Sometimes, the GIF I want does not exist because I remebered a pop-culture moment incorrectly

The In Memoriam segments get harder to watch, every year

We were going to check out a comedian’s set after seeing a snippet on Tiktok.

Even though the TV audio was set as one of the Apple TV audio outputs, sound from the Apple TV was only playing via a HomePod Mini in a different room. I had to leave the YouTube app and the video I was watching to go into the system settings to set the audio output to the TV speakers only.

But that didn’t fix the problem. The TV showed the volume was responding to the remote control, but there was still no sound.

Switching to Apple Music gave the same result. No audio. No clicks, no pops, just silence.

Back to system settings to restart the Apple TV.

That “worked.” I’m getting system sounds now as I move the focus and make selections.

I relaunched the YouTube app to watch the video I had previously started. YouTube makes no effort to remember what was happaneing previously, not the video nor my place in it. At least the app remembered my search.

Now, the audio is playing correctly, but the HDMI pass-through for volume control isn’t working. This means I have to restart my TV, via a hard power cycle.

I’ve been supporting technology for a long time, and I understand everything that can go wrong. On good days I’m grateful that everything works as well as it does as often as it does. But we aren’t doing ourselves any favors with the complexity.

I have to reset both the Apple TV and the TV itself to get everything back to nominal operation. I’m not doing anything unsupported, but the electronics and the software fail with alarming and disappointing regularity.

It’s no wonder people hate technology. This is so stupid.

Also broken? The iPhone QR scanning functionality. Because I wanted to sign into the YouTube app without booting my laptop. The YouTube app on the Apple TV and on my iPhone are allegedly supposed to be able to detect one-another to validate my sign-in. Naturally this detection failed, even after several tries. Method two is to scan a QR code. Allegedly, the QR Scanner function from the iPhone Control Center opens links in Safari, but God help you if you have to switch away for a Multi-Factor Authentication code in a different iPhone app. Because whatever you were doing just disappeared and you have to start again. While you’re doing so, your authenticator code times out, so that is a wholly broken system and that verification method necessarily failed. There’s also no sharing the shortcut from the QR code to open in an instance of Safari—because apparently you’re already there, in a way that is ephemeral beyond belief. You can leave any time you like but you can never come back.

Fortunately I could get a code via SMS and Apple did thoughtfully allow me to easily paste that code from the clipboard into the authenticaton screen without having to switch to the messaging app or the code generator app.

I get it. It’s not necessarily the Apple TV on its own, it’s not the TV on its own. But isn’t it? Are these devices designed to a spec or aren’t they?

I don’t know. It works unless it doesn’t. It seems so dumb that everything suddenly requires a full reset to return to normal operation.

Thank you for reading my rant. It’s my frustration at doing what seems to be all of the right things but still having consequences I can’t control or remediate.

I’m sure the engineers who design these things can tell me why I’m being unreasonable.

My immediate behavior in the face of obligation-free paid time off is to sleep until I can’t sleep any more. If/when this is interrupted, I go back to bed as soon as possible for as long as possible.

Reading and writing is wonderful. I have a brain that likes to make connections. Between consuming some social media posts today, then writing an update to my Now page, I’ve learned some things that have helped me to clarify my own values and principles.

Yeah. Music is just as likely to bring tears to my eyes as anything, anymore

I just got a markdown-native writing app, which I’m excited about. Particularly the Apple-native synchronization to iCloud and between devices. However, a new blank document is still a new blank document.

I’m not proud of Apple if the union-busting activity is real

When, out of habit, you walk down the stairs of the atrium in your employer’s building, from the third to the first floor, to head back to your desk—and then realize the thing you need to do next is on the third floor

LinkedIn is testing a new ‘no politics’ setting

Wishing more large services offered similar. At least some offer filtering.

That thing where I have remote starting for my car but do not remember to use it to my benefit

Used all the caffeines to power through a long work weekend. Today, I started my day early and my usual large amount is insufficient. My brain wants MOAR.

Just listened to an album from 1991 that I had forgotten about, Culture Beat’s Horizon.

I got the cassette as a promo from a record store I worked at. Clearly it was in-store play, because it had one of the stickers we used. And it was something I liked enough to put my initial on, to claim once it was rotated out in favor of something newer.

That’s the main reason I looked it up to stream. Because back then, I had to wait for it. And I kept it after a lot of exposure to it.

It’s super much a statement of the time, with several tracks leaning heavily on other popular tracks and popular samples. One of the tracks was so much like Pump Up the Jam that a decent DJ could probably have faded between the two tracks very easily.

I did not buy the whole album digitally, but a few tracks stood out. Namely No Deeper Meaning, due to the sampling of Change by Tears for Fears, which still makes me squee.

The second half of the album, roughly Side 2, is much less caught in 1991, if still referential (if not reverential). The drums from Running Up that Hill in the outro was a nice touch.

That was a fun time machine ride.

Read Nicholas Bate’s Your 2022 Word.

My word for 2022 is Grow

It’s not a resolution, nor a command. But it encapsulates so much on my mind.

It’s an old microwave but it still warms my heart. The first button is for making popcorn 🍿

There’s a Moon over Margaret Street tonight…

In Apple’s Post-Jobs, Post-Ives design era, I feel like device industrial design is looking a lot like Jobs-era design, before Ives spoke and presented during product releases.

In other words, the devices look very familiar.

ADHD Tax: When I panic about losing my phone while I’m in a meeting. Phone was less than a foot from my person but I had set another object on top of it.

Anyone else noticed the increased usage of the word Cyber, recently? Just me? Cause I’m old enough to remember its overuse the first time around? I miss those days, when we thought everything was going to be cooler by now.

That feeling when you get the email from the vendor that an item has shipped. Yet the tracking number reveals only that the label has been printed and the shipper has not yet taken possession of the item.

A new day brought new places to type and click to resolve more kinds of technical issues. There was significant terror over several days. If I make it through the evening without a phone call, I may relax.

1. In US tourist areas/high season, do not assume the convenience stores will have a “working” bathroom. I would estimate odds are worse than 50/50 against you.
2. Hilton Home2 is pet-friendly and could make a great base of operations. Our experiences in two locations were very good
3. AirBnB hosts and homes are really lovely, though mattresses on beds are uneven. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be, to provide a good mattress yet subject it to the whims of visitors about whom nothing is known—though hotels seem to have that sussed.
4. Gentrification is a thing. Wealthy individuals and large companies swoop in, buy land and build monstrosities that block everything out for people who have lived in an area for generations, then shut them out because prices sky-rocket to cater to more wealthy people who care nothing for the area, the local population, nor the natural environment. I’m grateful for land designated as parkland—so at least there are some limits to “growth”. Yes, I see how I contribute.
5. Being near the ocean is powerful. I hope I can always appreciate this.
6. The ocean is powerful. I hope I never underestimate this.
7. Sometimes the asshole on the road is me.

Construction zones in Indiana have signs that scold you: Your speed is flashing number, flashing number, SLOW DOWN

“…The shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams.”

Sunrise, Kill Devil Hills, NC

There is just no way a few hours at the ocean can’t be beautiful #obx