Author: Ross Wintle

I’m stuck on iPhone. But I have consistently, for many years, bought one of the cheapest, smallest models. They last 4 years minimum after a battery replacement. I would honestly keep my 13 Mini. It’s just great!

£1k on a phone when you can spend half that seem bonkers.

What are so many people doing with £1000 smart phones?!

I just don’t get it.

I’m weird.

I generally encourage people to buy “good stuff” if they can with tech. To spend a bit more than they think they should on quality products.

But phones… I just don’t get it. I want a cheap, small phone.

The Vergecast covering the new Apple products said that “the volume seller in the last (iPhone) round I think was actually the Pro”.

The cheapest iPhone 17 Pro is £1,099

I just can’t imagine spending that much on a pocket device.

The 17e with 60hz screen and 1 camera looks fine!

It was so good to head to my local WordPress Meetup today. Such a kind and smart and generous bunch of people. It was really refreshing.

Do I know anyone here that has any responsibility for PHP.net?

@derickr @saramg ?

I’m trying to find out if the site has implemented some new rate limits for APIs and downloads. Can you help? Or do you know who can?

A thought.

We hold “I love you” up as the ultimate phrase of affirmation.

But I often find something more specific is more powerful.

“I trust you”
“I feel safe with you”
“You make me laugh”
“You are a kind person”
“I enjoy hanging out with you”

Love is utterly necessary – as is communicating it. But the concept is vague.

Sometimes simple, specific words are better.

Is anyone talking about the fact that privatising knowledge and skills in a paywalled AI system, AND having that system drive up the prices of tech, could increase inequality? I’ve been thinking about this. Is this a problem?

I've been thinking about how I tend to prefer simple video games. I don't really care for massively multi-player games, or games with ultra-realistic graphics. It just doesn't bother me.

Seeing this "low-poly" racing game on Itch confirms this, especially after I tried the ridiculous “Gear.Club" on Apple Arcade this morning.

Traks looks like an absolute blast of an arcade driving game.

Shame I only have MacOS as a viable platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8739a2k_H4

What’s that you say? Ben Folds is playing Bristol in November?

BOOK THE BABYSITTER NOW!!!!!

I just boosted it, but this is a very good essay on LLM coding and one that I kinda align with.

I would add in some hesitations about the maturity of the LLM tools, the potential rug-pull/bubble-collapse and the fact that having a real human TA is more valuable. (As well as All-The-Issues).

But this is a good take.

https://htmx.org/essays/yes-and/

Realising that most of my fears about LLM-based AI services can be summed up thus:

The mega corps want to create Knowledge-as-a-Service.

They made your TV a subscription.

They made your music a subscription.

They made your books a subscription.

They made your car a subscription.

Now they want you to become dependent on them for knowledge for a monthly fee.

This will need a few readings to absorb properly. But it’s got a ton of wisdom:

“I think that part of operating at staff+ isn’t expanding the number of things you personally own, but refining the ones you choose to transform. It’s naming risks without absorbing delivery. It’s designing clean interfaces rather than patching every adjacent seam. It’s making the implications visible…”

https://aurooba.blog/clarity-has-gravity/

Next Tuesday March 3rd I’m speaking at the Bristol WordPress Meetup (@BristolWPMeetup)

If you’re into that kind of thing, come along and say hi and learn 25 lessons from my 25 years as a developer.

https://www.meetup.com/bristol-wordpress-meetup-group/events/313155309/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Imoptimal/116117532472820776

This actually seems incredibly sensible.

I have kept receipts for every major household purchase going back to forever… EXCEPT for the thing that is broken but still under warranty!!!

There is both diagnosed neurodivergence and probable undiagnosed neurodivergence in my household (surprised?), and I've been finding the scientific-but-practical resources of Neurodivergent Insights very helpful lately:

https://neurodivergentinsights.com/

I bought their "Self Care Activities for Autistic People" and I think it's just really helpful for anyone who experiences anxiety to be honest. It's a bargain, and if you pre-order you can get a free workbook:

https://neurodivergentinsights.com/self-care-for-autistic-people-card-deck/

I am so ill. People in my family had a cold for two weeks or so. I thought I’d managed to avoid it. But Tuesday evening it hit me SO hard and fast.

😩😩😩

RE: https://mastodon.social/@ChrisHardie/116091697952524518

This is a very good point.