Dream Fulfilled

July 31, 2020 · 09:17

I fulfilled another one of my decade long dreams today. It was extremely emotional, but since this was a material dream, it was nowhere close to what I felt at my wedding. I am writing these words three days later and I still can’t believe it finally came to fruition. Iwona already pinched me — didn’t help.


GMK Pretty in Pink — Raising Awareness About the Dangers of Breast Cancer

June 10, 2020 · 11:35

As some of you may know, I lost both my parents to cancer a few years ago. It’s been over 5 years and still a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about them. When I heard about GMK Pretty in Pink launching a few months ago, I immediately knew I had to get this kit.

GMK Pretty in Pink is a mod extension kit, featuring an accent spacebar, enter, arrows, and a few novelty keys. The novelties are meant to raise awareness of the dangers of breast cancer, and to show support for those who are currently fighting breast cancer and for survivors. The novelties feature the ubiquitous pink ribbon, a HOPE enter key, and a four heart flower.

All profits from this set will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Pretty in Pink will live on my polycarbonate Think6.5°, paired with GMK Minimal for now. I might pair it with a black set in the future.

Thanks you Jeff “Langelandia” and One Creative Mind for designing this set.

See more images of Pretty in Pink →


Why I’m Returning the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard

April 23, 2020 · 21:44

First of all, as you may have noticed, I love me a good keyboard. Despite the Magic Keyboard not being mechanical and having an excellent trackpad, it’s simply too expensive. It costs 330 EUR or so over here (around 360 USD), which I can’t realistically accept, especially since I have a MacBook Pro right next to me. I can always use it instead, when I do need to write something longer.

Sorry Apple, you have made a truly excellent product, but it’s just simply not worth the money that you’re asking for it. And I’m a guy that loves (mechanical) keyboards, your trackpads, iPads and Macs. Oh well, back to my beloved Think6.5° in e-yellow…


Is Apple’s iPad Pro Magic Keyboard Worth 299 USD?

April 22, 2020 · 13:17

No. It’s an amazing piece of hardware and I have been using it for two days now, but there’s nothing in its design that justifies it being so expensive. This is a product that should cost 199 USD at most, for the 12,9” model at that. There are comparable products for competing computers out there that cost even less (129 or 159 USD for Microsoft’s Type Cover; the kickstand is built into the Surface itself).

What’s worse, looking at Apple’s past practices, is that I don’t see the current Magic Keyboard being compatible with the next iPad Pro. It was shocking to see that it supports the 2018 iPad Pro, but if I were a betting man, I’d say that the next generation iPad, whether is comes in late 2020 or in 2021, will not support this accessory. If that indeed happens, it would make the current price point to be even more absurd.

Please stop milking your customers Apple. You’re better than that.


My 2020 Hackintosh Hardware Spec — Core i9-9900K & Aorus Master Z390 on OpenCore

January 28, 2020 · 10:03

I built my last hackintosh in 2014 and it was overdue for an update. Since Apple recently updated their iMac with Core i9s and skipped the T2, this is probably the last time I’m building this sort of computer, before MacOS is locked down forever. Unfortunately, nothing in their lineup fits my needs, hence I chose to go down the hackintosh route once again.

Continue reading →


Mechanical Keyboards as a Hobby — My Collection [2019/11]

November 13, 2019 · 09:53

I’ve previously written only a few short words about one of my newer hobbies — mechanical keyboards — which has been a fantastic journey, keeping me occupied, teaching me new things, while providing a superior tool for all my writing at the same time. This all started over 30 years ago, when I used my first mechs, but which I left behind when I switched to laptops. Unfortunately, I listened a little too much to Jason Snell and John Gruber talking about their mechanical keyboards on their podcasts, so here I am, and I’d like to share what I’ve collected so far…

Continue reading →


I’ll Be Pre-Ordering a White iPhone 11 Pro Today

September 13, 2019 · 10:42

I was actually not planning on upgrading from my iPhone XS this year but there are two features which got me hooked. I’m not really into the ultra wide 13 mm lens — I would still prefer a proper tele in the 70-100 mm range — but the new video features, including the ability to record from two lenses simultaneously (via Filmic Pro) and to the possibility of continuously zooming between all three while recording, are what made my mind up.

I had a white X and it was great at masking all my fingerprints. Unfortunately, I decided to get a Space Grey XS and discovered that the lens is an absolute lint magnet (I don’t use a case and I didn’t even notice the lint on my X) so I’ll be going back to white again. Additionally, I love the look of the polished stainless steel case around the glass — it reminds me of high quality mechanical watch cases.

A little over 3 hours to go…


Mechanical Keyboards, Apple Keyboards, GMK Phosphorous — A Brief History of My Keyboard Hobby

June 7, 2019 · 10:17

Ever since I got my 2016 MacBook Pro, I have had a love/hate relationship with its keyboard. Yes, it’s pretty good to type on. No, it doesn’t offer much feedback and the travel is extremely shallow. There was the one (well, two actually) with the Touch Bar, which I got rid of because of its mediocre battery life and being unable to live with Apple’s latest “innovation”. Then I had to have one on my MacBook Pro Escape replaced.

Continue reading →


Adding Dark Mode to Infinite Diaries

May 23, 2019 · 12:05

Mozilla released Firefox 67 a few days ago and they introduced support Dark Mode, as Safari did a while ago too. This prompted me to finally tackle implementing this feature here, on Infinite Diaries, hacking through my CSS. I should have spent the time to rewrite it from scratch, using CSS variables, but that will have to be done another day.

P.S. You might have to clear your browser’s cache to get it to work.

Continue reading →


May the 4th Be With You

May 4, 2019 · 11:09

Star Wars has been a part of my life for over 30 years and there are some characters I always loved more than others. Chewbacca was one of them. Tragically, Peter Mayhew passed away a few days ago…

Star Wars wouldn’t have been the same without him.

But he should have gotten that damned medal though.


Quick Thoughts on AirPods 2

March 28, 2019 · 09:45

I have used my first generation AirPods almost daily for the past two years. I started having issues with the right AirPod a few months ago, so I sent them in to get them looked at. They, surprisingly, replaced both AirPods (I got the old case back since it was fine) because Apple confirmed the issues that I had described. Quite frankly, going without AirPods for 5 days wasn’t easy — they’re easily the best product that Apple has created recently.

I expected AirPods 2 to get a 30% price increase and there being just one model available. Ideally, Apple would have introduced the second generation model with the charging case at the same price, but that’s just not how the world works. Instead, we got new AirPods with the old case for the same price and the option to upgrade to the Qi-enabled case for an extra 25%. This is better than nothing and honestly, you don’t actually need the wireless charging case.

There are rumours of AirPods with ANC. I will wait for them but I really hope they’re not going to charge even more for those.

Anyway, if you haven’t yet used AirPods (and they fit your ears), make sure to get a new pair. They really are extraordinary.


Quick Thoughts on the iPad Mini 5 and 10.5-inch iPad Air

March 28, 2019 · 09:29

I really thought the iPad Mini was dead but when the rumours started coming in about a newer model, I kept my fingers crossed for Apple adopting the Liquid Retina display from the new iPad Pros, along with a similarly designed case. I had two Minis in my iPad history and I loved them both. They were most excellent for thumb-typing and fantastic reading tablets, especially for RSS, the web, Twitter, and even ebooks. The screen was a bit small for comic books and magazines but I blame my ageing eyes on that. While a new Mini is always welcome — it really is a great little tablet — things have changed in the last few years. I really expect more from the “most innovative” company in the world, than just a speed bump, a slightly better screen, and the same 7-year-old design.

The “new” 10.5-inch iPad Air is really just a 10.5-inch iPad Pro without ProMotion and the quad-speaker system. While most people won’t notice the loss of the former, they really could have retained the latter, since a lot of people like to use iPads for watching video. The good news is that the price is down slightly.


Quick Thoughts on the New iMac (Early 2019)

March 28, 2019 · 09:14

Apple finally updated the iMac with new CPUs and GPUs last week and while not much has changed in the design of this particular Mac — same design, same Bluetooth, similar configs, etc. — a speed bump is always welcome. Unfortunately, some upgrade pricing is still as insanely absurd as ever and the base models still offer spinning disk drives:

  • The base models should all have SSDs.
  • The 8 GB → 16 GB upgrade costs $200. You can buy an 8 GB module for around $40-50 and a 16 GB module to around $90, which means Apple is charging 3-4 times more.
  • The 32 GB RAM upgrade is $600. A 32 GB set of two 16 GB DDR modules is around $180-190.
  • The 64 GB RAM upgrade is $1000 while a similar set can range from $200-430, depending on the vendor.
  • SSD upgrade pricing is 2-3 times higher than current prices for high-quality NVMe SSDs.
  • Since the design hasn’t been changed, I’m assuming that dust will still accumulate on the back of the screen over time.

I’m glad that the iMac has been updated but I still cannot comprehend why they aren’t getting more flack for their absurd upgrade pricing. The i9-9900 configuration should make a nice hackintosh config though, which I can fix in minutes or hours should anything go wrong, instead of sending it in to Apple and waiting 5-7 days. This route also allows me to use much beefier GPUs. I just wish Apple and NVIDIA stopped bickering — MacOS really could use GTX and RTX support.


My Reddit Subscriptions

March 11, 2019 · 11:26

I was recently asked for a list of the subreddits I subscribe to, so here it is…


Getting My Logitech Harmony Hub to Work With HomeKit After Logitech’s Firmware Changes

March 6, 2019 · 09:46

I got a Raspberry Pi last year just to integrate some of my less-than-smart devices with HomeKit, so I could control them via Siri. Late last year I decided to get a Logitech Harmony Hub to be able to control my TV, receiver, and Apple TV with Siri but Logitech decided to change-up their plans, shutting down their local API which integrated with Homebridge. They backtracked on their plans after their users voiced their outrage and new firmware dropped a few weeks ago. I had to make some changes but I finally got my Harmony Hub working with Siri once again. Here’s what I had to do…

Continue reading →


Twitter vs. Reddit

February 20, 2019 · 09:34

Every day, in the morning, while drinking a tea, coffee, or Red Bull, I’d first launch Twitter and catch up on events. For the past two weeks, more or less unconsciously, I have been slowly transitioning to Reddit.

I think the problem is the people I follow — they’re just posting less. Perhaps I could change things up by following new people but Reddit is partly superior in this regard — I can just follow topics that interest me instead. This naturally leads to more disconnect with specific people but there’s so much more variety and content.

I can’t hide the fact that I’m extremely disappointed with how Twitter itself is being run and I’m sure these feelings influence my usage but it’s refreshing to know I have found an alternative of sorts, especially since Twitter will die for me the day they pull the plug on third-party clients, such as Tweetbot and Twitterrific.


Microsoft’s Keyboards Are Vastly Superior to Apple’s

February 11, 2019 · 11:40

I have been using Apple’s keyboards almost solely since 2008, starting with the silver keys on my now sold 17-inch MacBook Pro. I then graduated to an Apple Wireless Keyboard, the 2013 MacBook Air and 2014 MacBook Pro keyboards, an Apple Magic Keyboard1, and I’m currently on a 2016 MacBook Pro butterfly keyboard, which has been already replaced once in April 2018. My frustration with the last two has led me on a long quest to find a mechanical keyboard, which would bring back to the joy to typing once more — I am currently using a Vortex Race 3, custom programmed to my liking, which I also use with my iPad Pro. So that’s my background, but what’s up with headline?

Continue reading →

  1. I still haven’t found anything magical about it.

Vortex Race 3 — A Mechanical Keyboard for My iPad Pro

January 28, 2019 · 10:13

My Vortex Race 3 arrived while we were away on our vacation, so naturally I spent most of last night playing around with it, instead of sleeping like any sane person would. I’ve already preprogrammed the first layer and it seems to suit my needs perfectly, connected to both the iPad and Mac.

I’m very excited to go back to a mechanical keyboard, especially since I’m frustrated with the one in my MacBook Pro.

Rainbow backlight turned on only for the purpose of taking the photo — I don’t actually use it.


iCloud Drive Still Has Sync Issues in 2018

December 11, 2018 · 11:31

I still rely on Resilio Sync (formerly BitTorrent Sync) to sync my files between Macs, an iPad, and an iPhone. It works perfectly but I have been considering switching to iCloud Drive ever since I upgraded to the 2 TB storage option (please give me a cheaper 500 GB and 1 TB option Apple — I don’t need 2 TB at this point in time).

I was trying to transfer an edited photo from my iPad to my MacBook Pro a few minutes ago. I saved it to iCloud Drive and went to look for it on my Mac. Not there. I checked my iPhone and verified it was synced. So I restarted my Mac. Nope, nothing.

Want to know what triggered the sync process? I created a new folder in Finder.

Seriously, Apple?


The Space Bar on My MacBook Pro Doesn’t Register Presses Properly

November 19, 2018 · 09:54

I recently had a problem with my Control key which I finally fixed by taking out the vacuum cleaner and sucking substantial debris1 out from under it. Today, the Space bar will not register keystrokes on its right half.

(A few minutes later.)

Seems to be working fine again, after thoroughly vacuuming it at max power.

I am not happy with this keyboard and I refuse to buy another MacBook until they fix this issue with a completely new design — silicon condoms membranes are not enough.

  1. A speck of dust.

I ❤️ iPad

November 17, 2018 · 11:38

I’ve always really enjoyed using the iPad as a secondary device but the new iPads Pro take things to a whole new level.

I just can’t get enough of that gorgeous new screen.