Post-holiday miscellanea

1.

I’m finding it a bit hard to write about technology, lately. My decreasing enthusiasm has to be age-related: I’ve been interested in technology for many years now, always nurturing a curious eye and attitude towards new hardware, new devices, new solutions, new software, and at the same time trying not to make such excitement linger on a specific innovation, but rather attempting to look at it against the big picture. The big picture being progress, technological advancement and how it affects humans and everyday life. My current general feeling of disappointment towards the tech world could perhaps be summarised this way: I’m liking that big picture less and less. Why? Just read the news, or open Twitter, to get a taste.

2.

In possibly the best article I’ve read this summer (or this year so far), Absolute scale corrupts absolutely, Avery Pennarun writes:

The Internet has gotten too big.

Growing up, I, like many computery people of my generation, was an idealist. I believed that better, faster communication would be an unmitigated improvement to society. “World peace through better communication,” I said to an older co-worker, once, as the millenium was coming to an end. “If people could just understand each others’ points of view, there would be no reason for them to fight. Government propaganda will never work if citizens of two warring countries can just talk to each other and realize that the other side is human, just like them, and teach each other what’s really true.”

[Wired.com has an excellent article about this sort of belief system.]

“You have a lot to learn about the world,” he said.

Or maybe he said, “That’s the most naive thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” I can’t remember exactly. Either or both would have been appropriate, as it turns out.

I used to share this sort of belief system. The disappointment that ensued came slowly but steadily. My exposure to Usenet in the late 1990s-early 2000s gave me a relatively hard lesson on how much people can communicate online and how little that helps to understand one another. But also on how people can weaponise the communication tools they have at their disposal to twist narratives, spread false notions, hurt others. My idealism was curbed, but not completely defeated. I remember thinking that Usenet was just an environment, an enclosed (cyber)space people treated as a sort of communication playground, just like how it was at school. Fast forward to now, however, and the playground is everywhere. The virus has breached containment.

3.

Every day I stumble onto some kind of obstacle or problem that makes me think, This could be easily solved with the level of technological progress we have today — but the tech world is still dominated by a certain strain of nerd mindset that makes too many people focus on less important stuff, like how many cameras, megapixels, and what kind of low-light performance the next wave of smartphones are going to have; or how we can improve Siri so that it can understand simple commands we’re still faster to execute ourselves in the first place; or when the stupid self-driving cars are finally coming. An immense amount of resources spent on trying to solve the wrong problems, or the non-problems, or the problems tech companies have created in the first place. We obsess on what the artwork on the Apple invitation for their September 10 event may imply, while the public building I’m in now completely lacks any solution to help blind and otherwise disabled people navigate its various floors.

4.

I clearly have iPad fatigue. The other day I tweeted, I really can’t explain why, but my enthusiasm/excitement for the iPad has been decreasing as the device has actually, progressively become more powerful. I suspect this ‘iPad fatigue’ comes from too much exposure to stupid tech debates like “Can iPad become your only device?”

I knew from the start that the iPad wouldn’t stand a chance at becoming my only — or my main — computing device. When it comes to personal tech choices, I’m too intellectually curious to be a minimalist. The iPad for me has been, still is, a fantastic computing wingman; the perfect consumption solution; the perfect platform for quick checks and fast tasks. When it wants to act like a pro, it can, but there’s too much friction; so much as to make the device utterly unappealing. I’m faster on a Mac. I’m faster on a Windows 10 laptop. Or even on the older Windows 8.1.

And it took me less time finding my way around Android on the Xiaomi Mi A2 I’ve recently purchased (for work and personal UI research) than fully mastering the beta of iPadOS 13 on a borrowed iPad.

In 2012, I couldn’t wait to spend my hard-earned money on the upcoming third-generation iPad, the first with a retina display. I truly made the most out of it in the following years, and it’s still my main iPad, together with a first-generation iPad whose simplicity (and beloved pre-iOS 7 user interface design) still makes it a joy to use.

In 2018–2019, I started considering the idea of getting a regular, entry-level iPad, to keep up with the latest iOS releases on a tablet, and maybe have a more powerful portable machine when I’m out and about and don’t exactly need a workstation. But the purchase of a second-hand 11-inch MacBook Air made me realise that I didn’t really need a new iPad or iPad Pro. I had found the perfect power+portability package I was looking for, for much less money. From then on, I really had a tough time justifying the purchase of an iPad, so I kept prioritising other stuff, like photographic equipment, an Android phone, and my next investment is very likely going to be a pair of Sony noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones, which cost just like a regular, entry-level iPad. My 5‑minute experience when I tried them out has been comparatively more life-changing, I kid you not.

5.

So, rumour has it that the next iPhone line-up will have a naming scheme that’ll give us an “iPhone 11 Pro” model, and while Gruber keeps nodding and saying that it makes a lot of sense, I find that using the ‘Pro’ moniker on iPhones is just silly and ridiculous. I know that with Apple, ‘Pro’ doesn’t always necessarily mean ‘professional’; that in many cases it’s just a way to indicate a premium or deluxe device. But I think it’s a poor choice of label, one that makes ‘Pro’ become more and more meaningless. Imagine if Apple introduced an improved version of the AirPods and HomePod, kept selling the original models, but called the new ones “AirPods Pro” and “HomePod Pro” respectively. Yes, that’s how “iPhone Pro” sounds to my ears.

6.

This summer, my wife and I didn’t travel by plane or train, but by car. We went to Italy passing through France, and we made a couple of stops (Nice and Montpellier) on our way back. Our car is a bit old, and doesn’t have a GPS or an integrated satnav. Previous car trips had seen successful navigation by simply relying on our iPhones and Google Maps’ suggested routes and turn-by-turn navigation. This time things worked flawlessly… 96% of the time. And the 4% when things didn’t work, we actually found ourselves in stressful situations for which we had to quickly improvise a way out. In crucial moments — like taking the right turn to properly go back to the autoroute — Google Maps on my iPhone 8 seemed to briefly lose or miscalculate our position; the arrow representing our car would start wandering off; the map would start drunkenly rotating; and Google Maps would start ‘rerouting’ just when we had to decide whether to turn right or proceed straight for another 200 metres.

We lost ourselves a couple of times. And when you’re too focussed and too reliant on a navigator, and it fails you, you get startled and feel you’re suddenly in the middle of a jump and the safety net has vanished beneath you. Once Google Maps mistakenly thought we had arrived at our destination, when we were actually driving a few parallel streets away, so it triumphantly displayed the ‘You’ve reached your destination’ screen and obviously stopped giving directions. And we had a brief, panicky What now!? What now?! moment. (You might find this funny, but when it’s late evening, you’re driving for the first time in a city you’ve never been before, you don’t speak the local language fluently, you’re near the historic centre and you really need to find parking… Well, amused is definitely not what you feel.)

I still wonder what happened, though. So far, Google Maps has truly been 100% reliable for me. My brother-in-law suggested it might have been something with my iPhone’s GPS or compass — but before trying the silly 8‑shaped calibrating gesture, I switched to Apple Maps, and it was locking on our position without straying unexpectedly. I still prefer Google Maps’ interface, but admittedly Apple Maps came to the rescue at least on one crucial occasion.

7.

A few days ago, I finally decided and bought an Android smartphone. I’ve had this idea for months — not to switch from iOS to Android, but to get a modern Android device to give the platform another close look, among other things. The last time I tried Android it was late 2014, on a 2011 smartphone running version 4.0.4. Of course my experience was a bit meh. What can I say? User interfaces are probably one of the few areas of interest keeping my tech fireplace burning, and I’ve been following Android’s progress by watching a lot of Android smartphone reviews. Many phones have surprised me for their capabilities, and I would really be a fool fanboy if I didn’t recognise that — when it comes to hardware design, features, and software polish — the gap between iPhones and Android phones has been drastically reducing in the last few years.

For my purposes, investing in a flagship Android headset was frankly overkill. Especially now, that brands like Nokia, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, Huawei, are making very good midrange products, with respectable tech specs and affordable prices. Additional preferences were: a notchless phone, a sufficient amount of RAM and horsepower (so that the phone doesn’t get obsolete too soon), a phone included in the AndroidOne initiative (so that I could have the ‘pure Android’ experience), and finally a smartphone that wouldn’t hit my wallet too hard.

I found a good deal in the Xiaomi Mi A2. Yes, it’s a model from 2018, but it ticks all the items in my wishlist. After considering buying it second-hand in a local shop, I actually saved money by purchasing it directly online at Xiaomi’s website. I got the variant with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, in black, for less than €150. I will share my observations in a dedicated post at a later date, but for now I’ll go ahead and say that after two days with the device, I had virtually no trouble getting used to Android. The Mi A2 is a nice, capable performer, with a very iPhonish design (with the screen turned off it could be mistaken for an iPhone 7/8 Plus when looked from across a room). For being a phone with a 5.99-inch display, it’s surprisingly manageable, and the fingerprint sensor on the back is as fast as TouchID on my iPhone 8.

My very first impression of modern Android is that it has matured a lot as a mobile operating system and, at least in its ‘pure’ form, it feels way more stable and much more visually consistent than it was just a few years back.

8.

Hotel Wi-Fi offerings are still mediocre. Case 1: Wi-Fi worked, but we had to create a free account to use it (and relinquish some personal data; nothing major, but it really felt unnecessary). Case 2: Wi-Fi worked, connection seemed reliable but not particularly speedy (let’s say acceptable for most tasks) — but WEP encryption!? Really!? Case 3: Wi-Fi didn’t work; credentials were entered correctly, devices connected to the network, but no traffic whatsoever. Maybe that router goes to sleep after 2 AM?

9.

Games I’ve recently played (and still playing) that I recommend: Stories Untold, GRIS, and Kona. I’ve been enjoying them a lot. Your tastes and mileage may vary.

Speaking of games, there are two game-related YouTube channels I’m subscribed to, and both deserve many more subscribers than they currently have:

Nick930 — Nick produces terrific game reviews and game comparisons. He’s very honest and balanced, and keeps his reviews pleasantly short (8–12 minutes on average); but he also makes very nice documentaries about the histories of various game franchises. The material is well-researched and well-presented. I stumbled on his channel by chance while looking for videos about Tomb Raider, and found his great History of Tomb Raider (1996–2018). You’ll see that Nick has currently more than 146,000 subscribers, and while it’s a respectable audience, I still think his channel is very underrated and that he deserves at least 5 times that number.

Tench Froast — Now, here’s a truly criminally underrated channel. I already talked about Lady Tench Froast (no real name given) back in January, and I still stand by what I said then:

She’s a smart, witty, genuine, sarcastic, entertaining woman. She loves trying out indie games for the most part, and when you follow her in her playthroughs, you have this feeling of really being there too. She’s engaging, completely direct and spontaneous, and whether you like the game she’s playing or not, you’ll certainly gain a few good laughs from the experience. But I also like the fact that she’s not just in for the jokes and the lulz, she also makes smart observations and criticism during the gameplay, explaining what she likes and why, and what she thinks doesn’t work and why.

I also like her “No Commentary” series, where she just shows gameplay without commentary, so that you can focus on a particular game; and the “Toast Bites” series, little compilations of ‘bites’ taken from 5–6 different indie games, with a brief review for each of them. This series is perfect to discover indie titles you may not have heard about, and which could be interesting to try out.

At the moment, she only has 347 subscribers(!), and it’s a damn shame. She’s a fun, intelligent person producing good quality material only three hundred people will see, while there are a bunch of idiot YouTubers doing idiotic things who have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. It just isn’t fair. She hopes to reach 1,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Really, check out her channel!