It’s insane how much ring has devalued the alarm monitoring part of the ecosystem. Even if you just want ring alarm monitoring you now have to signup for at least a standard plan at 99$, and then play another 10-15$ a month on top of it to keep it. It’s just not worth it anymore.
Macro
I have been rethinking about the Apple One premier membership. At almost 40$ a month it’s expensive, and I can only see it become more expensive. We definitely use AppleTV+, Music and 2TB storage the most along with little of News. Is this package worth 40 bucks a month anymore I don’t know. At some point I am gonna think about just hosting a local NAS for storage and keeping only Apple Music family. I can subscribe/resubscribe as necessary to other services.
Dealing with an issue at work which shows AI/ML’s limitation. Something that was purpose built for assuming native English speaker is completely failing in non-native English speaking countries using the same thing. Someone wrote a deep dive doc and my first response to them was “How long have you been working with Indians?”.
I have started looking into some lightweight cameras that I can carry around and rely less on my iPhone for photos during trips. It’s crazy how expensive cameras are now. Obviously I know a bit more about photography than an average Joe so I kinda know what I am looking for, but Jesus Christ even overrated cameras like XV100 are like 1600$??! WTF. I need a lightweight zoom camera, preferably with a full frame sensor (but apsc is fine!). I kinda like the Nikon Z5II and Sony a6700 , but put off by the price. Since I have shaky hands, IBIS is going to be important for me. Research continues. I probably should rent a couple of these in next 6-8 months and see which one fits me best.
Just last week we ended up in Target much against my wishes but it was the closest and we needed a back to school item. The store has become a former shadow of itself with zero life and zero charm. I had a Target credit card and we used to frequent the store so much but looking at how empty and depressing it looked, it was clear they were struggling in a location that really should have had them full all the time (which used to be the case!). Well deserved though. They won’t do the ONE thing that could really get back customers – apologize, go back to how they were and embrace DEI/LGBTQ as they did earlier. Today the CEO paid the price for it, and I hope this company goes bankrupt because they refuse to learn and adapt.
Me and a couple of colleagues working in different teams are trying to get together for lunch. Apparently the earliest we can all do a lunch together at work is mid October. How the fuck can people be THAT busy? It’s literally lunch! We sit on different floors in different teams is all. And we need to fucking plan 2 months ahead?
The kid is taking World History + English combination honors class this year. As a part of the class the books they will read through the year are The Odyssey, The Martian, Rocket Boys (On which October Sky was based on) and Fahrenheit 451. I told her I’m going to co-read the books with her as she goes through year. We also made plans to watch the movies too once she finishes the books, ending with the Nolan adaptation of Odyssey next year. I am loving this course more than her right now.
Starting this year all schools in the county have a weapons detection system at entry which basically means every student has to remove everything in their backpack, put it in a tray, and pass through detection system. Every day. This of course is adding to the start time daily. The fact that the society has come to this is shameful.
Ever since OneFreshPillow has gone down, I have been on a lookout for new pillow, and sadly nothing has matched it. Today I asked Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude on what’s going on with OneFreshPillow. Gemini gave the most useful answer to an ambiguous qn “what’s going on with OneFreshPillow” while ChatGPT gave the most useless answer and wanted me to tell it what does one fresh pillow do. You don’t bet against Google IMO and while they were behind, I can see them leapfrogging others soon (unless of course, Google as we know it can also fuck itself up fairly quickly too).
Dad got his US B2 visa approved today after interview in Hyderabad. That marks an eventful few years where he went from B2 visa to green card, to giving up his green card earlier this year and going back to B2 visa. He was apprehensive about if he would be asked why he surrendered his green card, but turned out his interview lasted less than 2 minutes. And as my dad put it, Trump or no Trump, the rush and line at the embassy was humongous. I am glad he went back to B2 visa though – he was not going to stay full time here anyway, and it actually makes it way more easier to get health insurance on a B2 visa then on green card (weird I know, but its true!).