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

  • Promises of better outcomes from fewer staff, Right wing media falls off the edge of a cliff.

    There is a meme that the right wing have created about how they’re focus on having less ‘back office’ workers so then they can spend more money on the front line:

    But here is the problem, there is a reason why such back office staff exist in the first place and if they’re not doing the paper work that the government demands when who does that paper work? is it the front line staff who now have to not only do their own work but also dedicate time that would have otherwise spend doing front line to work now spend that on doing what the back office staff would have done. Ok, let’s assume that won’t happy – then is the government going to change processes? front load investment into technology to make some of the reporting that the back office staff do obsolete?

    The size of the public service comes as a consequence of the sort of policies that the government chooses to pursue – if the government insists on having a complex convoluted tax code then that requires an army of staff ranging from call centre to lawyers to compliance, auditing, dealing with people who owe money, prosecuting those who owe but money but refuse to come to some sort of payment plan etc. when compared to maybe a system where large numbers of tax credits/deductions are replaced in favour of a tax free threshold and a reduction in the number of brackets. I’ll be waiting to see what ends up happening.

    Then there is the right wing media experiencing a decline in the number of visitors and viewers:

    Although Kyle laments the fact that Facebook is deprioritising news and politics on the Meta platforms, personally I think it is the best thing that could happen – there are plenty of other places that people can hang out and discuss politics without Meta platforms being added to the mix. I think long term what Meta are trying to do is get back to their roots of being a social media platform and that in part means distancing the platform from being a hub for news and politics in favour of a place where people can hang out, share funny memes, photos, chat with friends and family, not to mention the fact that it means Meta isn’t having to spend large amounts of resources playing Whac-A-Mole with bad faith actors and overseas nongovernment actors wanting to use the Meta algorithm to spread misinformation nd disinformation.

    If you want to see what the Meta vision for their platform is then look no further than Threads, the development of the Threads API and the work being done with third parties, NBA scores through Threads etc. Basically it is trying to be the opposite of what Twitter has turned into – a place where people want to hang out and chill rather than screaming and yelling at each other.

  • Another weekend…getting closer to my trip.

    Enjoying another weekend but did some overtime to earn a few extra dollars but things are going well particular with some cleaning around the home. I want to get the house cleaned from top to bottom, get some fresh air through the house before Autumn then Winter comes – I’m going room to room, get one room sorted out then move to the next one rathe than trying to do the whole house and feeling burnt out half way through.

    This Wednesday I’ve organised 2 x monitors and a docking station – looking forward to getting those back home, I might even ask my boss if I can work from home on Thursday so I can bask in the awesomeness of my new setup. Once that is all setup it’ll make my life a whole lot easier. The desk itself is at a perfect heigh, there is oodles of room whereas I was worried it maybe cramped. The bit benefit of moving it in the office is during winter it is a lot easier to keep warm – I’ll have the heater in the hall way so that both my bedroom and office are kept warm.

    Safari Technology Preview 192 was released on 10 April (link) and there was an interesting note under Web Extensions: “Updated to use the web extension architecture in open-source WebKit code. Web extension authors are encouraged to test your extensions and report issues. (123908710)”. It’ll be interesting to see how much of a difference what was publicly in the GitHub and what Apple was maintaining internally – unfortunately there isn’t a link to a more comprehensive bug report explaining the differences. What I hope is that using the Web Extensions API in the GitHub will result in the development of the Web Extensions API being developed at a faster pace as third parties merge their contributions back into GitHub and Apple making use of those contributions.

  • Random thoughts on my day off.

    As I have gotten older I’ve found that things that I thought were important aren’t actually all that important. A good example of this was the frustration I would have using Windows and the UI inconsistencies that existed, they would be the bane of my existence and ultimately what drove me into the arms of having getting Apple devices. Long story short, the few weeks I have been using a Dell laptop running Windows 11 has really started to grow on me but that being said I don’t think I’ll ever leave the Apple ecosystem but it has allowed me to have a whole new respect for Microsoft and how far they have come.

    The rise of BYD has been interesting. I don’t want to get too political but if you force employers to pay for their healthcare of their employees (rather than having a single payer healthcare system where it is funded through taxes – everyone chips in a bit of money to the kitty) and have a strong dollar policy then don’t be surprised that it makes your industry uncompetitive. It has been years since I’ve seen a GM or Ford car in New Zealand but there are plenty of cars coming from Japan, Korea, Europe and Chinese vehicles have made their way such as ‘Great Wall’ 4WD utes for example.

    As most of you know, I went back to an iPhone however the iCloud leaves a lot to be desired, for example there is a limit of 3 aliases for custom domains however I don’t want to use Google having had negative experiences using their software on iOS is kind of half assed and half baked when compared to the Google software running on Android. The one strange thing is the lack of being able to send from aliases however if you create a group mailbox then add yourself to the group mailbox then you’ll find that you can send using that mailbox alias. Apparently they are working on being able to send from aliases however it is still work in progress (link). I thought it may have been an old article but it appears that it is the case:

  • A new round of betas and more.

    Just having a read through the Webkit website to see what the latest Safari Technology Preview has in store (link) and what peaked my interest was this:

    The support is present on M3 as well as A17 SoC – I’m holding off for the M4 or M5 because I’m interesting in seeing Apple move to ARMv9 which includes SVE2 and hopefully AV1 decoding and encoding. I’m hoping that maybe once the software based AV1 decoder becomes more efficient that it becomes an option for those Macs that don’t have the necessary hardware capability for hardware accelerated decoding.

    It’s interesting because work at the moment we have moved from having Chromebook and Google services to now I have a Dell laptop running Windows 10 (looking an upgrading to Windows 11 soon) and Microsoft Office 365. Maybe it is just me but Windows has come a really long way since I last used it as my main driver so it’ll be interesting to see what Windows 11 is like when compared to Windows 10. It appears that Microsoft have been putting a lot of effort into making Windows ‘not suck’.

    Part of that has been the work that Microsoft have been doing with the Windows App SDK (link) – gradually migrating their software over in a piecemeal piece by piece process, for example, Microsoft is moving their Photo app to the Windows SDK platform (link). I could see in the long term the apps bundled with Windows eventually becoming 100% sitting on top of the Windows App SDK with what is traditionally known as Win32 will become a legacy framework that’ll hang around for backwards compatibility.

  • Back to work.

    Went into Noel Leemings to pick up the keyboard and mouse combo on special (link) – I opted for the wired one so then I’m not having to deal with batteries and odd behaviour due to it being wireless. I’ve got it all setup however on my way back from work tomorrow I’m going to pick up a mouse pad from The Warehouse because using the mouse on my desk the cursor on the screen doesn’t move in a consistent way. The big thing I am looking at is a new chair, I’m wondering whether I should look at getting a cheap chair for my office or whether I move my current chair into the office then get a replacement chair.

    This goes into my larger focus which is look at replacing my current sofa setup because at the moment it is a leather one I got from my brother before he moved to Australia however it requires constant attention in terms of putting leather conditioner on. I’m going o get some leather condition to see if I can bring my turn chair and sofa set back to its former glory but I guess I’ll see how it goes. My current desk is looking a bit worse for wear so I’m tempted to replace it but the is part of the much larger long term project of replacing my bed frame and bedside tables.

    The National led government is talking about their 36 point plan and part of that is the exclusion of agriculture from the ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) however in their policy announcement (link) notes the following: “Keep agriculture out of the ETS but implement a fair and sustainable pricing system for on-farm agricultural emissions by 2030 at the latest. An independent board – with a power of veto retained by the Ministers of Climate Change and Agriculture – will be established to implement the pricing system.” The question is whether that policy is compatible with the free trade agreement that New Zealand has signed with the European Union. Lets hope that the legal advice National have received is a bit more more robust than the ‘pretty legal’ position taken when it came to the riff that was used in the John Key era of National election ads and the court case that followed.

  • Almost the end of another week

    One more day to go and it’ll be the end of another week. Wheels are in motion to get a new desk setup in my soon to be office where I will be working from home thus having a dedicated room where I work – it also means I’m not having to use my own monitor in favour of getting two monitors from work. With that being said, next week I’m going to head into Noel Leeming to pick up a USB mouse and keyboard, I might even get a docking station which has two HDMI ports. Long term I need to look for a dedicated seat but I’m looking forward to just getting it setup.

  • Speak of the devil.

    I made a blog post last night before going to bet hoping that Apple would release an update to macOS 14.4 and funny enough when I woke up I find an update waiting for me to install. It is a pretty hefty update weighing in at around 1.15GB. It would be nice if Apple could explain what took place and whether lessons can be learnt by third parties about regressions where in the process of fixing one bug a new bug that cause compatibility issues to emerge.

    Today I went into Noel Leemings to pick up some USB-C earbuds, a four pack of AirTags and AirTag keychain. I’ve set them all up, one for my scooter, one for my work laptop and headset, and one for my keys. I’ve got that all setup and so far everything is going well and as for the earbuds the quality is better than my old Samsung ones mainly because they sit in my ears better. I’ve never gotten into this whole wireless thing – it’s one more thing to recharge, more ewaste from the batteries are non-user-replaceable so even if the ear buds are perfectly usable you have to replace the whole thing which is a bit wasteful if you ask me.

  • Grocery shopping and clean up around home.

    Went down to the supermarket to pick up some groceries for the week – one of the habits I’ve gotten myself into is ensuring that my fridge, freezer and cupboards are well stocked so then I’ve always got something to choose from which stops me from being tempted to order take away. Tomorrow I’m looking at heading into Noel Leeming to grab some USB-C Apple earbuds along with some air tags for when I go for a trip overseas – gotta keep track of ones luggage so if it does go missing one can always track where it is. Although I do have some Samsung USB-C earbuds the problem is that they really don’t fit into my hear and it is made worse when I am wearing my motorcycle helmet because when I put it on it pulls the earbuds out of my ears.

    The chest freezer is going really well so far and the cost of running it on the standard setting it was set to when I plugged it in only uses around $6 worth of electricity per month which is more than offset by the money saved by the fact that I can bulk buy food when on special. There were some good sausages on special, English muffins are always good to freeze because they defrost so quickly and can be a break quick meal at the end of a late shift (working from 1330 to 2200 on Friday and Saturday at home) because I prefer not to eat my meal during my shift (eating during my shift makes me not want to go back to work).

    Lots of complaints about macOS 14.4 update dominated the discussions over on Reddit and Macrumours but I really don’t know enough of the technical underpinnings to know whether it was a regression on the part of Apple or whether in the process of addressing a security bug (or just general run of the mill bug) that they had to break compatibility but failed to adequately communicate those changes to the developer community so that they could issue updates to their software to address issues regarding compatibility. Let’s hope that what ever the case maybe that this week (or maybe next week) Apple will release an update to address the problems being reported.

    Another week enjoying being back in the Apple ecosystem – iPhone 15 Pro Max but I’ve disabled the ‘always on display’ and with it disabled the battery life is massive, I’ve had it barely recharge it but then again I don’t run games and other software that would tax the processor and thus use massive amounts of power. Part of moving back to the iPhone meant moving to the One NZ (formally Vodafone NZ) and the consistent 5G coverage has been really good, it appears that carriers in New Zealand are not only fixing up their 4G coverage by making greater use of 700MHz but also making 5G 3500MHz available at more cell sites.

    Regarding the trip overseas, I’m still wondering whether I should open up an Instagram account to share my photos or whether I should just wait till I come home then upload them to share on my blog – I’ve got two months to make up my mind so I’m in no rush.

  • Enjoying the weekend.

    Enjoying my weekend (Monday and Tuesday) with the first I went for a walk down to my local cafe and had a eggs bene (with smoked salmon) along with a bowl of mochaccino – a nice way to start the day with a late brunch by getting me out of the home and getting in a bit of exercise. Not too sure what I’ll do tomorrow but I’m sure when I wake up tomorrow I’ll think of something.

    There is a rumour that there will be an update to iOS 17.4.x released this week (link), there is also a rumour about an update to macOS 14.4.x which fixes up the recent update breaking compatibility with Java (link) along with iLok-protected plugins (link). Keep in mind that these are rumours so it could be this week, next week or they might just roll it up with the next macOS 14.5 and iOS 17.5 update, unlike Microsoft who has a fairly predictable schedule and open communication in the case of Apple it is very much ‘wait and see’.

    Things are going great with my iPhone 15 Pro Max with the Snakehive case – the 5G coverage with One NZ is great with the signal very robust so overall the move to One NZ as my mobile carrier isn’t a decision I regret. I am looking at maybe a later date moving to One NZ for my internet but maybe reducing the speed from gigabit down to 300mbps down and 100mbps up given that I never make full use of the bandwidth available. Since I’m located in NZ, unless there is a local point of presence, it is difficult to max out a connection when downloading data from overseas – I can flood a connection downloading from a local source such as downloading a Linux ISO from a local website but most of the stuff I do involves uploading/downloading from overseas websites that never max out the connection.

    I’ve been thinking about the recent legislation that’ll speed up the process of building infrastructure and projects of national significance (link). I can understand the frustration because I routinely talk about how projects take longer than required and cost more than they should all because of the pandering to a small but noisy NIMBYs resulting in much needed housing, for example, always delayed with the usual whining about ‘the character of the neighbourhood’ in justification of blocking any sort of intensification of housing density. Although some have have voices concerns about it, I am going to take a cautious ‘wait and see’ approach for what projects are fast tracked and what safe guards are put in place to ensure that legitimate concerns are addressed.

    It reminds me very much of a video I watched on YouTube regarding the escalating costs of building infrastructure – one of the costs that were discussed was the work that was done after the initial design to take into account potential complaints by NIMBYs and preempting them by making changes as to avoid slowing down the project. For example, building a rail connection either elevated or ground based out to a low density area would make sense because it would be fast and affordable but then the project preempts the chorus of whinging so they then create an underground service which requires a tunnel boring machine along with all the expenses it entails. In otherwods, an otherwise relatively simply operation made more expensive than it needs to be.

    Let’s jump to New Zealand where there was a plan for a light rail connection out to the airport in Auckland – in a perfectly run world it would be built through to he use of elevated rail (which can be done relatively easily since we already have expertise in building elevated highways – elevated rail would just be a elevated two lane road with trains with tracks instead of roads). What was the end result of design and taking into account potential NIMBYs? NZ$17 billion, and I would argue that is on the low side given the incidentals that pop up on a project of that scale. The new government has scrapped the whole idea (link) but I am hoping that it will come back in the form of an elevated rail project with fast track approval which will basically ignore the complaints and just get it built.

  • Random thoughts.

    This week has been pretty good with it ending the week where I have found out I’ll end up getting a bonus for the work for the last 6 months of the year which will be nice for when I head overseas – paying for travel insurance along with a bit of spending money. It’ll interesting to see how much it will be but I’m going to complain regarding the size given that I hadn’t expected it in the first place so anything more than a status quo is always good.

    I did a complete clean installation of all my devices to fix up the issue of my computer not receive SMS text messages and with that I setup AdGuard again but because I put my allow list into ‘User Rules’ I disabled the ‘Allow List’ which funny enough I noticed that the performance was a bit better when it came to downloading and rendering. I like trying new things out, experimenting and seeing whether a problem can be fixed or a process made more efficient through trial and error. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the move to MV3 for Chromium based browsers whether we’ll see a harmonisation between the Safari and Chrome based extensions.

    I really do wish for those involved in the media to cease this nonsense of false equivalency because they’re petrified of being accused of having a bias – sometimes one side is demonstrably worse than the other and there is nothing biased about pointing out the patently obvious. I also wish that the media would focus on doing a deep drive on policy rather than focus on horse politics – yes, the administration’s job is to ‘sell’ their policy but it is up to you in the media to look beyond the marketing and provide the sort of sober analysis of policy so that there is an informed electorate. Oh, and one more thing, when it comes to polls – stop making pronouncements like “Biden is DOOMED! DOOMEDI TELL YOU!” when something like 20% of those being polled are undecided.