§ On Labor Day the family went down to the lakefront to watch the Air Show. Everyone had a good time although the show featured some new over-the-top pyrotechnics that felt like they were in bad taste. We all spent a good fifteen minutes thinking we had witnessed a catastrophic plane crash before getting word that it was all part of the theatrics.
§ Apple held their annual iPhone keynote on Tuesday. This was their first event with John Ternus as CEO but it didn’t feel like a radical change from the Tim Cook era in any way. I had hoped they would return to their old live-on-stage event structure but it was the same pre-recorded infomercial format they’ve used since the pandemic. Change takes time though, I guess, and I still have hope that new leadership at Apple might shake up a company that feels increasingly stagnant.
I’m not planning on upgrading my iPhone this year. The smaller form factor of the new Duo looks interesting when closed but I don’t see how having a giant fold out inner display will help my effort to reduce screen time.
§ I haven’t really done anything with Home Assistant since setting it up a few months ago alongside my other home server infrastructure.
On Tuesday I set up an otherwise unused Lutron Aurora button to play RTÉ Radio on my kitchen speaker. A short press starts playing the program, a long press pauses, and rotating the dial adjusts volume. Having physical affordances for common digital tasks is really nice.
§ I’ll be flying to Phoenix next Wednesday for work. The trip snuck up on me in a major way and left me panic-buying last-minute plane tickets.
This will be my first trip away from the family since the baby was born which is something I am not looking forward to—both missing my family and saddling my wife with all of the extra work that comes from solo parenting. I took off the week after I return to try to make up for it
