This is a value for value post: see the explanation in the footer.
I don't buy a lot of stuff. Even though I've been developing almost non stop for 2 years now, I was using a pretty old iMac 27" which I adored, right up until it just decided to completely stop working on Dec 24th. That iMac is from 2019 I think. I used to use a 15" MacBook Pro but that made a ghastly popping sound last July and has been dead ever since.
Two weeks earlier I upgraded to the latest Mac OS Ventura which seemed to go OK. But for some reason when I tried to use the machine on Dec 24 the screen filled up with notifications and the machine was beach balling and crashing constantly.
So I went out and bought a brand new 14" MacBook Pro M1. It was ruinously expensive here in Israel but I just had to get it.
I need a far bigger screen for programming but when I'm sure I can move the iMac or wipe it and hopefully reset it back to a clean OS and see if it works. I've got all the data, a clone of the HD etc, that's not an issue, but sometimes I just need to struggle with it for 10 minutes to find a setting that I need to put on the new one. When I can move the iMac out of the way I'll buy a nice external screen.
Needed a laptop for court in Australia
I needed a laptop because at the end of January I'm flying out to Australia with @apshamilton. In this legal drama I'll be playing the role of Robin to his Batman as we fight the forces of darkness in Australia's Federal Court. If anyone wants to come and (silently) cheer us on from the peanut gallery, Feb 2nd and 3rd, you can find detail in the Court Events and Orders tab on the website for the Federal Court.
In rare cases Australia's Federal Court has allowed people to watch cases live online. No idea if they'd do it for this case but it would hurt to let @apshamilton know if you are interested in watching.
I've been managing to run @v4vapp and @podping from my phone for a day or two here and there but almost 3 weeks away I can't risk not having a computer which can directly access all the systems I'm now running.
The sound
I felt a bit rotten paying out a huge wedge of cash to Apple straight after some software update screwed my old machine. But I knew I was on borrowed time with that iMac: I've been loading insane amounts of code and dev stuff I barely understood (to begin with) and I knew it was becoming unstable. It will probably work again if I wipe and reset it.
But what is making me bother with a Hive post this morning is that I just put on some music while typing. I stuck on a bit of music and played it straight from the 2cm wide speakers on the side of this thing: Sweet Child 'O Mine came out of it and the guitar is 3m to my left. Voices drift in from 2m to my left... the laptop is 1m from me!
I know things about how sound is processed, I understand phase shifting and various tricks with stereo effects. Studying for my PhD I helped a friend of mine with her work on sound perception in 3D. I've known about the techniques and tricks which can be used to move sounds around for a long time, but I've never experienced something quite this dramatic from such small speakers.
Blogging again
And just like that, I felt the urge to write something just for the fun of it. I haven't really done a lot of this kind of writing for a while but I want to do it again.
Value for Value
For the last few months while building @v4vapp I was generously supported by the DHF. Going forward I have a much more modest support which covers direct server costs and a little of my time.
If you apprecieate the work I do on and around Hive, you can express this directly: upvoting posts on Hive is great. Also consider a direct donation (there's a Tip button on Hive or a Lightning Address) on all my posts.
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Support Proposal 244 on Ecency
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