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I’ve written 1 million words in the past 8 years
I was getting the feeling lately that I’ve been writing a lot here lately, and I already had an
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just closing down my twttr
Not going to make a big deal of it, but today I decided to officially close my Twitter (sorry, X)
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Comfort Zone is real, and (I hope you think) it's spectacular
I promise I won't do this for every episode, but how can I not post when it's the debut episode?! It would be irresponsible, right?
In the first episode, I talk about why I've been using the Quest 3 more than the Vision Pro lately, Chris explains why he&
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Judging my Vision Pro reactions from WWDC
Once a year or so I seem to write something that gets a good chunk of pushback. In 2023 that article was my immediate reaction to the Vision Pro’s announcement at WWDC, which wasn’t as over-the-moon excited as many other people were. My favorite reaction was from Horace Dediu of Asymco
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The (likely) demise of Quick BIN Lookup
Back in 2016 I was working in a support role at a payments company and found myself regularly using a BIN lookup tool to get basic information about card issuers. Basic stuff like what country the issuing bank was from or if the card was credit or debit…nothing crazy, but these details can be
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When am I going to retire Birchtree?
Here’s an uncomfortable question: when do I stop blogging?
I’ve been doing this site since October 2010, which is over 1/3 of my life, and I don’t foresee anything that would make me stop anytime soon, but like…I have to stop one day, right?
I can see a future where
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The final update on my subscription reset
One month ago, I tossed out nearly $1,000/year in subscriptions so that I could see what apps and
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Reviewing every 2023 movie I’ve seen so far so that you can find something rad to watch over this holiday break
I’ve watched well over 100 movies this year, and I’ve posted a review of every one to a
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Laying AI-generated header images aside
CSS { In Real Life } | Stop Using AI-Generated Images
By choosing AI-generated images over those made by a human,
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My app subscription reset
I strongly believe in paying for good software, and that having better software can go a long way to making your computing life better. And in an increasingly online world, making your computing life better can mean genuine improvements to your actual life. Of course Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes into play here,
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The rise and fall (and rise?) of Birchtree
Things are dire at Birchtree. Or are they?
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The best $3,500 I spent on my vision (one year of LASIK)
One year ago to day I made the best $3,500 purchase of my life. No, it wasn’t a super early pre-order of the Apple Vision Pro, it was LASIK eye surgery, and it genuinely changed my life.
I got glasses when I was in grade school, and I never liked them. I
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A Better Computer: Season 2
I started my YouTube channel, A Better Computer in the summer of 2020 and I've recorded 334 videos
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I saved over $300 by cleaning up my custom domains
Over the years I've accumulated a bunch of digital assets, and while most of those are things that I can keep using (effectively) forever, some of them keep costing me money whether I'm using them or not.
A big category for me (and maybe you if you're anything like
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Grading my 2023 Apple predictions halfway through the year
At the start of 2023 I made some predictions about what Apple would do with basically every product in their lineup, so halfway through the year seemed like a good time to check in on things.
iPhone 15
A relatively minor upgrade once again, but USB-C will make it's triumphant debut. The
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Liking the "Right Things"
I've devoted a lot of my online presence in recent years to talking about movies and music. I've always been passionate about these things, but my perspective on them has changed over the years.
When I was younger (like many people) I felt like I could show how good my taste
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How I Make My 365 Albums Posts Without Losing My Mind
I've been doing my 365 Albums project for 7 months now, and sometimes people ask how I create these posts.
Do I automate it?
Do I use an app that generates the headers?
How do I track everything?
Well, I decided to do a quick walk through of the process and the tools
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The Biggest (Invisible) Change to Birchtree in 4 Years
Back in 2019 I wrote The Biggest Change to Birchtree in 5 Years, which explained my move from WordPress to Ghost. 4 years later, I'm still very happy with Ghost, but I'd worked myself into a bit of a "thermal corner" if you will.
In short, my server was