Totally stole the link from Tom Scott’s email newsletter, but this is a fun one from NPR!
Updates will be slow from December 19th, 2025-January 5th, 2026, as we take time off for the holidays. Thanks for understanding!
- Label: Links
Where’d the word “broadcasting” come from?
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Update Guides
Should I Update to iOS 26.1?
iOS 26 is supported on iPhone 11 or later, iPhone SE (2nd generation) or later, and iPhone Air (A19 Pro). It’s important to stay up-to-date for your device’s security.
Here’s what I recommend for iOS 26.1 (specific notes only for A13/A14-powered devices):
From iOS Version (or device) Answer iOS 18.7.2 or earlier (general) Update to 26.1 iOS 26.0.1 or 26.0 (general) Wait for 26.2 iPhone 11, iPhone SE (2nd generation) or iPhone SE (3rd generation) on iOS 18.7.2 or earlier OR iOS 26.0.1/26.0 Wait for 26.2 iPhone 12/mini, 12 Pro/Pro Max on iOS 18.7.2 or earlier Wait for 26.2 For news tips, email [email protected] or message me on Signal at
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Links
Google Can Now Call to Check Stock In Stores For You
“Google Search is now rolling out a “Let Google Call” feauture [sic], which, as its name suggests, calls businesses to probe whether they have what you’re looking for. The new tool appears when you search for specific product ‘near you.’ “
“We truly live in an age of wonders.” -Craig Federighi, SVP of Software Engineering at Apple.
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Links
New Steam Hardware Announced
Well, I didn’t think I’d ever see the day “Steam Machine” would return to the mainstream–but here we are! Here are the products Valve announced are coming in 2026:
An announcement video has been shared too, alongside the post on Steam itself!
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Links
macOS Tahoe is An Ugly Disaster, and Apple Absolutely Has to Fix It
John Gruber of Daring Fireball:
“…for now, I’m luxuriating with a MacOS UI with well-crafted app icons and windows that don’t have Fisher-Price-style corner radiuses.”
This specific line is something that resonated with me a lot for whatever reason. I’m a “Mac guy” through-and-through, but I’ve found myself reaching for my Windows computer more in the past week because macOS Tahoe just looks so ugly right now.
Liquid Glass — at least as it stands today — isn’t a good fit on Mac. If it had more time in the oven, with more refinements, I think it’d be fine. But it didn’t have more time, and it’s not. That’s the honest truth. I know plenty of friends who are sticking with macOS Sequoia because they just don’t want the new look after seeing it on my computer since the summer betas.
And you know what? That’s completely fair!!
Look, the honest truth is, if Apple cleaned up a bit of the mess, I’d be more willing to accept macOS for what it is. But right now? No. This isn’t acceptable out of Cupertino. Less AI, more good design, please.
For the love of God, I beg you.
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Links
iPhone Socks, Anyone?
iPod Socks are back as the “iPhone Pocket” … and they cost anywhere from $150-$230… yeah, I’m not buying one. That’s waaaaaaaaaay too expensive.
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Links
Nintendo Launches Site to Check Switch Title Compatibility on Switch 2
As someone who recently got a Switch 2, this is super useful! We’re currently working on some upgrades to Kakariko Herald so I can’t share this there, but you should check it out if it interests you…
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Links
Three-Button Navigation Buttons Are Reversible on Pixel! I’m Thrilled!
Just had to share because I’ve been asking for this since I switched to the Pixel 6 years ago. I have to use Android Canary for work, so I’ll be updating for this change early (and likely enjoying it because I won’t need to do hand gymnastics just to go back!)
For those who don’t know, I hate gesture navigation and think it sucks. I prefer either the Home button (on iPhone) or the three-button navigation of the Android 8.1 Oreo and earlier days, to be honest. Probably always will. Just way more intentional—can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally backed out of something or refreshed accidentally on Twitter and lost what I was looking at because of Gesture nav…
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Links
Apple’s “Liquid Glass” App Showcase
Look, the design might be controversial—but app developers are adopting it and Apple’s giving them a special showcase on the Apple Developer microsite!
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Every post’s date is a permalink to the post. Feel free to use it! - Label: Editorial
Abandoning Windows 11
This is going to be a bit of a rant, and I apologize.
To some extent, I believe I am the boy who cried wolf on the Windows 11 front. I both hate it and run it every day. But look—there’s a lot to love about the operating system. It’s functional, it runs games out of the box, and most importantly: it works for most people. Nobody’s denying that.
All of that comes at a cost, however. One that a lot don’t see. Quite literally, in fact, as the biggest issue right now is that Windows 10 and 11 were (and still are) a privacy nightmare. The most egregious thing Microsoft is doing is removing local accounts and any bypasses to get around the abritrary requirement they’ve set. The only reason I can think of that they’ve set this for, by the way, is likely to sell ads to you. In a proprietary operating system. That you paid a license for. How is this okay?!
Honestly at the end of the day, I don’t think Windows is the right platform for most people. Most choose it because there’s a level of comfort there. I get that. For me, however, I grew up on Linux and remember what it was like back then. Things have changed dramatically over the years. Anti-cheat compatibility hell is unfortunately still alive and well, no thanks to Tim Sweeney (CEO of Epic and someone who comes across as having a massive ego) of course.
It’s also worth pointing out that Windows 11 has been steadily losing market share for the past couple of months, according to the GlobalStats StatCounter. That gives you a pretty good idea of what we’re looking at here. I’d hazard a guess that most of the folks keeping Windows 11’s marketshare up as high as it is fall into three categories: 1) people who want to play games that have anti-cheat, 2) people who buy prebuilts and don’t even know what we’re talking about here, or 3) people who just really don’t want to switch away from Windows.
The folks in categories 2 and 3 may not necessary know what the trade-offs are. You’re giving up any semblance of privacy. You’re agreeing to giving away so much data to Microsoft by default. In my experience, they’ve toggled these data collection settings on after various Windows Updates. Without consent, in all cases. Again, how is this okay?!
I cannot underscore enough how dangerous this is. It is so dangerous, in fact, that it is my opinion (much like everything in this piece) that businesses subject to significant privacy laws like HIPAA shouldn’t be running Windows at all in their stack. Any business who does, I have asked them not to even place records in those systems because I cannot guarantee they are secure.
And Windows certainly has enough security vulnerabilities these days…
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