Apple

My very first Apple product was the iPhone 3GS. I still remember how I queued overnight just to get one and had to go for work the very next day without sleep. It was my very first smartphone and the excitement kept the sleep monster away.

I don’t do that now. I’m happy to just pre-order one and wait for it to be delivered.

Since then, I gradually started using more Apple products. The MacBook Air, iPad, MacBook Pro, AirPods.

Right now I have the iPhone XS, MacBook Pro 2019, iPad Mini 5th gen, and I still keep my older MacBook Pro 2015. I ditched the AirPods because they were too expensive and having my first pair fail after a year doesn’t give me enough confidence to own another.

The thing I love about these products is how well they integrate with one another, greatly improving my quality of life.

I use the 1Password password manager on my iPhone and when I copy the password on it, I can immediately paste it on my MacBook. I use the built in Keychain app too, but kept 1Password because it can generate keyboard friendly yet reasonably secure passwords and can manage one-time-password tokens.

The notes, reminders and calendars app are synced across all devices. I can write notes when I’m on my MacBook and search for them when I’m outside on my iPhone, vice versa.

I also like how I can answer phone calls when I’m on my MacBook Pro without picking up my phone. I have earphones that come with a mic that I use to listen to music while working on the MacBook. Sometimes I would get phone calls and I can immediately answer it without taking off the earphones.

I’m looking forward to more QoL improvements Apple products bring.

Having said that, I don’t own an Apple Watch yet primarily because of the battery life. I find it kind of troublesome to have to charge it everyday. Probably because I’m used to how I only need to change the battery for my analog watch once a year, and I still like the look of an analog watch. I’m still keen to own one for the health and safety features like ECG and fall detection though.

Lastly, another reason I love Apple’s products is how beautiful their user interface is. Although they have made some ugly ones before (remember the UI for the very first notes app? lol), the UI right now for most of their software is very pleasing to look at.

World History

Recently countries have been giving each other shit for the war crimes that were made in the past. While it is important to remember them so as not to make the same mistake again, it is also important for mankind to move on.

Events that have happened in the past have led us to where we are today. It is nothing to be proud of, yet should not be forgotten.

And I feel that it is not something that should be made used of in today’s politics.

Shopping Spree

This month might the one month I bought a lot of stuff.

4 albums from a band that’s no longer around: “Thee Michelle Gun Elephant”

A pair of PlayStation wireless gold headphones, because the one I originally had, broke.

The new iPad Mini 5th gen. Because my 64GB 4th gen one is starting to run out of space.

The new MacBook Pro with an 8-core CPU, 32GB of ram and 512GB SSD. Because my old 2015 model is only dual-core with 16GB ram and 128GB SSD and as my dev tools improve, so do their processing power requirements.

A USB-C dongle and an HDMI cable because the damn new MacBook Pro only has USB-C ports.

An extra 87W power adapter and a USB-C charging cable so I don’t have to bring them back and forth from office and home.

I still have a FF14 album “Journeys” that will be released mid June, which I bought together with a FF14 book which contains all the stores released on their website.

And soon at the end of the month or early July, the FF14 ShadowBringers expansion, where I had ordered the physical copy of the collector’s edition.

The most expensive purchase is the MacBook Pro. I had upgraded its default specs and bought AppleCare+ for it. I’m hoping this would last me at least 5 years, and anything longer would be a blessing.

I might try to get a cheap, used 4K monitor for work.

Another way to stay happy

I’ve come across many instances where friends or acquaintances try to challenge every statement you make based on what they learned from videos on facebook.

Depending on the severity of what was being challenged, which most of the time is menial, instead of arguing back, I think it’s better to just ignore it and carry on with our lives.

What shapes you?

It is the age of information.

We can easily find out details of almost anything we want to know about.

We are also easily bombarded with things we may not want to know about.

Huge tech companies gather information about us, almost enough for them to build a profile of our likes, dislikes, habits, political views.

After learning about Cambridge Analytica obtaining user data and using it to influence the USA’s presidential election, I wonder if the information shown to me on various social media platforms, news platforms, were tailored to influence me towards a certain path.

Even though I believe myself to be neutral, always maintaining a neutral position and try to examine things on both sides of the coin, I know for a fact that anyone and everyone, including myself, will always be biased against something no matter what.

And to get someone to be biased against something is very easy.

If I know a person is against a political party, I would subtly show him articles or stories that confirms his beliefs, further boosting his bias-ness.

Or show him a different set of articles and stories, that would contradict his beliefs till he questions them, under the holy guise of “you should examine things from both sides of the coin”.

It is the age of misinformation.

I came across a guy who would always talk about the things going on in a forum that he frequently visits. He is easily influenced by the majority of users in that forum. He’s being shaped by that forum.

I had a chat with a woman about Donald Trump winning the presidential election. I suggested that it was a “good thing” and was quickly told about a subreddit dedicated to the “bad things” that he has done. Other conversations with her often contain a reference to reddit. I believe she’s being shaped by that subreddit.

And all we need is a character with enough influence in either platforms to reshape their thoughts.

The internet has a strange way of changing a person’s views.

And I think the only way to protect myself is to question everything and take it with a pinch of salt.

Instead of relying on social media for entertainment, I would instead rely on video games, books, comics for it.

Video games, science fiction novels, comics, have really good stories and I would rather let these forms of entertainment shape me instead of social media.