Technology – Page 3 – HELLO, I'M SETH WERKHEISER

Paying $8/mo for email hosting, bogged down with AI gemini bloat? No thanks.

This, along with cancelling my Google Drive storage – that’s $120 that isn’t going into Google’s pockets anymore.

BACK UP THE DIGITAL WITH THE PHYSICAL

With all my digital dumping lately, been thinking a lot about digital media.

Here’s a (admittedly costly and privileged) thought: Instead of downloading your Kindle books and hacking the DRM from them, use the titles as a list to go buy from your local book store. Or, cheaper option, to keep an eye out for in a Little Free Library.

Back up the digital with the physical.

I’ve cancelled Disney+ because I watch the same old Star Wars movies, and the price keeps going up. I thought, gee, just buy those movies digitally via Apple or Amazon, so I can just stream them whenever I want, right?

But maybe I should just buy a blu-ray player and the actual discs. That way, if the internet goes down or I somehow lose access to my accounts or digital files, well, I can still watch those movies.

I thought this too with digital music – I was digging around for a media player that isn’t Apple Music, and oh my god, everything is atrocious.

But instead of re-building a system which keeps all my files inside my laptop, why not try to buy the CDs (and cassettes)? I can even burn digital files to a CD and play them on my CD player.

ORGANIZING IPHONE PHOTOS ON MY OWN DEVICES

So all my photos dating back to 2002 are in folders, grouped by year, on my external HD, which is then backed up regularly via Backblaze.

I have a reminder set for the 1st of every month to download all my photos from iPhone (via Image Capture) to my Mac, where I put them into a folder, organize (delete a lot of videos and screen shots), then add them to my monthly folder of photos I take with my DSLR.

I was using Google Photos to sync everything from my phone, but that’s $20/year going to Google. No thanks.

And now that I’m not backing up photos via iCloud, my iPhone back ups are smaller, so I was able to downgrade to the .99¢ plan, which is just $12/year. Maybe I can look more into the back up stuff and whittle it down to the free plan at some point, but this is acceptable.

MAKE REAL STUFF

From Joshua Heath Scott:

“As artists and creatives, we face the challenge of standing out against the digital tide. Han explores the importance of making real, physical art that holds emotions, memories, and true community value, unlike the fleeting nature of digital information.”

This really makes me want to start putting together a print version of Social Media Escape Club. Of printing photos every month. Of making newspaper projects with Newspaper Club.

Via Zach

I just switched to the Brave browser, from Chrome, and I’m practically giddy about it.

Tonight I archived a bunch of old emails from my Fastmail account. Exported to Zip files, put ’em on external HD. Just like, 1000s of random sent emails, automated receipts and shit. Sure, I could have gone through and deleted a bunch, but nah.

This weekend I’ll be shutting down my Google Workspace account, and shuffling that email back to Fastmail. The less money I give to Google, the better.

LEAVING GOOGLE WORKSPACE

I’ve exported all my Google emails in .mbox format and threw them into my Apple Mail app, which I don’t ever use, but it’ll be there for safekeeping (and easy searching).

I’ve exported all my Google Drive docs as xls and doc files. Anything shared with clients and such, I told them to make a copy so they own it.

I’ve been changing a lot of emails I use for services away from this account, so if anything happens when I transfer my MX records, it won’t matter so much.

I think I’ll do that this weekend – copy all my existing MX records from my DNS host. Then update the new info from Fastmail, so all those emails go into my existing account. I don’t get a lot of emails at this “work” account, so it’ll be fine.

I have a Gmail account I can use if I need to view / share Google Docs or Sheets.

Email is taken care of.

Those are literally the two things I used Google Workspace for. Years ago I worked with some VAs, and they needed email accounts with my business, and that worked out well. But hey, Google Workspace is like $7/mo now, for something that I don’t really need. It’s going up to $8.40/mo for all this new AI bullshit that I really don’t need, so whatever.

The $100 I save per year can buy some groceries, which is lot more useful than the garbage AI that Google is pushing.

IMMEDIACY IS KING

I love the idea of having a blog that you update on occasion, more often than social media.

Those platforms made is so that every time you post something, something happens – usually a like. Then a comment.

When you post on your blog, the reaction isn’t quite so quick. Or sending a newsletter. The feedback loop is longer, and the social media platform makers knew this.

Make their product light up when you post something. Make it as simple as possible to post a video, go live, five photos. Try doing that with most apps for modern blogging platforms or website builders.

GOOGLE AI WEAPONS ARE THE RIGHT THING, APPARENTLY

Google changed it’s motto from “Don’t be evil” to “Do the right thing” in 2015. And now a decade later the “right thing” has taken quite a turn.

“Google on Tuesday updated its ethical guidelines around artificial intelligence, removing commitments not to apply the technology to weapons or surveillance.”

I’m so glad to be moving away from all Google Products this year.

(From the Washington Post, via Hacker News)