2026-05-10 03:40:00
An unexpected hike rewarded my wife, my dog and I with this amazing view of Lecco and Monte Coltignone.
Photos taken on Saturday, 09 May 2026
2026-05-08 20:00:00
Jet Lag The Game - Taiwan
2026, Adam Chase, Ben Doyle, Sam Denby
My rating: Loved it!
This season was amazing! One of my favorites so far. The game mode is great (and would only ever work in Taiwan’s rail map), and the challenges are great. In fact, returning from Schengen Showdown are the themed challenges, where each is based on something specific to the area they take place in. It’s a great way to show off the country and they’re usually more fun to watch.
The editing is amazing, too. The visuals they build to show everything that’s going on in the game are awesome, and I have no idea how the players play without them 😅
2026-05-05 21:17:37
by Albert Einstein
Never thought I’d be linking to Einstein here, but this is a great essay about what constitutes humankind and society, how they differ, and how they mold each other (though this relationship is far from balanced).
The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society.
Still a great read even if “socialism” is a trigger word for you, by the way.
2026-05-05 20:54:41
by Built for Mars
If you drive, you’ve probably hopped around between Waze, Google Maps and even Apple Maps at some point. Each has their own pros and cons, and while Waze used to have the edge on real-time information, that edge was stolen by Google Maps (not literally stolen; they’re literally developed by the same team).
But besides that, this case study goes into the differences between the 3 apps and how each displays similar things differently in order to highlight their own strengths.
Not that you asked, but my favorites are Apple Maps for actual navigation and Google Maps for everything else.
2026-05-05 08:00:00
I loved the Arc Browser. It was (is?) such a good web browser that stood out for re-thinking what a browser UI should look like. They weren’t held back by what other browsers do; they looked at how people use the web browser and all the things you can do on the web now, and worked on making something that enhanced it. In doing so, it became massively influential, causing pretty much all other browsers to rethink their UIs in some way.
It did, however, fail to fulfill the ambitious goals The Browser Company had for it. The reason, their CEO said, is that its radical departure from classic browser UI (you might say Arc’s raison d’être) was too unfamiliar for the mainstream. So, they stopped Arc’s development and launched Dia, a very “pivot to AI” moment, to please investors. Having zero interest in Dia, I struggled but found a decent alternative in Vivaldi.
Lately though I’ve been looking up the Dia updates and the feeling I get is that they realized they can’t compete with Google and OpenAI in that regard, so they pivoted to doing what they do well: offering a good UX. It offers some of Arc’s goodies (like the sidebar UI) while keeping some classic browser concepts (like bookmarks being separate from open tabs), which, now that I got used to that workflow again, is a plus in my book.
They don’t seem to be trying to remake Arc, but instead are trying to apply some of Arc’s improvements into a more “classic” browser experience. It’s not as radical, but it is undeniably good. It also has some UX touches that are a clear sign that someone who cares works there. My favorites:
What it doesn’t have yet are the two-level tab stacks I adore in Vivaldi, but its sidebar for vertical tabs is really well-designed and makes them largely irrelevant to me. The bigger miss is Spaces (Arc’s way of opening multiple profiles in the same window, like keeping work tabs separate without affecting the rest of your browsing). It was one of Arc’s best features, so maybe it’s coming, but no public plans yet.
Now, the part that can be a major turn-off for a lot of people: ==the built-in AI cannot be turned off yet==. I’m sure the option to turn it off will come at some point, now that it is owned by Atlassian and will pursue enterprise customers for sure, but right now it’s mandatory, and damn, it feels very invasive.
Even if you don’t use it, it will still analyze everything you do on your browser and surface it in some places. It was kinda scary to see it suggesting I send messages to my work colleagues about stuff I worked on the day before. Today, it surprised me with a “Morning Brief” where it suggested I check out an error log I received in my work email (!), telling me that the error was important because the client spent X amount of money in ads (!!), information it fetched from a Slack channel I never even opened (!!!).
Technically speaking, it is kinda amazing that it was able to cross-reference all that. But the fact you can’t turn it off at all makes it feel incredibly invasive! I don’t want this and I feel most employers wouldn’t even allow workers to use it without prior authorization. They claim this kind of data is encrypted and never leaves your device, but it doesn’t feel good at all.
This last point is probably enough for most people reading this to not consider using it, at least not beyond a test drive, and is also the reason I do not recommend it. But credit where it’s due, a shoutout to The Browser Company was in order. The direction they’re going seems to be a good one and Dia has enough substance to be a solid Arc alternative, as long as they add an AI off switch soon.
2026-05-01 20:00:00
The Devil Wears Prada 2
2026, David Frankel
My rating: I like it
This movie is basically the first one but adapted to more modern concepts (social media, late stage capitalism). And honestly, that’s fine. It does better than probably most other unnecessary sequels do, and it was an enjoyable watch from start to finish. Bonus points for having Gaga in it.
It was cool to watch the Milan scenes while literally being in Milan, too.
