One of announcements during the recent OpenAI Developers conference is the ability for one to create their own GPTs. Here is an article that goes into what that means in great detail. #

I read about llamafile, which is a Mozilla project to run Large Language Models locally on computers. I followed the instructions in the article to download and install Xcode on my Macbook Air M1 and then downloaded and ran llamafile. I then ran the app and the GUI started in a web page, running via localhost, as indicated. I tried uploading a picture and asked it to describe it, which it did but with some errors. Performance was a bit slow as this was on an M1 rather than an M2 that the author indicated he used, but it did run. I also tried the WizardCoder-Python-13B model but it would not run. #

As much as I like Fantastical Calendar, I can't justify paying $56.99 per year for it. #

I wonder whether an LLM could provide for my idea of automatically linking of text. #

I can't believe that today is the first day of December.#

Apparently writing and maintaining a list of apps that one uses is a thing. Some folks are even publishing this info via RSS, although I am not sure that makes sense to me. A while back I created a page of technology that I use that has a section I call Every Day Apps that maps to this use case. I see that I never completed that list nor put in links, so perhaps I'll spend some time updating.#

Seeing problems loading sites and web pages hosted by micro.blog. I know they have had back end server issues over the last several weeks. A bit ironic given that this morning I wrote a post singing my praises of micro.blog. #

I've been using Readwise Reader for more than a year and there are a few things I wish that it could do. One is that I wish it could provide me a report that showed me from which domains/sites I have read the most articles, which would tell me which of my RSS feeds are most valuable. I also wish it would be able to automatically categorize/tag inbound articles and then let me filter on those topics so that I could quickly read those articles. #

The work PC was running massively slow this morning, with the CPU pegged at 100%. Still not sure what was going on, there was a HP audio process taking a lot of CPU that I killed along with the Microsoft experience analytics process that I disabled. Microsoft Defender is constantly consuming 20-30% of the CPU and that alone causes the fan to nearly constantly run. #

A while back I upgraded the kernel of one of my Proxmox hosts to version 5.19, which is newer than the "standard" version of 5.15. I see that the standard repository has a update to the 5.15 kernel and I am wondering what will happen if I do a update? While the system revert to the older kernel version or stay at the newer? #

The fan in my work PC is whirring non-stop this morning and I find the white noise very annoying. I see 60% and higher CPU utilization and looks like the main culprit is MsMpEng.exe #

Noted that rpi-srv.home is running low on disk space and my theory is that there are a lot of docker images that can be pruned. I saw in Portainer a good number of unused images. Ran "docker image prune -a".#

Looks like the account pairing mode for Google Messages means that I can now pair the web app running on multiple devices to my text messages. The old QR pairing method appeared to only work when paired with the web app running on one device.#

Having used the Apple Pencil 2, I don't understand why anyone would want the new Apple Pencil that has a USB-C port for charging. It's only $20 cheaper and you can find the Pencil 2 on sale to make the difference less. Perhaps if the new Pencil cost $25-$50 I would understand the appeal, but not for $79.#

Finally! Work is being done to add Android share sheet support for the Android version of the micro.blog app. #

There is a micro.blog publishing plugin for Obsidian.#

After wearing the Spigen Lite Fit band with my Pixel Watch for several weeks I have switched back to the active band that came with the watch because the Spigen band was too fussy. Basically, it will constantly loosen and I have to fiddle with it to get it to fit snuggly. I have come to the conclusion that these type of nylon stretch bands are not good. #

New header graphic is from a photo that my wife took during our trip to Houghton, Michigan in October 2023.#

It seems to me that Republicans in the House don't really care about what others think, including those in their own party. Carrying about what others think, particularly voters, used to be an important part of politics in the United States, now Republicans are more authoritarian in their thinking.#

I've read some common themes regarding Google's change to seven years of full support for Android on the Pixel 8 phones. The comments boil down to whether the hardware performance will keep up or whether people really use a phone for that long. (Others are skeptical that Google will live up the promise, but I think if they don't they will face lawsuits.) I think both are examples of missing the point. For me there is a difference between having the ability to use a phone that runs current software for more than three years and a circumstance where I must replace the phone after three years if I want current software. Most likely there will be new features in the Pixel 10 or 11 that make buying a new phone desirable but there is a big difference between wanting to buy a new phone and having to buy a new phone. I would be very surprised to find many people still using the Pixel 8 seven years from now, but it's nice to know they can if they want to.#

Embargoes must be lift on the Pixel 8 and Pixel Watch 2 NDAs as I am seeing a bunch of reviews posted.#

I find it interesting that there are leaks of CAD drawings for the Pixel 8a, I have been expecting Google to announce they are dropping the A series phones. It makes sense that for a phone to be released in the spring there would be drawings available in the fall as manufacturing prep would have to be starting probably in December. Perhaps I am wrong about Google's plans for the A series, which then in my mind begs the question of just how many Pixel phones Google wants to be selling and supporting at any one point in time.#

One of the shifts that has occurred in computing in the last decade is the shift toward traditional software companies doing their own silicon. Microsoft's plans for their own AI chips would have been unheard of more than a decade ago.#

One of the things I fear are the people who want the world to end. Some of those people have lots of power, and their contributions may not be in the form of making things happen but rather preventing things from happening.#

I don't know whether this is related to Android 14, but I found that app streaming is now working between my Pixel 7a and my Pixelbook. App streaming enables me to use apps that are on my phone using the display, keyboard, and trackpad on the Pixelbook; it's like remote desktop except with the phone. I have found that apps that require biometric security don't stream, which makes sense considering the extra security that I enable. App streaming also appears to have a little problem keeping track of audio playback when I use Spotify playing via the Pixel Buds Pro, when I interact with the app using the Pixelbook the audio switches from the Pixel Buds Pro to the Pixelbook.#

Google announced the Pixel Watch 2 during the Pixel event earlier this week. I've been wearing the original Pixel Watch and the sports band it came with, for about a year. I am not planning to buy the Pixel Watch 2 so when I learned about the Spigen Lite Fit band I decided to buy it to change the appearance of what I have been wearing. The band is elastic nylon in a single loop with size adjusted by a buckle. I find the band is very comfortable to wear. One thing I have found is that charging the watch is now a bit more cumbersome because I can't just place the watch on top of the charging puck and let it magnetically snap in to place, instead I have to slide the puck underneath the watch and some times the alignment isn't perfect. Not sure whether the pins on the Pixel Watch 2 charger will make this alignment easier. #

Ever since I upgrade the microcode and the kernel to Proxmox on the Beelink U59 Pro the VMs running on it have not failed. It looks to me like that did the fix. I note that the VM I built running Xebian never did fail even before the microcode and kernel updates, and as far as I can tell one of the main differences is that VM does not have any power saving settings enabled. My theory is that the "default" VMs I had been building had some power saving configurations that has issues. Regardless, I am happy the problem appears resolved.#

Forecasting the future. Right now the price breakdowns for the Pixel phones are, Pixel 8 at $699, Pixel 7 at $599, and Pixel 7a at $499. If you want lower you can get the Pixel 6a for $349. Sales often appear that provide even better prices, for example on Amazon Prime day I bought a Pixel 6 for $250. I expect that Google will drop the A series, and use the previous model Pixel as the lowest price models, which is what Apple does. Apple actually keeps two past years of phones on their store, so if Google were to do the same thing then next year the announce the Pixel 9, and drop the prices of the Pixel 8 and or 7 and stop selling the Pixel 7a. I suspect we will learn whether this is true next spring as Google I/O 2024 approaches.#

If I am right about Google dropping the A series, I think they should announce that the Pixel 7 will get the same 7 years of updates so all their models have the same supported life span. Financially this all makes sense except for the fact that as far as I know the A series has actually been the best selling of the Pixel line, most likely because it has all the right features in common with the more premium models at a lower price. In the past I preferred the A series because it was lighter, smaller, and cheaper, but given that the Pixel 7a is as large and heavy as the Pixel 7 those benefits no longer exist and the $100 lower price is not large enough when one makes the comparison I describe below.#

I bought the Pixel 7a this spring shortly after it was announced, but had I known that Google would be expanding to 7 years of OS support starting with the Pixel 8 I probably would have waited. I think the extra support along with the slightly better features justify the $100 higher price. Not that I am not happy with the Pixel 7a, but I think the Pixel 8 is a better value for the money and that I think is further evidence of the possibility Google will stop the A series. #

Google's Pixel event last year was on this date. Reading my notes from that event, I am reminded that the Pixel 7 had a 6.3 inch display and is 6.1" tall. The Pixel 8 has a 6.2 inch display and is just under 6 inches tall, so basically Google got the "main" Pixel under the 6 inch mark, which I am happy to see particularly if they decide to stop the A series. My Pixel 7a is actually a little bit taller than the Pixel 8 though it has a 6.1" display. Here is a comparison between the three phones. #

I just used the Trade-in estimator on Google's store and surprised to find the Pixel 7a is not a trade-in option but Google would give me $200 for my Pixel 4a. #

Looking at a comparison between the Pixel 7a that I own with the new Pixel 8s Google announced yesterday. First thing of note is that the Pixel 8 is basically the same size as the Pixel 7a, which is good. The displays are basically the same though the 7a has one more PPI, but I think the big difference is that the Pixel 8 brightness can go as high as 2000 nits whereas the max of the 7a is 1070 nits. If you use your phone bright sunlight a lot that alone may make you swap the phones. Battery capacity is a notch greater on the Pixel 8 than 7a, 4575 mAh versus 4385 mAh. The Pixel 8 has the third generation of Google's Tensor chip where as the 7a has the second generation. Lots of claims of how much more powerful the G3 is, but time will tell in terms of feature limitations. The other big question about the G3 is how it helps with battery life. The camera comparison is confusing, if you look at "megapixels" the camera on the 7a appears better, but I think the 8 has a better sensor and larger field of view that should make it a better camera. #

It seems to me that the additional capabilities make the Pixel 8 worth the $100 higher price than the Pixel 7a. My recommendation between the two is to buy the Pixel 8. If you are too concerned about the price, you could wait for sales around Christmas time or earlier next year. I personally think Google should knock off $100 on the Pixel 7a to justify the purchase decision between it and the Pixel 8. A $150-$200 price difference would keep people from just skipping over it. #

I think the biggest news of the Pixel 8 event was that Google will be providing OS and security updates for seven years. I wish Google would extend that level of support to the Pixel 7a that I bought earlier this year. However, I wonder if there will be a relationship between this new length in OS support and how long Google will sell the Pixel 8 in their store. Right now Google is selling the Pixel 6a through the just announced Pixel 8 Pro in their store, that is seven different phones. I wonder how much longer Google will be selling the Pixel 6a and Pixel 7 phones. I don't know why someone woudld buy the Pixel 7 Pro.#

Been running Android 14 on the Pixel 7a for about 12 hours. So far I have not found much that I find to be a personal benefit. I've changed the clock display on the lock screen and fiddled with the wallpaper on my home screen. Android is not the only OS with mere cosmetic changes, iPadOS 17 is mostly just more lipstick. It took enables me to change the lock screen and that has triggered me to play with focus modes and change the wallpaper on my iPads, which are nice but in no way necessary.#

During Google's launch event yesterday they put heavy emphasis on their AI "enhancements" to Android, but so far none of those are available on the Pixel 7a. I thought the AI wallpaper personalization was going to be available, but I see that for now that is a Pixel 8 only feature. I will have to wait for a future feature drop. I don't get why Google feels it necessary to with hold software features like this as I find it hard to believe they drive hardware sales. Pixel owners should get the full benefit of owning one at each launch day. #

Looks to me that Dave is teasing his Drummer integration with WordPress. #

Just checked system update on the Pixel 7a and it's ready to download and install. The notification says it will automatically download and install in nine days, but there is a button to Download and Install. Downloading now. I've got the phone plugged in while this is going on. Installation optimization is currently in progress. I think the upgrade time is approaching two hours now.#

Get ready to be bothered, the U.S. Government (FEMA) is testing their nationwide alert system this afternoon at 2:20 PM EST. If you have a wireless phone, you will get an alert and hear some noise. Update: Our smartphones got the alert a minutes ago. #

Google has released Android 14. I did a System Update check on my Pixel 7a but it does not know of an update, yet. I did update applications via the Play Store.#

I made more changes to the focus modes on my iPad Mini 6, one being that I removed a mode that was not scheduled and that appears to have had an affect on the scheduling working for the other focus modes. Do not disturb and work modes all kicked in at their scheduled times, so I am hopeful that the Personal mode will too later today. Not sure why having a mode that scheduled would mess things up, so I think there is a bug. I had a reading mode tied to an automation that set the iPad to it when I started the Kindle app, but I realized that in reality that same mode did the same thing as Do Not Disturb, so I decided to remove it. #

Google will be announcing the Pixel Watch 2 and the Pixel 8 tomorrow morning, and we are also expecting the release of Android 14. I am not playing on buying the Pixel Watch 2, but I did decide to buy a new watch band to spruce my watch up, and I got the Spigen Lite Fit band. It's an elastic nylon band that is one adjustable piece rather than two pieces clasped together. First time I attached it to the watch upside down, but I think I have it right now. #

Baseball season is over, so it's time to change the header graphic to something more seasonal.#

Word is that Android 14 will be released on Wednesday, October 4 and should be available for the Pixel 7a and my old Pixel 4a.#

The iPadOS Focus mode schedules simply do not work. None of my focus modes start at the schedule start times.#

Google has announced a new marketing classification for Chromebooks, Chromebook Plus, that represents a minimum hardware specification that historically one would call midrange to high end. Prices run from $399 to $499. #

The Raspberry Pi5 has been announced. I did some quick, back of napkin math and the 8 GB model with case and 25W power supply will cost $102. I would most likely also buy the M.2 HAT but there is no price announced for it and it won't ship until 2024. The case now includes a fan and appears to be designed with space to accommodate the HATs provided by Raspberrypi.com. A new version of Raspberry PiOS is also being released.#

No surprise that I am a fan of Drummer, and I am using it to write nearly all of my blog posts, both here and on my blog. I also have blogs on Wordpress that frankly have been dormant. Dave recently added Wordpress verbs to DummerScript that I am interested in trying out. Problem is that as far as I can tell there are no example scripts, clearly it's a work in progress. #

I upgraded the microcode and the kernel for Proxmox running on the Beelink U59 Pro and so far the VMs that have been crashing are still running ever since I started them Saturday afternoon. #

Updating the Windows 11 Insider Preview on my Macbook. It must be a big update as it is taking a while to install.#

With checking out the ability to add widgets on the iPad lock screen I have started fiddling with the Focus modes. I think that the Focus modes make more sense for smartphones than tablets, but then the iPad Mini 6 is a bit more like a phone. I've created a Work mode with one pair of lock and home screen, a Personal mode with another, and a Sports mode cover while I am monitoring my fantasy football teams on Sundays.#

Not sure what to think about the DietPi VM, it is still running after I had stopped and started it on Monday. I am running Home Assistant on this VM and that is hosting home bridge to enable me to control my Hue smart lights using Apple Home. #

I obviously don't know enough about the Equinox, aka first day of fall, which I though would be today but apparently isn't until Saturday. So, bonus summer days? #

iPad OS 17 is available to download and install on the iPad Mini 6. I installed the upgrade without incident.#

The virtual machine based on DietPi was locked up on Proxmox this morning. #

Experience AI is a new educational programme that offers cutting-edge KS3 (ages 11–14) resources on artificial intelligence and machine learning for teachers and their students. Developed in collaboration by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind, the programme supports teachers in the exciting and fast-moving area of AI, and gets young people passionate about the subject.#

Apple held their annual iPhone event today. As I am not an iPhone user, there is not a ton here that of particular interest to me. The two applicable tidbits are that iPad OS 17 will be released on September 18 (this coming Monday) and Mac OS Sonoma will be released on September 26. #