I woke up this morning with a splitting headache and sore throat (resulting in a croaky voice and difficulty speaking without eventually needing to cough heavily) so I thought it would be best to have today off to recover. After waking up, I then checked to see whether Google had released an update for Chrome which they did where Chrome was updated to version 132.0.6834.84 and along with the update there was also an update from AdGuard to version 5.0.183 – I haven’t noticed any regressions for either Chrome or AdGuard so things are working well.
I’ve given Firefox another try (the most up to date version being 134.0.1) – I really do want to give it a try but I tried to add my credit card to my autofill synchronisation on my phone but I found that it couldn’t be added so then I checked on Firefox on my laptop to see if I can manually add it but there is no way to do that. Unrelated to that issue, there is also the other feature that I love which is ‘Google Lens’ which allows you to copy text out of an image or select text in an image then translate it which I use on a regular basis. Firefox developers really need to deal with these shortcomings.
Am I going to make a bug report? I gave up trying to do that when over 15-20 years ago I reported memory leaks resulting in the browser being hopelessly inefficient (yeah, I know it is a long time ago but if I have a bad experience I’m less inclined to give an organisation a second chance). Long story short, the bug report was ignored by Firefox developers then it was closed off with no one interested in fixing it – it wasn’t until years later when they started losing their market share that the developers finally admitted there was a problem and finally started fixing these memory leaks. Long story short, if I am going to spend time reporting an issue then only having it to be ignored then I’m not going to waste my time reporting the issues I have then having to wait 10 years until Firefox market share hits rounding error numbers for something to happen.
Relaxing in bed and getting ready to head into the office on Wednesday – back to work after a month off recovering from my accident and time off for my grandma’s memorial service. I an tempted to work from home but given that I have been out of the office for around a month I think it is best to make an appearance – get up to date with what is happening, get a vibe check of how things are going given that Slack is pretty quiet when I was working last week from one.
Well, that is what I was thinking but I’ve got a sore throat and coughing – it started last week on Thursday and it hasn’t cleared itself up. I’m going to text message my boss tomorrow because I think it is best that I am not in the office spreading something (assuming it is spreadable), I maybe even be lucky to do some work off the phones such as chat support but I’ll need to wait for Wednesday to get that sorted.
My Pixel phone finally received the Play Service update to January 2025, I was worried I had done something wrong because it was stuck on November 2024 since I bought it in December 2024 but from what I read online it is just a matter of waiting. I did see reports of issues regarding the December 2024 Play Services update so maybe they held off continuing to roll it out in favour of addressing the issue in the January 2025 update. The January 2025 Android Security Update also was rolled out recently and everything is working as it should. Sure, the Pixel phone isn’t available through a carrier but it is available through Mighty Ape (now owned by Kogan) – part of me leads me to believe that Google is happy with that arrangement where the risk is taken on by the reseller and they get a loyal band of fans in New Zealand.
For those wondering about the compatibility of Pixel 9 Pro XL in New Zealand, I with Skinny Mobile and Skinny Mobile is a sub brand of Spark which uses the Spark mobile network which has the Pixel 9 Pro XL as being fully compatible with Spark network (link) – from 5G to VoLTE and everything in between.
The memorial service was a nice experience – catching up with cousins I hadn’t seen in years along with seeing friends of the family I haven’t seen in years (the reason for not having seen them in years is because I live in Wellington and they live at the other end of the country). It was a great even, tasty food and was able to pick up a few knick-knacks for my home that mum will bring back when she drives back to Wellington.
I went to the Auckland airport and I have to admit I was tempted to get some doughnuts but decided that I already had my treat for the day – a kebab, drink, chips and a piece of baklava. On Tuesday I’ll be back on the routine but I’m looking forward to getting back into the office on Wednesday and see how the rest of my work mates are. On Monday I popped down to the supermarket to buy some blue berries, strawberries and some salad mix – hot weather like we’ve had so far it is always nice to have something light and refreshing for dinner.
I really do wish that ‘tech bro YouTubers’ would stop with exaggerated claims such as claiming there is a ‘huge problem’ especially when the benchmarks for the B580 given that it is clear known that to get the most out of the chip you need to enable ‘Resizable Bar’ so if you’re running an old CPU/motherboard combination you won’t get the full benefits. All of that was and is know and yet we have the same clickbait oxygen thieving tech dude bros on YouTube trying to make out that they’ve found the lost ark or something. Oh, and yes I would buy an Intel B580 or AMD GPU over getting an nVidia simply to stick it to nVidia due to their refusal to work with the open source community to make support for nVidia GPUs better (nVidia have a proprietary GPU but it breaks every time a linux kernel update is released).
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.
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