Xaiomi Mi Band 7 Review

TLDR The Mi Band 7 should be a top consideration for anyone considering a smart watch or a fitness tracker. The only potential ‘problem’ is the software can be fiddly to setup but works incredibly well despite setup hassles. For full details and thoughts, continue reading. The Hardware The device itself is setup to look more like a bracelet than watch when worn. It has a similar look to the bracelet styled fitness trackers. [Read More]

Boox Palma (e-reader) Review

Prelude Awhile ago I spent some time reviewing how I read books, news and random internet articles day to day. My goal was to bring a Kobo Clara HD back into regular use as I greatly prefer e-ink displays for reading. As with most things in my life, a “straight forward tech rework” was just the beginning of something far bigger. I read a lot: an average of one hour plus per day with some days being over four hours of reading. [Read More]

The Chargie and Happy Batteries

Figure 1: The Chargie The Chargie The Chargie is a small piece of hardware that’ll allow you to tune the way electronic devices are charged. It’s designed to let you only charge a device to a specific percentage as well as block data during charging. It’s basically a hardware ‘battery life saver’ for your phone, tablet and other devices that can run their app (Android and iOS, click the above thumbnail for what the app looks like). [Read More]

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Mini Review

For the last 18 months or so I’ve been using a OnePlus 8T and Microsoft Surface Duo. As of this writing, I’m now using a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 as my only device. Why? Because Samsung got it right when it comes to an adaptable device. This quote, unquote phone is a phone, tablet and laptop for me. It is a converged form of every mobile device I’ve used to date, including a laptop. [Read More]

Android org-agenda

Preface I’ve written in the past about my Digital Bullet Journal setup (link) and how I’ve come to use it as my primary organizational system. Unfortunately, until very recently, I always had a disconnect between my phone and org-mode. Historically I’ve kept a ‘churning’ area of my to do list on my phone that sync’s to my desktop. It was a daily list of stuff I wanted to get done as well as things I thought of over the course of a day. [Read More]

Controller Gaming

Figure 1: The Controllers Changelog 2023-12-31 Added GameSir x2 Pro Added Hori Split Pad JoyCons Added BinBok DOYOKY Classic JoyCons Added MayFlash Magic-S Pro 2 Added JoyCon config Added Warframe config 2023-03-12 Controller: Add Scuff Instinct pro Controller: Add Kishi v2 Elite Series 2: Flip primary/shifted right stick main Elite Series 2 control config for smoother default motion with option to ’look fast’ if needed No Man’s Sky: Add in-game config Destiny 2 config: Re-jigger class and grenades such that there is less shoulder tapping/holds. [Read More]

Accessibility testing websites

I’ve never hid the fact I try to make my ‘stuff’ accessible for folks. It’s A Thing for me and I’ve spent considerable time working on this blog to maximize it’s utility and accessibility. I should be in generally good shape overall and I wanted to share a few links for how I pulled this off. I ran ARC Toolkit (link) as my first pass with WAVE (link) as a second pass. [Read More]

Mastodon 4.0.x UI Tweaks

Big Tweaks Compact UI https://userstyles.world/style/7065/compact-er-mastodon Larger UI https://userstyles.world/style/4743/spacious-mastodon Blackout Theme https://userstyles.world/style/4511/hackers-black-out-beta Changelog 2023-01-02 Add time to font adjustments 2022-12-11 Add way to hide images without alt-text / descriptions 2022-12-10 Added way to hide boosts via css 2022-11-24 Initial Post Preface I’ve not hidden the fact I find the latest Mastodon 4.0.x UI a lesson in terrible UX and reduced accessibility. This post is everything I’ve managed to put together to make the latest Mastodon UI more usable. [Read More]

Digital Bullet Journal

Forward The idea that you could have a Digital BuJo still makes my brain hurt a bit. Especially given organizers still universally stink (link), I still have an analog EDC (link) and I’m still using my bujo riff (link) at the core of my now digital organizer. Yes: I switched my analog BuJo to digital and I still use an analog notebook daily. I still write in the rain (link), use some odd discoveries (link) and broke a habit or two using the anti-bad habit notebook (link). [Read More]

Personal Knowledge Base / Wiki

Figure 1: The Landing Page Forward I was recently reminded of the analog life I lead and how that’s evolved over the years since I first wrote about the topic. After some review and reading I can safely say: that’s a different topic. What I did notice is that I’ve never discussed just how I manage inflows of information and manage things I want to retain long term. In this post I’m happy to present: My personal knowledge base / wiki setup. [Read More]