Watts Martin

This is my first keyboard with a numeric keypad in years. I don't need it, but the small Apple keyboard has stupid arrow keys and the whole unit is small enough that the trackpad isn't pushed *too* far to the right.

My particular "do I want to buy this thing" is, of all things, a Magic Keyboard. As much as I love my mechanical keyboards, I think I am experiencing twinges of RSI with them that I don't get with the laptop's low force (but surprisingly crisp) internal keyboard.

Internal conversation: "I'd like to buy this [thing]. But I'm technically unemployed. But maybe I'm retired and I can buy things! But my retirement savings are mostly investments and the market's going to crash in the next 12 months. …maybe I should buy [thing] now while I still can."

I remain the weirdo who's largely uninterested in the idea of either a touchscreen MacBook or a folding iPhone, but is really keen on the rumored new iPad mini.

But no, they’d rather just choke us out whilst still having porn shoved down people’s throats who don’t want it No compromise; just mess

It vaguely irritates me that I'm ending up buying Mercury Weather again instead of sticking with Hello Weather. I like both, but I think Mercury just has such a great presentation.

New post: “The Temptation of Vibe Coding” I have an app in my head I'm tempted to 'vibe code'; the reason why I'm reticent might not be what you think. (But it might be that, too.) https://coyotetracks.org/blog/temptation-of-vibe-coding/

Holy shit. (From talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1560842)

Over the last couple of days, I've noticed that the Dow and NYSE are doing markedly better than Nasdaq; the WSJ says investors are "rotating out of tech," e.g., moving more toward companies that haven't frantically shoved all their eggs into the AI basket. If true, this would be good.

I am waiting for the AI bubble to burst, but I am also acutely aware that the reason I'm not panicked about being unemployed is that I was fortunate enough to afford investing for a few years, so it's kind of a "could we just pull the scab off and get it over with fast" kind of deal.

The annoying thing about the idea of the new $300 Apple TV plus four $150 HomePod Minis as a TV surround system is that, as mediocre as the Minis may be, it's still probably going to sound better than any soundbar you can get for less than $1500. (To be clear, no, I'm not buying any of them.)

New post: “Checking Prior Assumptions” Am I just making bad assumptions about X, while it is in fact actually filled with sunshine, daisies, and frolicking apolitical ponies? https://coyotetracks.org/blog/prior-assumptions/

I want the new iPad mini to come out next week, not later in the month. It is the only Apple product this year I am (possibly irrationally) interested in.

It is odd to be doing financial planning on the assumption that I am going into early retirement whether I like it or not—but I'm fortunate that I *can* make that assumption. Assuming the stock market doesn't crash. Ha ha uh oh.

New post: “Two Weeks with the Fitbit Air” It's a different experience than the Apple Watch, but is it better? https://coyotetracks.org/blog/two-weeks-fitbit-air/

I'm feeling curiously mixed emotions at getting a contact from a recruiter about a position that sounds potentially interesting, because so much of me just wants to stop working for other people at this point. Unrelatedly, let me remind you my blog has a tip jar.

How many people use desktop widgets on macOS? I started out ignoring them, then added one or two, and now probably have too many. (Well, four, but one of them is really big.)

There was this consensus of not going to X after Elon Musk turned it into a right-wing hellhole but I see more and more especially journalists going back "because the AI people are there".

Lately the ads LinkedIn shows me have tilted strongly toward "own your own franchise of [X]". I don't think that's what I want to do, but it's…curious.

New post: “Why They're Building Muse” After reading Alexandr Wang's mission statement for Meta's new AI assistant, I have some modest improvements to suggest. https://coyotetracks.org/blog/why-building-muse/

After just two days of MacSparky-style hyperscheduling, I'm not sure I *am* more productive but it certainly *feels* like I am. #FakeItTillYouMakeIt

After over a year on Emacs, I am starting to finally use Org mode's agenda system for daily planning, sort of a take on @macsparky.bsky.social's "hyperscheduling" (which I'd also been resisting even as I started to follow more of the Productivity Field Guide's advice).

New post: “Org Mode, Marked, and Workflows” Writing prose in Org Mode is just as nice as doing it in Markdown…except when you want to do anything with it outside of Emacs. Pandoc, though, can ride to the rescue. https://coyotetracks.org/blog/org-mode-and-marked/

Knowing that today will be the first day I don't close all my Apple Watch rings in years is surprisingly anxiety-inducing! It's going to take me a bit to figure out the Way of the FitBit.

I have the FitBit Air, and now have to figure out how to coordinate between three different health tracking apps that all want to be in charge. And I don't think Pedometer++ works gracefully with the FitBit, which will be kind of annoying, but, well.

The irony of continuing to try to de-Google in places—I just unsubscribed to two Buttondown newsletters that were on my Gmail account and resubscribed with another account—while also preparing to switch to the FitBit Air has struck me yet again just now. Oh well.

I would never

New post: “Reconsidering the Apple Watch” After wearing an Apple Watch for nearly a decade, Apple's weird choices with the Series 12 may finally kick me back into the normal watch world. https://coyotetracks.org/blog/reconsidering-apple-watch/

My Apple Watch's battery is fading, and for the first time in years I'm considering going back to my long-ignored mechanical watch and a $99 FitBit Air.

Conceding ground on trans folks does not defuse the issue. It does not placate or appease Republicans. It just gives them license to take more rights away from more poeple. And it pisses off the base. This is a losing strategy and Talarico and others need to get their minds right.

I don't doubt Apple has made the new Apple Watch's "rewind" feature as privacy-minded as it could possibly be, but "let's make the Watch compete with the Humane AI pin" is a bogglingly monumental failure to read the room.

I tried LinkedIn Premium's free trial, on the off chance that it would surprise me by not being essentially useless. It did not surprise me.

Is there a progressive version of the EFF whose mission is less "don't regulate us, bro" than "tech can fight fascism rather than supporting it"? I'd rather join it than have to start it.

I think tomorrow will be the first Apple livestream I've missed in years (due to travel). This may be a good thing, really.

Baltimore has much to recommend it.

@monteiro.bsky.social Recalling your post on how to brew coffee (you are the only other Technivorm owner I know of!), have you tried Bird and Bear's Night Owl blend? A very dark roast (and a good one) roasted in a garage in Cole Valley.

New post: “I Don't Think I Can Stay in Tech” It's becoming harder and harder to find tech employers that aren't making everything worse. https://coyotetracks.org/blog/stay-in-tech/

Wondering if this week's Connected podcast will address the Tesla in the room or not. (From the description, it doesn't look like it.)

Now that I'm getting close to retirement age, it seems like a good time to go through "What Color Is Your Parachute" and figure out what I want to be when I grow up.