today – working from home and the whole experience of getting back into work has resulted in a bit of a bounce in my step. I was going to get my blood tested (general check up) on Friday but because the place has been closed from 20 December 2024 and reopened on 6 January 2025 there is a massive backlog. I’m now up in Auckland for my grandma’s memory service but when I come back to Wellington I’ll pop in on Tuesday – it is a routine check up but I want to get it out of the way asap.
With the change in lifestyle – low carb, focus on vegetables, fruit and protein, I’m gradually losing weight as well as feeling a whole lot better not only at work but also outside of work. It’ll take a while to get to the target weight but even at this early stage I am finding I’m slowly slimming down, shirts are feeling looser, trousers with a belt I’ve had to create new holes in the belt so I can tighten it – all within a space of around a month. Long term it is about a lifestyle change – something that has to be sustained over the long term, a new relationship with how I see food, to become a conscious eater that is aware of what I am consuming rather than “yeah, that looks tasty, lets eat it and no consider the long term consequences”.
I have to admit there is a certain vanity with wanting to lose weight – I have a wardrobe full of really nice clothes that I no longer fit but are in good working order so it seems to be a bit of a waste if they sit in my wardrobe unused.
Well, it has been almost a month since I made a big change in terms of my lifestyle – my diet now consists of low carb meals, protein to keep my full and a good helping of vegetables. I wouldn’t say that I’ve become fixated about what I eat but rather I’m becoming more conscious of what I put in my mouth and by being my conscious I realised just how bad some food actually is – a plain blueberry muffin from my local coffee place has 65g of carbohydrates which is the equivalent of a whole main meal as a snack. Yeah, it was a shock but as my old man says, the longer you stick to it the more it becomes a routine to eventually it becomes muscle memory. Another benefit I find is that I am no longer tired all the time, the brain fog and lack of focus is going away which has helped with work – long story short, it’ll not only allow me to live longer but also a better quality of life.
Everything is going well with the Pixel 9 Pro XL – the January 2025 update came through, all installed and everything working perfectly. It is one of the reasons I was attracted to it because unlike other Android OEMs the updates are released monthly and they are actually made available on the month they’re for rather than the experience I had with Samsung where the November update wouldn’t be released until well into December (I thought it was the mobile phone carriers holding it up in New Zealand but when I reached out I find that in many cases they gave their approval one week (sometimes less) after receiving it from the vendor so ultimately it was the vendor holding it up).
Just on a side note, I was watching a video and although there were some legitimate criticisms that can be made of Apple I think that once again ‘tech dude bro YouTuber’ is detached from what the average end user actually want – the gimmick gizmo like a folding phone is just that, headlines are made by the shipment numbers are dwarfed by standard ‘candy bar’ style smartphones.
What do you mean by ‘falling behind’ – the problem is that there are far too many tech dude bros on YouTube who think that they represent ‘the every man’ the ‘Joe and Jane Sixpack’. In reality they go from one phone to another phone, from one device to the next one, from one honeymoon period to the next honeymoon period, high on the novelty of something new but not spending enough time to realise why a $300 phone that can take a photo of a flea farting from 200 metres is a bad idea when they offer only 2 years of software support but in reality the software update schedule is spotty at best.
Apple holds it’s position not because of gimmicky features or millions of features that the overwhelming majority will never use let alone ask for (but look good in specification documents that YouTube tech dude bros salivate over) but because when you buy an iPhone you know you’re going to be taken care of for the long term. From regular updates to an end to end ecosystem, it is a complete wrap around support structure in place that ensures that the experience of using an Apple product is always seamless – “it just works”. Great, LG creates a swivel phone, some vendor in China makes a ridiculously overspec’d phone but what happens in the end? LG throws in the towel and the vendor in China can barely get a software update out to fix issues that people on forums are routinely complaining about but the vendor doesn’t care because they’ve got the customer’s money so who cares.
I’ve said it in the past that I believe there is a gentleman’s agreement between Google and Samsung – Pixel will appear in markets with high iOS penetration to win those customers over with the Pixel phone and leave Samsung the markets where Android is the leader. For example, in New Zealand Android has a 53% market share and Google doesn’t push Pixel strongly in the market for the mainstream (although it is available through tech orientated retailers such as Mighty Ape and PB Tech along with a few others) where as in Australia iOS has a 60% market share and Google sells Pixel phones not only directly but also through Telstra and other mobile carriers along with traditional retail outlets.
In the case of Google their long term play is to gradually wean itself off a dependency on their ad business – their consumer services revenue is growing, they’re filling in the gaps when it comes to functionality such as directly providing RCS when carriers aren’t interested in doing it themselves, cloud based home security that integrates into the larger Google cloud ecosystem, their cloud business is finally getting itself sorted with growith and profits, and Google Workspace is growing particularly for those businesses that are starting out and have no legacy systems to contend with (which is why large businesses already using MIcrosoft Office were easy to move over to the Office 365 cloud). Hopefully Google will be smart enough to leverage Android’s first class integration into the Google ecosystem – sure, Microsoft has the benefit of Office and Windows legacy but the integration outside of Windows is disjointed in much the same way that you can use Google apps on iOS but they’re never going to be as good as how iOS integrates with iCloud. It makes me wonder how long Microsoft will keep out of the smartphone space – maybe their entry into that market will be via a handheld console? or maybe Microsoft just throws in the towel and builds an Android that integrates into their own ecosystem, I guess only time will tell.
I went to Upper Hutt for a blood test but the the place was overwhelmed with people waiting to be served because they were closed over Christmas so I headed down to Lower Hutt which was also overwhelmed by the number of people waiting. What I think I’m going to do is go in on Friday where it opens at 8:00am so I’ll turned up just as it opens which should mean hardly anyone is there so then I can get it out of the way then fly up to Auckland for my grandma’s memorial service.
While I was in Upper Hutt I picked up Chipolo One Point for Android (link) having moved over to Android and my Apple Airtags don’t work with Android. I bought three of them, set them up and the whole process was seamless – one on my key ring, one on my work back and the third one I’ll use for my travel bag. So far everything is goig well – the 5G performance is great, I guess I’m lucky that Skinny/Spark has quite a few cell towers around where I live so I can get a strong signal.
Rang mum and had a chat – a bit of a family kerfuffle meant that she went up to Auckland earlier – I tend to avoid the drama but I’ve advised mum that if guests are unhappy with the way she does things in her own home then may I suggest those guests go to a hotel where they can be as picky as they want. For me, if I am a guest at someone’s place I am grateful for what is being offered rather than forever engaging in histeronics.
Ubiquiti has released Unifi OS upgrade from 4.0.21 to 4.1.13 and the Unifi Network Application to 9.0.108 – so far everything has been rock solid and reliable which will be great when I head back to work on Wednesday where I’ll be working from home.
Firefox 134 is going to be released this week and hopefully uBlock Origin 1.62.0 which has been released on the project’s github website will appear on the Firefox addon website so it can be installed. I’ll continue using Chrome but I’ll see what is happening in the world of Firefox because I’m hoping that as Interop 2024 finishes and Interop 2025 is announced that the days of websites not working with particular browsers will come to an end and instead users will have the joy of being able to choose the browser they wish to use rather than the website they visit making that choice for them.
There is currently a flag in Chrome on Android where it will be possible to put the address bar at the bottom of the screen and as noted in a prior blog post how there are the beginnings of extensions for Chrome on Android. Extensions on Android lines up with the larger rumour that Google is working to replace ChromeOS with Android – one operating system that rules them all with a UI that is able to adapt to the form factor it is being used on. I’ve tried Android apps on ChromeOS but the experience has never been smooth and in many cases developers are required to update their application so if the future means Android from top to bottom and can make use of the huge library of apps that Google has then new opportunities will open.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL is going great, went for a walk to post a parcel and if anyone is wondering, it is fully working on the Skinny/Spark network including 5G support along with 4G and VoLTE so if you do plan to buy it then you’ll find that it’ll keep working after Spark turns off their 3G network in 2025 (link) where the Huawei equipment will be removed (if I remember correctly Spark has been using Nokia for their 4G and 5G roll outs in conjunction with a few other vendors) and I’d say that the 3G frequencies of 850MHz and 2100MHz will be reused for 5G where 4G will be fall back and 5G will be where all the ‘action’ will take place in much the same way that 3G was the fall back and 4G was where all the ‘action’ takes place. One of the benefits Spark inherited is the lack of legacy – Spark went from analogue to CDMA2000 then to 3G UTMS meaning they were ‘all in transitions’ vs 2 Degrees and One NZ that could do a gradual transition.
Well, I’m feeling a lot better and will be heading back to work next week on Wednesday where I’ll be working Wednesday and Thursday then on Friday I fly up to Auckland for the weekend for my grandma’s memorial service where the family will get together. I’ve got my overnight bag sorted out but I’m still deciding whether I should be lazy and just get an uber to the airport or do I just grab the train into Wellington then the bus to the airport.
On Monday the Snakehive case for my Pixel 9 Pro XL will arrive and once that is on the phone I’ll be happy to take it with me when I leave the house – yes, I’m overly paranoid about dropping it but having experienced the screen replacement bill it is something I don’t want to repeat again. Once I’ve got that sorted I’m going to then send away the 4 Airtags that I sold then I’ll order the Chipolo 4 pack and get them all set up (organise delivery Monday the following week).
I’ve got Kodi installed on the Google TV Streamer meaning that I can watch TVNZ and Three without having to download their app and then setup an account. I tend to watch PBS Newshour for international news but I’ll tune into TVNZ News along with RNZ when I need to catch up with domestic news. One thing I have noticed is how it is much more responsive than the Chromecast with Google TV that I tried a year ago. So far the Google TV Streamer is very responsive – it appears that Google has spent a lot of time optimising Android TV and rumour has it that the next release will be Android TV 16 based on Android 16.
The next update for the Ubiquiti Dream Machine – UnIFi 4.1.13 which is currently a release candidate and normally if there are no show stoppers it gets released a week or so later but if there are issues that pop up then they’ll fix them, release another beta then see how things work out from there. Hopefully the release will address a few issues regarding secure DNS, latency on the internet connection and a few other things.
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.
There has been a lot reporting on the big technology companies being challenged by regulators regarding how they integrate products together, the business model regarding requiring software sold through an app store having to use the app store payment system for in-app functionality such as subscriptions etc. Arstechnica has written an interesting article regarding the FTC in the United States investigating Microsoft’s bundling of services together (link).
The problem I have with the line of thinking being employed by the FTC is this, at what point do you draw the line between a product being bundled because there is an expectation to have that functionality built in versus including it because they’re wanting to crush the competition. For example, many years ago back when SCO was called Santa Cruz Operations and sold UnixWare and OpenServer you had to licence components that most people would consider core operating system features such as a TCP/IP stack. When it came to Windows 3.x there was Trumpet Winsock (link) that you had to purchase if you wanted to get on the internet then the functionality was built into Windows 95 as customers expected that functionality to be built in out of the box. This can also be said for Internet Explorer – how are you going to get onto the internet to get a browser of choice if you don’t have a browser built in to enable you to do that? appears like a chicken and egg scenario (keeping in mind that the anti-trust case against Microsoft over 20 years ago was more than just a matter of building Internet Explorer with Windows – it was about agreements with OEMs and much more complex stuff that is outside the scope of this blog post).
Let’s fast forward to focusing on Microsoft focusing on improving their security and part of that included not just improvements to their code base and changing the way in which Windows did certain things but also included bundling into Windows Microsoft Defender. Yes, Microsoft does provide paid for enterprise enhancements but the bunding of Defender into Windows was addressing a long standing issue that end users wanted addressing so that out of the box their Windows computer is secure rather than having to purchase a third party piece of software to do what most people would consider a core competency of an operating system (macOS also has anti malware builtin called XProtect which was made available in 2012).
What used to be ‘nice to haves’ eventually become something that customers expect to be included as part of a product – something that used to be taken care of by a third party now becomes a core essential part of the software. What customers also want is value for money and integration which is why customers are attracted to suites – Microsoft provides a one stop office suite which includes everything from spreadsheets to documents and everything in between then throw on top of that collaboration tools such as Teams with everything integrating in with everything else. To hear companies complain makes me laugh given that nothing has stopped them from expanding their portfolio of applications beyond a single application because ultimately you need to address the demand of the consumer, if the consumer wants a suite of applications then that is what you need to provide them – Salesforce integrates with Office 365 and at my own work we choose to use Slack over Teams for any sort of messaging to each other (personally I think Salesforce needs to expand beyond CRM to start offering their own suite of applications similar to what Google Workspace and Microsoft Office 365 can provide).
What I do hope is that whatever the outcome is that it doesn’t undermine the ability for businesses to provide more functionality to customers or expand what they have to offer. I have two pieces of advice to businesses: 1) If you build a business that is based around ‘filling a hole’ then you better make sure that you have a business plan once that hole is filled by the parent company. 2) Making your whole business dependent on one product is a recipe for disaster – businesses tend to prefer keeping their list of suppliers short and if what you have to offer is up against a company who provide an end to end solution then you’ll tend to find that the business will prefer that end to end solution rather than trying to create a hodge-podge of multiple vendors then trying to link them all up to work together.
The body is gradually mending itself after the accident on last week – I had a chat to the doctor as I needed to follow up on getting ACC sorted out, he advised that I get it sorted out when I go to my local GP on Friday to as a follow up to a few health related issues that were raised which I’ll speak to my doctor about. On plus side at least the appointment is scheduled for 4pm – afterwards I’ll grab a coffee and either head home or maybe stop off at mum’s place for dinner. Long story short, it will be a long road to recovery but I’ll eventually get there. I popped into the GP today and got the issue with ACC sorted out and scheduled a blood test – the GP said it was good that I started getting my lifestyle sorted out with the diet change I have made but thought it would be best to get a blood test to find out where things stand at the moment and whether there is anything additional that may need to be done.
Maybe this whole accident worked out for the best – picking up an issue that may have gone unnoticed until it was too late. Reminds me of watching those YouTube shorts where people will take their car in for something minor like an oil leak and then the technician dives in deeper to find that there is a lot more occurring under the hood that needs fixing.
I’ve updated Chrome and AdGuard Version 5.0.176 – things are going pretty good so far. I’ve uploaded macOS, tvOS and iOS to the latest version then gave the updated Safari a try but the extension framework is still very much limited in functionality when compared to what Chrome and Firefox offer. I always like to give Safari a chance – I don’t want to be one of those sort who run a piece of software into the dirt based off a bad experience many years but haven’t used it recently. I always hold out hope that something will improve but I keep my expectations realistic.
I’ve given uBlock Origin Lite a try on another profile to see whether there have been improvements blocking but believe it’ll still be very much limited when compared to AdGuard which uses a variety of javascript libraries to stop the sort of annoying popups (along with supporting rules the end user has also setup) particular the way some websites will have hidden areas where if you click it opens up a new window or pressing play results in another window opening. With that being said, I’m always looking over at Firefox to see what they’re doing as so far as bringing their browser into greater compatibility with web standards as to avoid situations where there is incompatibility between a website and the web browser one chooses to use.
On Wednesday I popped down to the mall, had a cappuccino and muffin from muffin break then headed into Spark to see what the latest crop of Android phones are like. The Samsung S24 Ultra is a pretty good device but it’ll be interesting to see what the Samsung S25 Ultra brings along with Android 15. When Android is updated the OEM keeps with the same release of the linux kernel but when a new phone is released the newest long term supported version – in the case of Android 15 it is the linux kernel version 6.6.
Well, where do I stat. On 12 December I caught a bus to pick up my scooter from the local repairs at 8:00am where the back tyre and regular maintenance was done (oil change plus other usual 6 monthly checkups). I jumped on my scooter and headed towards Petone on Cuba Street towards Wellington and out of nowhere a person turned into Cuba Street, I put my breaks, my scooter flipped forward resulted in my landing on the road and my scooter going in another direction – the person who caused the accident drove off (I was lucky in that there were people who saw the whole incident and from what it sounded like when I was lying on the ground they got the licence plate of the car).
I was laying there on the road, people came to provide help and an ambulance was organised – I was quickly taken to the hospital where there was a CT scan along with X Ray to check for any fractures since my arms were sore (they took the brunt of the impact when I landed on the road). Since then I have been unable to close my hands, move my fingers and raise my arms so with that limit movement mum has helped me immensely with getting things done as I recover. At the moment however my arms are still very store meaning I have a limited range of movement, my fingers movement is slightly better than 4 days ago meaning I can slowly type this blog post out. My back still hurts along with my front, basically it is a matter of allowing time heal, something that cannot be magically accelerated.
As for my road to recovery, I’m going to get back in contact with my insurance company tomorrow to finish the claim I started today but the telephone connection suddenly dropped. The next thing to do is talk to ACC regarding the claim – since I’m unfamiliar with the whole process I’ll need to ask them how does it work regarding the time off from work I’ve taken so far and does it fall under them matching the pay or do I put it through my employer as sick leave or some other leave they payout. I’ll also need to get in contact with the police regarding getting the case file number for the incident so I can provide it to my insurance. Then finally I’ll need to contact my boss to give them a heads up on what is happening – I got the officer to contact my boss when the incident happened so I assume the wrote the rest of the week off given the circumstances of what took place but it is best to get in contact to advise them that I’ll need this week to recover as well. As a side note, I still get flash backs of the incident when trying to sleep – I’m hoping that over time they’ll become less frequent because the experience is very unsettling.
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