The feed of updates to Marius Masalar
Why, when I have a perfectly good one available right here? Because change is healthy. It’s nothing dramatic, just a change of scenery and a simpler outlook. You can read more about why on the new site—I hope you’ll join me there. It’s a new RSS feed too, so if you want to keep seeing stuff from me you’ll want to add the new link to your feed reader. This site isn’t going anywhere, I’ll just no…
There’s a question that keeps echoing in my mind: are we being good ancestors? It’s attributed to Jonas Salk, an American virologist who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. I encountered it months ago, quoted offhand in an interview. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but it’s the kind of question that burrows into your mind. The more you consider it, the more it seems to…
There’s nothing wrong with the Apple Watch Ultra. Not even the stuff I expected to take issue with ended up bothering me. It’s a premium smartwatch that improves upon older models in almost every way, and introduces a new category for Apple’s wearables family. I’m excited to see them further differentiate it in future generations. But for now, I didn’t end up keeping mine. As much as I enjoyed…
I returned my first pair of Apple’s AirPods Max because of comfort issues shortly after publishing my review . I ended up buying a second pair within a few months, though, because I missed their sheer sonic prowess. After a bit of stretching to ease their clamping force, the AirPods and I got along much better. The combination of headband design and spacious ear cups does a good job of…
We should have known this day would come. Heck, you asked the question in plenty of time, but it still caught us off guard when the entirety of 1Password was engulfed in the scintillating glare of an alien tractor beam and pulled into the abyssal night of outer space for eternity. But why dwell on the past? We may be gone, but you’re still here…and you have questions. Questions like “ is this a…
Game audio can feel like a thankless industry. In our distracted world, the idea of listening to music for music’s sake is rare enough as it is. To expect people to notice and appreciate music when their attention is being drawn to enjoyable gameplay is just unrealistic. Yet music is a critical aspect of establishing the gameplay experience, even if it’s mostly subliminal. It sets the mood,…
After failing to release any new Kindles last year (for obvious reasons), the expectation is that we’ll see new eReader hardware from Amazon before the year is up. While we wait, I was imagining what my ideal Kindle would be like—something that brings together all the most important features from existing models, competitors, and my imagination. eReaders are a wonderful category because you don’t…
I spent every summer of my childhood in the mountains of Romania. For me, this remote haven was a place I could explore some of the things I love most: nature, animals, and the quaint appeal of having time alone to think. I’ve been very intentional about trying to cultivate access to those things in my adult life, and every so often I encounter them in unexpected places—like a video game from…
It was my fault— I knew from the start that Hey wasn’t for me. Still, I soldiered on because I was excited by the first real re-think of email since its inception; I wanted to make sure I gave it a proper try. I did my best to adapt, to use it as it’s designed to be used…but it’s been nearly a year now and I’m afraid I have to throw in the towel. For all of its benefits—and there are several…
After years of having this simple feature requested, Amazon has finally relented : You can now choose to show the cover of the book you’re currently reading on the lock screen of your Kindle while it’s asleep. This feature is available for most recent Kindle models: Kindle (8th, 10th Gen) Kindle Paperwhite (7th, 10th Gen) Kindle Voyage (7th Gen) Kindle Oasis (8th, 9th, 10th Gen) You’ll need to be…
Each year, I get more comfortable using my iPhone without a case. At the same time, each new iPhone generation gets more sophisticated, more precious—and more expensive, making this feel risky despite the improved durability that invariably accompanies the new models. For times when I want the peace of mind of a case, or when I know my phone is going to encounter more precarious situations (day…
Now that I’ve reassured myself that Blot is definitely the best platform for my needs, I took some time this weekend to implement a laundry list of improvements, mostly behind-the-scenes stuff. This is a bit of a geeky changelog, so feel free to ignore it unless you’re interested in some of what’s under the hood around here. If you’re reading via RSS or email, make sure you visit the website…
Every so often, I’m gripped by a compulsion to investigate my blogging approach and reassure myself that the path I’ve chosen remains the best fit for my needs. I haven’t done this in a couple of years, but now I find myself once again revisiting the messy quagmire of blog-capable platforms and services to see which ones stand a chance of dethroning Blot . What I’ve come away with is a general…
If this year has taught me anything, it’s that we can’t control what happens in life. We can often, however, influence outcomes by carefully rearranging the landscape of our attitudes and decisions. Doing so, we find paths, make connections, and build relationships. Carto is a game that explores these ideas through a map-making metaphor. You play as Carto, a girl struggling to reunite with her…
My apartment building was constructed about 80 years ago, and as a result we have exactly one electrical outlet per room. You can imagine how this might pose logistical challenges for a technology enthusiast like yours truly. I’m stuck using power bars, extension cables, and careful load balancing to make sure all our devices get power without overloading any circuits. So when a product emerges…
I’m conflicted about Apple’s latest foray into audio products, the AirPods Max over-ear headphones. In striking opposition to every other review I’ve seen so far, I get to begin mine by stating that I am an audiophile. A friendly, reasonable one, but still— audio is my jam . I’ve been writing music for games and film for over 10 years, so one would hope that I’ve learned a thing or two about audio…
No surprises here, but I wanted to write a few words about my time with the iPhone 12 Pro Max and why I decided it wasn’t an upgrade I needed to make. For context, I’m coming from an iPhone 11 , so of course it’s not worth upgrading, but I was curious about the new camera features and the experience of being back on a large OLED display. Since the camera system is the differentiating factor that…
I’ve been using and sharing 1Password for an awfully long time now, and I wanted to gather a few tips that can meaningfully improve your experience of the service. These aren’t hidden features, but if you’re new or haven’t spent much time digging into the settings you may not be aware of them yet. Let’s start with the simplest. 1. Memorize the Keyboard Shortcut for AutoFill in Desktop Browsers:…
Several months ago, I was contacted about a secret project. My friends at Ndemic Creations —makers of the über -popular Plague Inc. and Rebel Inc. games—were working on something new for Plague. An expansion of sorts…but on a scale unlike any previous addition. It was a new mode that would entirely flip the gameplay perspective; instead of playing as a disease wreaking havoc on the world, you…
“ Why haven’t they finished the ceiling?” A few years before she passed away, I had taken my grandmother to a coffee shop. When I returned from the front with our drinks, I found her examining the ceiling. To her eyes, the North American habit of leaving the piping and industrial elements of a commercial space exposed was bizarre. Why couldn’t they finish the job and put in a proper ceiling? Ever…
With the iPhones 12 hitting the market, I’ve been trying to figure out how I feel about my iPhone 11. I found it pretty boring when I bought it and that hasn’t changed. I don’t like that generation’s rounded design language and the phone itself was certainly not worth the upgrade over my previous iPhone X…except for one aspect: the camera. All the photos in this piece are from my iPhone 11, shot…
There’s been a lot of conversation in my circles recently about how to effectively save links and deal with articles you want to read later. The trouble these folks run into is that their queue quickly grows to impractical proportions, forcing them to give up, empty it, and start again. I don’t pretend to have the one true solution, but since this isn’t a problem I run into, I thought it might be…
My friend Álvaro recently penned this piece about his decision to step away from social media for a while. I myself left Facebook last year, for similar reasons, so Álvaro’s frustration resonated with me: I’ve come to the conclusion that social media, in its current form, is actively detrimental to my mental health and well-being. It’s taken a lot of introspection, but I’ve realized that social…
A year after my initial review , the UAG Leather Watch Strap is still my most-used strap for the Apple Watch Series 4. It has held up to the rigours of daily wear and tear, and its blend of good design, good materials, and handsome aesthetics lend an air of rugged sophistication to a watch that I’m otherwise not especially fond of . At the time, UAG surprised me with the quality of its…
In my ongoing quest to improve your experience of this blog, I’ve finally rolled out an email subscription option . For a while now, I’ve been looking for an alternative RSS host to replace FeedBurner. While it’s remained functional for years, it’s an abandoned project, and the long-term health of such projects is always in question…particularly when they’re in Google’s custody. My search…
I can’t think of a better signal of success than a 37% conversion rate on your new service during launch week. In the first cohort of HEY signups, 37% have converted to a paid account! HEY is made by Basecamp. Basecamp used to be called 37signals, for the 37 unidentified signals of potentially intelligent life in space. This can only mean one thing: The 👽 are pleased with HEY 😂❤️ — HEY (@heyhey)…
It has been my goal for a while now to swap out Google Analytics for something more privacy-friendly . Last week, I took the first step and removed the GA tracking code from the site. Already, the change has sped the blog up a bit and made Safari happy. But what happens next? In theory, this was the first step in a process of switching to something else—and I may end up doing that—but for now I’m…
Now that the initial hype and honeymoon period has died down, I’m sad to admit that the more time I spend with it, the less I like Hey. It’s not because of any particular failing on their part—the app and service work exactly as advertised. Unfortunately, what it offers is a workflow that is just plain slower and less efficient than my previous email solution, and while it has many concrete…
Hey is a new email service (not just a new email app but an entire new system) from the makers of Basecamp. The discussion around Hey has, so far, been mostly about its troubled App Store experience . I’m going to side-step that entire discussion to talk about the product itself. I’ve had access since launch and have gathered a few early impressions. My main take-away is that I like this a lot and…
Adapted from a photo by Shane Gross, Shutterstock It is in our nature to be anthropocentric—to believe that everything revolves around human beings and our needs. When we consider what sets us apart, we think of things like culture and traditions, the importance of family, a sense of self, and the ability to reason and introspect. We consider that our large brains grant us a position of…
For someone like me, whose life has been fundamentally shaped by a fascination with nature and the desire to protect it, reading articles about how social media fuels its desecration is very difficult. At the same time, I think that Lisa Chase is right to caution against undue anger. In her recent piece for Outside Magazine , she writes: I sense and share your despair over our current state of…