George is a software engineer working in Austin, with a small home on the internet.
I’m not sure folks are appreciating just how different this new version is. The changes may appear subtle at first, but they’re in fact quite profound—and they reflect a direction I’d hoped Apple would take all along: the resurrection of Aqua . Great blog post on the differences between Liquid Glass 1.0 and 2.0, as well as a re-creation of the glass effect in the browser. Fun!
I desperately want to see more native, SwiftUI apps on the Mac. But sometimes I feel like web apps beat Apple on fit and finish. Take this sidebar animation as an example. Codex, a web-based app, nails it: The animation is simple, but at least it works reliably Meanwhile, Apple's own apps have jank. It's been like this since macOS Tahoe: Apple's animation is a bit more complex, but…
Do no pass go, do not collect $200. I really really like Louie Mantia's recent essay, ' The Shape of Apps '. It addresses Apple's recent changes to app icons on the Mac, most notably the introduction of squircle jail . Unlike a lot of the banal complaining I see on social media, the essay is thoughtful and attempts to punch at the other side of the debate: what are we gaining…
Perhaps it’s not the most poetic image, me having a deep realization about my career and the company I write about as I’m staring at the back of two men’s heads. Whenever you’re lucky enough to find it, you have to receive life’s poetry – even when, and especially if, it makes for a funny story to tell. That moment encapsulated the energy I would feel for the rest of the conference.
Craig Mod, in a recent essay : Your hands should be swooping and swiping and the whole OS should feel like skipping across a taut slackline, a bit bouncy and pleasing and physical but also precise and quick and focused taking you where you need to go, across some creative gulf. There should be no “hard edges” anywhere. iPadOS shouldn’t be anything like Windows or macOS or Linux, it shouldn’t be…
NASA’s Artemis II mission has been fruitful in producing stunning and inspiring images, to say the least. The linked gallery appears to be what has been shared with us thus far. With luck, we’ll soon see the “earthset” images shot today, as the crew meandered their way around the dark side of the moon. Also interesting is their choice in cameras. It looks like they have a few Nikon D5s on board,…
My favorite Mac I've owned to date – and the first designed for Apple Silicon I love reading the personal anecdotes that have been written in light of Apple’s 50th anniversary today — like this one from Parker Ortolani. Adding to the pile, I wrote this on Bluesky: I’ll never forget when, as a kid, our PC at home died – and I persuaded my parents to get a Mac mini. At the time, I had no idea that…
My kid turned one year old this month. Not only did we survive the first year, we bought a house, uprooted our lives, and I landed my dream job while juggling the role of newborn dad. When reminiscing a few weeks back, Cassidy astutely pointed out: we did that all by ourselves . Aside from the grandparents watching 'A' (our kid) a few times when we visited Wisconsin, we didn't have…
Sam Henri Gold, in a fantastic essay in context of the MacBook Neo launch: Obsession works by taking whatever is available and pressing on it until it either breaks or reveals something. The machine’s limits become a map of the territory. You learn what computing actually costs by paying too much of it on hardware that can barely afford it.
Even if you don't read the post, just scroll through the screenshots on Nick Heer's recent blog post showcasing the changes to Apple Pages from Mac OS X Lion, all the way to macOS Tahoe. I don't need to add any commentary – Nick's post is comprehensive. The decline in clarity and usability is staggering.
Kenton Varda on Twitter: Worries that software developer jobs are going away are backwards. There is SO MUCH software to build right now, that previously wasn't possible (uses AI directly) or wasn't cost-effective (too niche). We're going to have more developers, and orders of magnitude more software. It’s hard to see if you live in a tech bubble like myself, but much of the world…
If you've spoken with me for more than eight seconds, you may know I'm unable to shut up about Waymo and self-driving cars. Earlier this year, Waymo ran its service in Austin as an invite-only program before opening to the public. During this time, I logged 62 rides, 355 miles, and 1,363 minutes of Waymo-ing around town! Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are exciting to me – I see the remarkable…
Sebastian's concepts for Apple's rumored OS redesign feel spot on. I'm curious how this will play out on macOS, where most modern software is merely a web wrapper. As a fan of ' Mac-assed Mac apps ', I hope this redesign elevates apps that adopt the platform's UI, making web wrappers feel clunky and dated. Edit: Looks like Gruber has a similar take .
The day after my birthday, ‘A’ and I were sitting on the floor of the nursery late. (It was 8pm, which is considered late now.) I was using my leg in a V-shape to hold him upright, his head near my knee. His eyes fixated on me, in a strange and unusual way. I tried what I had been for weeks at this point: making faces, sounds, and clowning around in attempt to get even the smallest reaction out of…
Preface: Last week, my wife (Cassidy) and I became parents! While I plan on writing more extensively about our time at the hospital, this series is intended to process stray thoughts and memories as they happen. Here are a few notes from our first few days home with our son, who I refer to as ‘A’. (Perhaps we'll call the second and third ‘B’ and ‘C’?) Our first morning together at home Sleep…
The Pebble was my first smart watch. I purchased a the original model in jet black not long after release. I was in high school at the time, and I recall it drawing a bit of attention at the summer camp I worked at. Maybe it was my age, but I certainly felt dorky wearing it! Now, in 2025, you wouldn’t glance twice. I had really, really, really hoped that someone else would come along and build a…
You think you understand love before kids. You don't. Every other relationship comes with implicit conditions. Partners choose each other daily. Parents love you deeply, but there's history. With your child? It's different. It's a love so fundamental it becomes part of your operating system.
Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion. Newspaper endorsements never made sense to me – especially in a low-trust environment. Shouldn't a publication's aim be to build credibility with readers? I agree with Bezos: a failure to build trust will drive…
Sunday was Formula One day in Austin, Texas. The infrastructure to move 400k people to-and-from a suburban race track is enormous! Pictured is one of the (hundreds) of buses leaving, after dropping us off back at our parking lot on the north side of the city. I'm not sure I love this image when squashed into a small rectangle on this site. It looks great when large. View this photo on Glass .
I've always been a huge fan of the folks at Panic . Talks like this demonstrate why.
Straight out-of-camera from the Fuji X100VI (because editing photos takes too long). Years into the advent of EVs, and the supercharging experience is still unparalleled.
After placing an order in February, and waiting many agonizing months, I got my hands on the Fujifilm X100VI – perhaps the most coveted modern camera (and my first non-Nikon purchase). This camera is essentially my child One of the enticements of this camera (albeit minor), is its ability to shoot HEIF images out-of-camera, as opposed to standard JPEGs. HEIF is a modern image format (created in…
If everyone can see the whole, they won’t ask why it was built a certain way. They’ll see all the ways you built then backtracked, all the ways that didn’t work. And the same obviousness in your decision making that’s clear to you, will be clear and obvious to everyone else.
The graveyard of self-driving car projects is full, and for good reason. I think the technology must reach near-100% perfection before it can become a part of our day-to-day reality. Consider Amazon’s recently cancelled "Just Walk Out" technology . Pull back the magic AI curtain, and you’ll find 1,000 workers in India manually verifying shopper’s transactions. I think their AI technology was…
Friday (the 2nd) was launch day for Apple Vision Pro. Two days later, I found myself on a newly-installed L-shaped bench in the Apple Store, sitting next to Nick. While Nick explained how the demo would work, a different employee silently placed a Vision Pro on wooden platter between us. I love the cute little cover they put on the front (The in-store experience is something to behold on its own…
Where Cassidy and I spent Christmas. Also, where Cassidy grew up. Taken with my Nikon Z f, on December 28th, 2023. View this photo on Glass .
After a few rolls processed with this new film camera – I’m learning things! 1. People love the look of film! For me, this photo (of my wife) from our recent trip to Canyon Lake evokes a strong emotional response. I immediately feels like I’m looking at a fond yet distant past, in spite of this occurring just days ago. “Damn grandma, you were actually cool” vibes Film holds incredible nostalgic…
A conversation with my Lyft driver, around 3:45am this morning, paraphrased: Me: “You out early or late?” Driver: “Oh I’m out late. I get all the partygoers. Some people don’t like driving the partygoers, but I’m fine with it. I’m the drunk whisperer . 11,000 rides and only two times they’ve puked in my car. “But you know what? I’m there for you, whatever you need. I’ll roll down the window, drive…
My recent YouTube bender, Nick Carver , has sent me on a minor film-photography bout. Watching him scout, compose, and execute a single frame with surgical precision was kindling for me to start derping around with film. (Seriously – this guy will take days, if not weeks going after a single photo!) As with any addiction, I need to start small. So I bought a Kodak Ektar H35N. This is the first…
Taken on September 14th, 2023. View this photo on Glass .
Almost everything around us is overflowing with history and story, including something as pedestrian as... a pedestrian bridge . I absolutely found myself enthralled in this piece by Tyler Vigen investigating how this oddly-placed piece of infrastructure came into existence! Here's a PDF of the article for archival purposes.
About one month ago, on August 7th, we appended a new little guy to our life: a dachshund named Picasso ! (His larger-than-life name makes us laugh.) This is the first time we (Cassidy and I) have been responsible for any living being on our own. It's been fun to see our dynamic change as we gradually move from “couple” to “family”. He’s not a child, of course – but when a couple adds a…
I loved riding the DC metro when I lived there – especially its spurious waterfalls .
Ben Thompson – a fellow Wisconsinite and among my favorite tech writers – has what I think is a bullish, yet balanced view on Apple Vision . I agree with Thompson that productivity could be the most compelling use case for the device. A keyboard, mouse, and Apple Vision Pro could make a killer (and much more portable) workstation. As Apple hones in on the device’s purpose, I wouldn't be…
Just a few photos from the last week – filtered to look more dramatic, of course. While filters may not do a good job of representing reality, they can do a good job representing how the moment felt . Sunrise in the apartment, featuring a chair we overpaid for and drove 1.5 hours to pick-up. Don't get ripped off on Facebook Marketplace, folks. View this photo on Glass . The local hangout, on a…
After taking delivery of the car, my first hurdle was getting it to do anything. I opened the door (the handles are very prominent), sat in the driver’s seat, and… nothing happened. No screen showed any messages. The climate control didn’t turn on. The car seemed dead.
A fantastic list that I keep returning to, over and over.
A new mural appeared on the east side of the city – celebrating Austin FC's kickass 2022 season. (I did a double-take when I saw giant Driussi while driving on I-35!) I captured a few (decent) photos. This is the best I could do without literally removing street signs. Full-res download links are under each image. Feel free to share/post them anywhere! If anyone is aware of the original…
My Lyft driver, this morning, paraphrased: “One time I was suspended from Lyft for taking drugs while driving. Can you believe that? It was aspirin! I was taking chewable aspirin gummies. I had the bottle right here in my cupholder. “It happened when I was driving this mother and her young daughter. Now, I’ve had six strokes in my life, so sometimes I get migraines. And I can't take pills – I…
Recently, a dear friend came to visit me in Austin, TX. I had exactly one day to convince him to move to the city. I wanted to hit as many tourist-y Austin-y spots as possible, so this is exactly what we did, in this order (starting around 6am on a Friday). 1. Mt. Bonnell The trail at Mt. Bonnell is short, and will only take you a few minutes – but it gives you a great view of the river facing…
A hazy, distant view of downtown Austin from the Pennybacker Bridge overlook . It almost looks like a little utopia from here – but drive once on I-35 and you quickly realize it isn’t. This was taken late morning, on September 23rd, 2022. Not featured in this photo: the bridge. View this photo on Glass .
The Google building is a fine addition to Austin’s skyline, in my tiny opinion. This was snapped at dusk, on September 21st, 2022. Do people work here now? Is it done inside? It’s hard to know. View this photo on Glass .
They are as old as 86 and as young as 18. At the front desk, they show driver’s licenses, state IDs, and passports. They were born in Cicero, they were born in Ghana, they were born on a table in Cabrini-Green. What an amazing story.
When you know these facts of history—which many schools do not teach—you understand what “industrial civilization” is and why it is the benefactor of everyone who is lucky enough to live in it. You understand that the electric generator, the automobile, the chemical plant, the cargo container ship, and the microprocessor are essential to our health and happiness.
Maybe I’ve been living in the stone ages, but up until yesterday I’ve used the brush tool in Adobe Lightroom to make selective edits to photos. Take this photo for example: These are some really cool people, by the way It was taken during golden hour – lovely! But the sky feels a little gray. Normally I would whip out my brush tool and, like a caveman, begin a vain effort to select the sky by…
I'm a sucker for a good tech war story. This one tops the list.
I wanted to share photos from one more hike at Glacier National Park (taken during a trip last September ). Like the Highline Trail hike , we got an early start from Logan Pass (about an hour’s drive from the park entrance). It's dark When we stopped to turn around, we were greeted with a brilliant orange that cascaded through the landscape. In the daylight hours, we found ourselves once again…
Last September, some friends and I made the long-haul drive from Wisconsin to the far side of Glacier National Park. (The East side was closed due to COVID restrictions.) While there’s an album full of images , I wanted to share a few of my favorites from our hike on Highline Trail. Highline Trail spans 15.2 miles round-trip, with a steep side trail that cost us an additional 2.4 miles (more on…
Another photo of the snowy landscape outside our home.
Yup, just a photo of the driveway at golden hour. Living back home in Wisconsin has been a silver lining of the remote-work-pandemic world.