Recent content on Ishan's Blog
If you use an iPhone with dual-SIMs enabled and prefer email for iMessage conversations instead of phone number, you'll want to update to iOS 26.6. Since iPhones introduced dual SIM support, share sheet has only shown phone numbers when sharing via iMessage. Settings app would let you select whether you start new texts via a phone number or email, but this would not change the share sheet. Apple's…
What I have watched happen in my profession in the past two years, I am still struggling to describe. The first time I knew something was wrong, roughly a year and a quarter ago, I noticed a colleague replying to me using AI. His response was obviously generated by Claude. That’s the opening of Appearing Productive in The Workplace . The entire essay is good, you should read it. I’ve been noticing…
I got inspired to reduce my phone use last July . Then, I proceeded to not post any updates about it. It’s July again, and even though I did not write about it, I have made some progress. Here are the things that helped keep my phone screen time around 1–2 hours a day instead of the usual 3–4 hours I was doing last year: Physical Distance : Keeping my phone away — in another room at home,…
I’ve always found masks fascinating. To me, they seemed like cheat codes that let you become someone or even something else. The first mask I recall is from my school days. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, the last game in the Sands of Time trilogy, had just come out. The game’s story revolves around darkness unleashed inside the protagonist, the Prince. The darkness transformed him…
As much as I (and several other people) are disappointed with Screen Time , Apple appears to have made at least some improvements. One of my biggest complaints with screen time was it counting CarPlay as screen time. This still exists, but I seem to have found a workaround. If you stay on the Home Screen (the one with Map on the left, and suggestions + Music on the right), it doesn’t count…
Alex Hsu is hosting June 2026 indie web carnival. The theme is No Way . My entry is not about something that happened to me specifically, but something that blew my mind when I first learned about it. And technically, it does happen to me (and almost every human), so I think it counts. You, like me, may have noticed how the second “stretches” longer immediately after you look at an…
I’ve been looking at Kobo eReaders for some time now. They had a Mother’s Day sale in May, so I ordered a Kobo Libra Colour. I opened in with excitement, looked at the screen, put it on charge, and created a return request the next day. If you’re considering getting one, this post may help you decide. Pros Overdrive/Libby Integration Physical Buttons Automatic Brightness Bookshop.org…
Training for my half-marathon, I was doing a long run. My training plan called for a 20 km run that day, but I decided to push myself a bit. I mean, why not just do the entire 21K if I’m so close. Around km 18, I was in the middle of 2 ponds, slowly progressing. This old lady waved at me and said something. I took my headphones out. “Do you like bird-watching?” “Not…
I am not a fan of AI-generated images. I have used them for memes, but they’re challenging to get right in a professional context. In Manuel’s post On featured images in blog posts , they are completely against any featured images. I don’t go as far. I think that as the writer, I am free to add some whimsy or color to the blog post, as long as I am respecting the user by not…
I have been following Manuel Moreale’s Experimental June plan to reduce consumption. The latest update was on June 29. That motivated me to finally start with a plan to reduce my screen time. The May 16 episode of Search Engine: How to stop being so phone addicted (without self-discipline or meditation) was another catalyst. I started on June 29 and as broken as Screen Time is, it’s…
I feel like I have a tumultuous relationship with TVs and monitors. It took editing system files to get rid of some persistent black bars in 2018. Then, in 2022, I had to jump through hoops to get volume buttons working on an Apple TV remote with my TCL Roku TV . I never got that TV to stop displaying a static screen randomly when Apple TV switched between HDR and SDR. In the middle of 2024, I…
I love tracking stuff. I’m not obsessed with the numbers, but I definitely do more tracking than your usual person. I liked Steam in the beginning because it provided a central location to track my playtime. RescueTime, a productivity tracking tool, was the first software installed on my computers for more than 7 years. A few recent things lead me down this rabbit hole of thinking how we…
I found about V.H. Belvadi’s IndieWeb Carnival on friction from Manuel Moreale’s IndieWeb Carnival: On the importance of friction . I have some thoughts on the topic, so I decided to write my entry. I’m not very involved with indie web. I have been blogging since 2010, and it’s always been a hobby for me. Reading wise, I do not actively seek small blogs. There are several…
47% of my gaming time was on Steam Deck last year, going by my Steam Replay 2024. I got it in December 2023 and it’s been a great device. Recently, I was talking to a friend about the device and whether they should buy one. I was on the fence and wanted to note down my use cases and some recent news. If you are considering buying a handheld right now, I’d suggest waiting. If you can…
At 127 minutes, Smile 2 is long. And first half alone makes it feel way longer than that. For me, the movie started on an off note. I had seen the first movie, but I still expected the second one to start with some sort of setup. It didn’t, instead it started directly after the events of the first movie. I’m not a fan of writers assuming that we would have everything fresh in our head.…
I’ve been following the recent WordPress and WPEngine drama closely. I have not been involved with any WordPress related development for several years now, but I’ve always liked WordPress. Blogging, and later WordPress, were the reasons I started with web development and later built a career around programming. I would rather not write anything about the entire thing, but two…
Image by Tilixia from Pixabay KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face. I had fun writing this, and I needed to have fun writing this. We…
I recently got a Steam Deck for my birthday. Ever since its initial launch, I was on the fence about getting one. The first reason was that I already had a handheld in Nintendo Switch. And second, my top played game genre is Real-time Strategy (RTS), which doesn’t really work that well on a handheld. After using it for a week, I am a big fan of the device. This article is my collection of…
If you use a tool like yt-dl or yt-dlp to download YouTube videos and face throttling by YouTube, I’ve found that playing the video in the browser before download speeds up the video considerably. In my case, my downloads were 50-60 KB/s. After trying this, the videos download at 25 MB/s or more. My theory is that YouTube detects whether there’s an active session and limits download…
I never thought I’d miss California housing market This is the text I sent to my friend when I was frustrated with apartment hunting in Vancouver. In my imagination, I was the perfect renter. I expected to see 2-3 places, pick 1 and be done with it. But the first place I applied to plain rejected me with no explanation. And then a second one the next day. Well, that was unexpected. I had read that…
Apple introduced App Intents at WWDC 2022. The relevant talks are: Implement App Shortcuts with App Intents Dive into App Intents If you follow these tutorial with initial Xcode 14 beta, it’s possible that the intents may not work. I spent a good 2 hours trying to troubleshoot with different devices and simulators and finally found the solution in Apple’s release notes for Xcode 14 Beta: App…