I took one look at the HEY marketing website, and knew it was made for me. I watched the demo video with Jason Fried twice. I immediately switched my domain’s email services over to HEY in class from my iPhone. I canceled my G Suite subscription with Google, which happened to be up for renewal in like three days.

I used HEY for a few months, even after I graduated high school. I’d actually ask people to email me through my HEY-based email address instead of my school’s Microsoft-based email address for things because the app was so much faster than Outlook. (Worth noting, while I was an iPhone power user at the time–I was absolutely naive and unaware of any the issues HEY had getting onto the App Store. At least Apple’s behavior is common knowledge nowadays.)

With the help of my then-English teacher, I drafted a very lengthy letter to the founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. I don’t think I have a copy of that message anymore (I doubt they have it, either), but it went over what I loved, what I didn’t love, and some feedback. I don’t remember if anyone wrote back. They probably did. Three years was a long time ago, and I’m a different Slade now.

That summer, I moved back to Google Workspace for a number of reasons. Even less than a year in (at the time I first switched), HEY had an adjustment I couldn’t shake for some reason. Something felt off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I decided to walk away for a bit and give myself some time.

Fast forward to this past year, and I realized I really, really missed HEY. Gmail was too chaotic. I went from being on top of my inbox to being behind. My grandma passed in July, and I took a couple months off to process everything, and came back to my email and had to take an even worse mess. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

So I cancelled Google Workspace and switched back a bit ago. And my inbox has never been tamer. I still get a lot of chaos hitting my email, but it’s controlled chaos. Look, I hate change. I struggle with severe anxiety and prefer structure. But HEY changed me. I’m still running into things on HEY that make me go “that’s different! I like that.” and the anxiety I have over new things isn’t there. That has never happened before.

There are still things about HEY that irk me, but I feel that it has improved enough that it doesn’t bother me so much. It’s just the little things now. Doubt the co-founders are reading, but I’d definitely love to provide feedback to either of them. I kid you not, I have a whole notes document full of ideas! It’d be really cool to help improve things.

For now, I’m just going to keep loving different.

The post HEY, that’s different appeared first on Slade Watkins.

And Apple has been increasingly hostile towards anyone who dares use the iPhone like it’s their phone. Not being able to sideload or install whatever app I want, being restricted to Apple Pay, etc. have all done nothing but bother me. The straw that broke this camel’s back? Apple’s changes to the App Store in response to the Digital Markets Act, frankly. Notably, none of the changes apply to the US, where a federal anti-trust suit is ongoing (at least, for now.)

I remembered that the CTO of 37signals David Heinemeier Hansson had Tweeted at some point about a similar thing. So, needing a little bit of a kick in the butt to do something, I wrote an email to David. I detailed the dilemma I was having, along with what I had come up with as potential replacements for the Apple things I rely on, and asked if he had anything to send my way that could be a resource. The guy’s busy as hell–so I did not anticipate a reply. I hit send and decided to take a nap on the couch. Within the hour, I woke up to the Gmail notification sound. He wrote me back.

In short, David strongly encouraged me to follow through on trying something new–in this case, switching away from iOS. He even included a link to a blog post he wrote about it, which I hadn’t seen before. Honestly, it’s really cool that he took the time to write me back at all, and that underscores how much I love email.

So, I’m going to try something new. We are long past the time I should have made this change. But as an experiment: I’m going back to Android for at least the next three months, and I’m replacing the Apple services I use in the meantime. Every so often, we’ll check back in on this experiment and see what I’ve run into. I think it’ll be fun!

Here are my ideas so far, more fleshed out than what I originally sent to David:

• Email/Calendar: I mentioned before that I use iCloud and Gmail (and thus, Google Calendar/Tasks hooked into Apple Calendar). Well, I’ve decided that I’m going to be migrating to HEY. It’s a new take on email–and the last time I actively tried it was 2021/2022. From what I’ve read and seen, there have been a ton of improvements and it seems to work really well on Android.
• Messaging: iMessage will be replaced with RCS, and anyone I know with an iPhone will be encouraged strongly to upgrade to iOS 18 so they’re not only secure with the latest patches, but also have access to this functionality. I don’t really mind iMessage, but I don’t think it’s necessary to my phone’s operation. I’d rather just text you and not think about the protocol anyway–which RCS obviously allows me to do. I’ll also encourage the use of WhatsApp or Signal, with me preferring the latter. Both are more secure than texting and is end-to-end encrypted by default.
• Music: I’ve been using Apple Music for just about a year now in some capacity, but today I ripped out my library and moved it back to Spotify. Spotify’s not perfect, and they really should pay their artists better–but it’s a nicer app on Android than Apple Music is, in my opinion.
• Arcade: I do play a few Arcade games, but I think I can forgo them. Most have alternatives on Google’s Play Pass, which my parents have a yearly subscription to, so I’m just going to play those if I’m feeling a game. With over 700 games in my backlog, having access to the three games on Arcade that I love is not a big deal to me.
• Photos: I store a lot in iCloud Photos, but I can easily migrate into Google Photos. I don’t like that I’d be entrusting my backlog of 15,000 high resolution photos to one big company who could decide tomorrow that the service is no longer worth having, but I haven’t found any decent alternatives yet. Even self-hosted ones.
• Watch: I have had an Apple Watch since 2019… However, I’ve been meaning to (quite literally) deep clean the crap off of it for some time, so I’m going to do that during this break. You have no idea how much builds up on that wearing it every day for five years! Ew.

And that’s what I came up with. Even though I am definitely a little worried about this experiment, I’ve wanted to do it for some time and I’m actually a little excited too. So, let’s wrap this up so I can go port my information over to my Android phone. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more posts on this experiment!

The post Long past time for a change appeared first on Slade Watkins.

It is no secret that I am an avid Apple user. I have been using a Mac in some fashion as my primary computer since 2016. I have had a 13″ M2 MacBook Pro since 2022, and recently got an 27-inch Intel-based iMac from my best friend’s parents. I have no plans of leaving the “Mac World” anytime soon. The iPhone world, maybe, but not the Mac. I live in Final Cut Pro and Compressor, I breathe in Safari, I pour my brain out into Notes. This has been my world for 8 years now. It’s hard to break that sort of cycle.

Now, I’m no stranger to Linux — Ubuntu 8.04 was what I learned how to use a computer on. That’s why Macs feel so natural to me; they feel very similar in the ease-of-use and performance departments. Windows is neither of those things. The only reason anyone uses Windows is application support, primarily gamers. (And for gamers, that’s really because kernel level anti-cheat exists, frankly. If developers embraced less insecure anti-cheat solutions, we would not be in this mess.)

Windows hasn’t been a good performer since Windows 7. It has been infested with ads since Windows 8/8.1, only getting worse with 10 and especially 11. Even with Windows 10 about to lose support next October, nobody’s rushing to upgrade to the latest release. In fact, Windows 11’s market share just fell AGAIN, losing an entire percentage point on the global Statscounter. I recognize that may not sound like a lot, but remember there are hundreds of millions of Windows computers out there. This isn’t insignificant!

The tests I ran were not really scientific so take it with a grain of salt, but: even on a decked-out Lenovo Ideapad 3 Gaming (2021 model), everything upgraded to the maximum it can possibly go with all new SSDs, the computer performs miles better under Pop!_OS (Linux) than it ever did under Windows 11. Windows 10 seems to perform somewhat better than 11, but not nearly as good as Pop!_OS did.

Because I use that computer for games, compatibility with my Steam library becomes a giant question mark. Even if they are compatible, most have some sort of configuration I need to do. And games like Mass Effect: Legendary Edition or Fallout: New Vegas become even more of a question mark, because I’m not even sure I can run their mods or even their respective launchers!

So, even though I’m feeling “done,” I’m not sure I can leave just yet. At least not until I can figure out the answers to the questions I have in regards to the games I play. Until then, I’m just going to rip out telemetry, continue using an Enterprise release with minimal bloat, and hope for the best…

The post I’m feeling done with Windows again appeared first on Slade Watkins.

Ever since Elon Musk took over in 2022, the site has been plagued with issue after issue. From the general instability of the site, to the shrinking of the user base (despite the leadership of Musk and “CEO” Linda Yaccarino saying otherwise), to the verification scandal (which has its OWN Wikipedia page with a laundry list of References), to the owner’s own antisemitic and otherwise hateful views.

This is only scratching the surface. When Musk finally closed the acquisition and took Twitter private, I’d hoped he’d just be the owner and hire somebody actually qualified to build out his vision. Someone who could push back on the bad ideas. (And just to be clear, not all of his ideas for the site were bad! It was a very low percentage of them, but still.)

The truth is, the site’s bleeding money and users who don’t want to buy what he’s selling. Advertisers don’t want to pay Elon anymore, which apparently his solution for is to sue and say it should be illegal (causing the GARM organization to collapse).

I won’t get into the details on how exactly I feel about this particular thing, but now that he’s likely* going to become a US government official (*pending confirmation from the Senate), and holds several government contracts, I don’t know if he’s going to get appointed at all. If he does, I doubt he’s going to have time to manage the platform as it does not appear Yaccarino is even allowed to do much. That’s where I’m leaving this section, though.

Look, I met my closest friends on Twitter (one of whom is building “Chirp,” which is a brilliant little project.) While I have other ways of reaching them all, thank God, I’m still sad to be losing a platform I have to thank for bringing them into my life in the first place. Bittersweet is probably a better term for it.

So where do we go from here? Well, a lot of Twitter users have moved over to Bluesky. (Which, funnily enough, was funded by Twitter and its former CEO Jack Dorsey prior to Musk’s acquisition.) Some are on Threads, Mastodon, or other places on the fediverse. Some are here on Tumblr, too. Or all of the above even!

Honestly, this has made me really appreciate the vibe of the “old internet” even more. This new era feels more like a modern day Myspace / Early 2010s Twitter hybrid. I love it.

So, I encourage you to consider any of the alternatives and start moving away, too. It’s not a “it’ll happen overnight” thing, of course, it’ll take time… but these other, more healthier places absolutely deserve your support in order to be viable! Stay positive, folks.

After all, bluer skies are ahead! (Sorry.)

The post After 9 years, bluer skies are ahead. appeared first on Slade Watkins.

After two long years, Apple got the message!

Having spent time with the iOS 18 beta over the summer, I really enjoy my phone now! I love my iPhone 13 Pro Max for a number of reasons. But I’ve also come to realize that RCS may not come to my carrier’s AT&T-based network on iOS until this time next year. This comes down to the way Apple implemented their RCS stuff, really.

At the very least, US Mobile do have RCS working on their Verizon-based network. So we have that. Unfortunately, I am stuck with the AT&T network option due to coverage in our area and the places I travel to with frequency…

Nothing against US Mobile, of course! The ball is squarely in AT&T and Apple’s courts on this one. On AT&T’s part, their generic bundle is terrible and needs to get updated. On Apple’s part, they need to let US Mobile have their own carrier bundle. It’s a whole thing.

I didn’t want to bring it up, but as of me writing this, MMS group messaging is STILL completely busted on Dark Star. I consider this to be a mandatory feature–and since RCS isn’t here to save that, it’s not ideal! I blame AT&T–not US Mobile–for the subpar experience. It’s AT&T’s generic bundle: they need to fix it.

Anyway, silver lining: This is something US Mobile is working on for Dark Star (their AT&T-based network) first before the other two networks, at least. Frankly, I believe them when they say they’re trying to get this out the door soon! But… I’ve always been someone who doesn’t like sticking with something that isn’t going to work for me now, on the promise of something else happening in the future. And I don’t know if I can stick it out. Maybe I’m being cynical, but I don’t trust Apple to let them have a bundle.

Look, I’ve been pulling back from most “normal” social media use. I don’t post on Twitter, or anything really, as much as I used to. These days I prefer making good old fashioned phone calls, sending texts, or using Snapchat to communicate with the friends I have. I won’t get into the details of my own mental health, but I do mention this because it is informing my decision.

Snapchat is… a mess on Android, and it has been for many years now. While it is getting better, the iOS app is more stable and has a far more usable app overall. That’s a win for iOS, and a major concern if I were to decide to swap my eSIM over to my Pixel right now.

So, the wins for iOS mostly stop there. I don’t really care about iMessage anymore–it’s cool, but RCS offers high quality media and that’s all I really cared for. Stickers are a nice bonus, but I don’t consider those important. Apple Pay isn’t something I use, none of my friends use it either. We all use Venmo. So, who cares?

Realistically, nobody actually cares. Use whatever phone you want, when you want to use it…just make sure you or the people you know are on iOS 18 and turn RCS on if they can, PLEASE! Let’s at least fix the group chats and horrid videos… as for me, well, I’ll decide eventually.

Maybe…

The post The Sixth Android vs iOS Dilemma This Year appeared first on Slade Watkins.

Anyway, much like anything I do, I felt like the time was right to get back in the driver’s seat and hit the gas. My mission? To close this chapter of my life, and start a new one with my own words. You’ll understand what I mean later on.

For now, buckle up. This road trip won’t be bumpy, but it’ll sure be fast and chaotic. Just the way I like it!

See you around,
Slade

Get these emails for yourself by subscribing today! I don’t spam!

The post Hit the gas! appeared first on Slade Watkins.

Until we meet again, Nana. I love you forever.

P.S. Keep an eye on us from Heaven, okay?

The post Until we meet again, Nana. appeared first on Slade Watkins.

Who knows.

Why I currently daily an Android phone

I’ve been an Android user for a very long time. I’ve had Motorola, Huawei (for a brief time), and Google phones as my primary phone for ages. I really only obtained an iPhone in high school because we had iPads, and I had a Mac at home, so it just made sense for file transfers (AirDrop). Now, I really only regularly use a Mac. My iPad just sits on my nightstand now that I have a Pixel Tablet.

Truth is, my parents are deep in the Google ecosystem, and as you’ll see: a lot of my life revolves around currently or effectively Android-exclusive features like the replacement for SMS and MMS, Rich Communication Services (better known as RCS). I’m not entirely sure if I could easily leave the Google ecosystem. Although… the iOS version of Snapchat would be nice to have again.

The iPhones I have, themselves

Okay, so, I have a couple options that I somehow have to pick one of.

I am currently running the iOS 18 betas on both of the iPhones I have, which are the 11 in Green and 12 in Product Red. I probably need 5G support on my main line to be “prioritized,” as it’s currently through US Mobile’s Warp (Verizon) network. So that’s pushing me towards the 12, which certainly has a prettier screen, but my 11 has so much storage.

That said, I haven’t noticed a difference, and frankly, I’ll be swapping to their Dark Star (AT&T) network when that becomes available anyway. (I’m glad they got this off the ground under a year after I wrote a blog post about it.)

I’m really not sure which device of the two I’d pick to drive daily, if I were to switch back to iPhone. I suppose I could always drive myself and Adam mad and just keep carrying two phones. Just… both of them would be iPhones, and I’m not sure how much sense that’d make!

RCS and International Texting

RCS is a necessity for me. My family and most of my friends have Android phones, and our group chats are all RCS (with the common Discord server exception, of course.) However, it seems like MVNOs don’t have RCS on the betas yet, nor does there appear to be any indication that they’ll support it.

I have an international phone plan, so I’m not too worried about any charges there. And for most international folks, we’re all on WhatsApp or Snapchat now anyway. No matter which way you look at it: this is a non-factor now, which is great!

Apps situation

Because I’ve been with Android for God knows how long now, I’ve amassed a great amount of paid apps and subscriptions which are all tied to my Google Play account. I’m not going to buy or subscribe to those again on the Apple App Store if I already have them on Android.

Similarly, because of my time in high school, I do have some app purchases on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but not nearly as many as I have on Android. It makes this really hard for me, since I use a lot of them every day, even a decade later.

Apple Music is what I use for music these days, because Spotify sucks. Not worried about that at all. It’s literally everything else.

Google and Apple’s track records

Apple has been known to give the middle finger towards things they don’t like, Google is known for their less than stellar promise-keeping record for keeping services around (RIP Google One VPN), and honestly: I’m losing faith in both companies. This kind of factors into my indecision a fair bit. I guess I don’t know which of the two evils I’m okay with putting my support behind.

Cameras

I take a lot of pictures. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m a very frequent user of Snapchat and it’s my primary way of communicating with friends outside of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Camera quality is important to me, and honestly, no matter which phone I pick (Pixel or iPhone), I’m going to end up with a great camera system.

It boils down to operating system and how the apps I use to take photos interact with said camera system. A point for the iPhone is that apps seem to hook right in the best, whilst even high end Android phones struggle.

Conclusion

So that’s everything. At the end of the day, I’m conflicted. I love Android but I guess I’m also ready for a change, Snapchat on Android (even high-end phones like my Pixel or the Samsung Galaxy S23s) is terrible, and that’s how I communicate with basically everybody I know.

What do you all think? Let me know. I’m having a hard time making a decision…

The post Should iSwitch Back to iPhone? appeared first on Slade Watkins.

But, I’ve found comfort in my best friends. I’ve been getting into listening and writing music. I’ve started putting words into my book again. I’ve been trying to be more kind to and patient with myself. Nothing’s perfect, I wish it was, but it has made a difference.

So, not all is lost. Actually, if I’m being honest, most has been found. And lately… well, that’s enough for me.

The post Lately. appeared first on Slade Watkins.

With this leap, and their partnership with ChatGPT that made billionaire conspiracy theorist and known idiot Elon Musk* squeamish (and eventually Community Noted by his own platform) for whatever reason, I’m certain that Apple has the lead in building AI. Why? Because they’re building it safely and privately, with the user being the most important part. That should be applauded! That’s how it should be done!

*I’m not linking out directly to his tirade, Elon can go pound sand, but enjoy this funny interaction that I wholeheartedly agree with:

Also, Elon uses an iPhone to send out all of his Tweets. So, might be time for him to get a new phone if he hates this Apple Intelligence thing so much! Haha.

Any way, while the AI craze is likely to die out eventually, it’s here to stay for now. My opinion is that technology should be built with user privacy at the forefront of everything, and Apple is one of the leading companies out there when it comes to privacy. Period. Apple is a trend setter, and I’m hoping the rest of the industry follows their lead here. Privacy and security are a really big deal to consumers right now. More so than ever, frankly.

Now probably the thing I’ve been most anticipating (for over a year now) RCS isn’t available on the iOS 18 beta (yet?), which is incredibly frustrating. It’s probably coming in Beta 2 or something, but part of me doubts they’ll add it. But that said, a large number of features announced on stage aren’t available on any of the new operating system betas released to developers today. It’s quite worrying, considering that besides Apple Intelligence, none of these updates are particularly “huge” so-to-speak. But, we must be patient!

Overshadowed

All of that said, this conference was overshadowed by an incredibly bigger issue with Apple right now: their compliance (or alleged lack thereof) with the Digital Markets Act. You still, in iOS 18/iPadOS 18, cannot sideload or install any app you’d like — let alone any third-party storefronts — on the device you paid for outside of the EU. Meanwhile, on Android, you can just install the app and all Google will do is a virus/malware scan to make sure it’s clean. That’s it. No (real) scare screen, no problem.

Apple should’ve unlocked this functionality for everyone and got ahead of the regulators here. It wouldn’t have solved every issue, but it would have at least made it seem like Apple was trying to work in good faith. Alas… it wasn’t meant to be.

I’m a firm believer that if you paid for a thing, you should be allowed to do whatever you want with it. Nobody should stop you, or limit how much you can do that thing, or anything like that. And certainly companies shouldn’t be telling you what you can or cannot run on your device, either. I’m hoping that the Courts and/or Congress will step in and fix that soon.

The Department of Justice here in the States is currently in a lawsuit against Apple, so hopefully we seem them loosening their restrictions (à la macOS). I’m betting we probably will, considering Apple’s partial loss in Epic v. Apple a few years back.

Regardless, as I write this post in my text editor to send out to you, I’ve updated my M2 MacBook Pro to macOS 15 Sequoia. Along with the rest of the Apple fleet I currently have around me, of course! (Can’t do the Apple TV yet since it’s at a friend’s house, whoops.) But as I mentioned, there’s not a lot new to report on right now–but the betas across the board have felt relatively snappy on iPhone 11, 12, Apple Watch Series 6, and MacBook Pro (M2, 2022). I’ll keep you posted, though!

The post WWDC 2024: Intelligence and The Shadow Casting Above appeared first on Slade Watkins.