On the "streaming is more expensive than cable" complaint

A social media post flew by today where someone was complaining that they stopped paying $180 for cable and now they're paying $200 for streaming apps. I see this sort of complaint a lot, and I find myself feeling like I'm taking crazy pills whenever I | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 27 days ago

Chrome might be for sale. OpenAI says they'd buy it.

Ryan Whitwam: ChatGPT Head Tells Court OpenAI Is Interested in Buying Chrome According to Turley, OpenAI would throw its proverbial hat in the ring if Google had to sell. When asked if OpenAI would want Chrome, he was unequivocal. "Yes, we would, as would many other parties," Tur … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 27 days ago

If this post isn’t a joke, it’ll win my “most cringe blog post of 2025” award

I don’t have time to read every dumb post about AI that comes across my feeds (it’s a new, massive, growing market so of course there are a bunch of people who are getting it way wrong), so I didn’t think much about this | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 27 days ago

AI as Normal Technology

Arvind Narayanan & Sayash Kapoor: AI as Normal Technology We articulate a vision of artificial intelligence (AI) as normal technology. To view AI as normal is not to understate its impact—even transformative, general-purpose technologies such as electricity and the internet are “ … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Slamming Into Walls

Mark Crump: Slamming Into Walls The thought process behind this current post, was a long decision made quickly. It was a difficult decision as I spent a lot of time reconciling where I believe the future of computing to lie, and the reality of where computing is. The hard fact | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Stunts are getting their Oscar in 2028

Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences: Academy Establishes Stunt Design Award for 100th Oscars The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the creation of an annual competitive Academy Award® for Achievement in Stunt Design, beg … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Apple hits a major milestone in greenhouse emissions

Apple Newsroom: Apple Surpasses 60 Percent Reduction in Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Apple today announced that the company has surpassed a 60 percent reduction in its global greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2015 levels, as part of its Apple 2030 goal to become carbon neut … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Oh my gosh, I can try the horse browser!

Listen or watch now! Niléane brings a spicy browser extension, Chris works through some iPad feelings, and Matt made the gang decide what app they consider "undefeated". We want to hear from you! How would you have done our challenges? How would you answer the question | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Who has time for due process these days?

The Vice President of the United States on Twitter: To say the administration must observe "due process" is to beg the question: what process is due is a function of our resources, the public interest, the status of the accused, the proposed punishment, and so many other factors. | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

+ The broken toe

By Matt Birchler | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Modding a Nintendo 3DS is precise, but doable in 2025

I went through the act if installing custom firmware on my New Nintendo 2DS tonight, and I wanted to shout out this guide for being absolutely spectacular. Not only does it have the best step-by-step instructions I think I've ever seen, it even has branches off the main | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Dangerous ground

Zolan Kanno-Youngs: El Salvador’s President Says He Won’t Return Maryland Man Who Was Wrongly Deported In an Oval Office meeting with President Trump on Monday, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador said that he would not return a Maryland man who was wrongly deported from the | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Who pays tariffs

Lee Morris of Fstoppers on how tariffs impact him, as someone who wants to make his stuff in the US: This is a really good breakdown of how tariffs impact small businesses and why they aren't a great tool for getting manufacturing to come back to America (at | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

A few recent examples of beautiful, distinct TV cinematography

Instead of posting collections of interesting videos every once in a while, I'm going to try treating them like regular old link posts: here's a video, here's what I think of it or what it made me feel. I learn a lot from videos | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Hark! A new CGP Grey video!

I personally find this argument quite compelling, but I looked up arguments against discontinuing production of the penny and nickel and they basically revolve around fears around prices rounding up more often than down, creating a tax on those who pay with cash. I'm sympathetic … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Pulling myself out of the pit

I'll be honest, I wasn't an iOS veteran engineer when I started work on Quick Reviews at the start of this year. I'm really proud of what I made, I'm happy with how quickly I was able to get it out there, | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Say hello to another Quick Stuff app

Another day, another little app on Quick Stuff: Markdown Converter. This one also solves a personal need I have, which is that I write the show notes for my podcast in Markdown, but I need to put them in my podcast host as HTML and my co-host Chris needs them | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Nothing in your workflow is permenent

My friend and podcast co-host Chris Lawley just posted a video about how his relationship with the iPad has changed over time. I linked to this on social media and got a few replies from folks who said something to the effect of, "we told you so," which | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

You did not put a lot of time into this

Chris has an external drive faster than you’ve ever seen, Matt has a new email app he swears isn’t his new favorite cult, and the whole gang does their best to redesign iOS and iPadOS. Check it out in audio or video! Weekly Topics ACASIS 80Gbps | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

A project to smooth relations with devs

Theo in a video about some recent Visual Studio Code drama: We have to remember the role of VS Code. VS Code was never, ever, ever meant to make money. Microsoft's plan with VS Code was at no point, "we're going to charge for this | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Tariffs, integrity, and chaos

Ben Thompson: American Disruption (emphasis mine): [T]he most important components for executing a fundamental shift in trade are those that go into building actual factories, or equipment for those factories. In the vast sea of stupidity that are these tariffs this is perhaps th … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Say hello to Quick Chapters

I said that Quick Stuff was a place for me to put those little web utilities that I just need sometimes, and I've already got a new entrant: Quick Chapters. This little app simply lets you provide it an MP3 file, it will extract the chapters from it, | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Meta got tricky with LLM benchmarks

Oh boy, Meta released their latest llama models this weekend (I guess because they leaked, hence the rushed weekend release?), and it benchmarked quite well on LMArena. However, as Kyle Wiggers reported for TechCrunch, not all may have been on the up and up: Meta’s Benchmarks for … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

All the Switch 2 pricing questions I had last week are answered

Last week I wrote 2 main posts in reaction to the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement, and today we have new info on some of the open questions that lingered waaaay back then. Game-key cards I saw a remarkable amount of arguments against this new "physical" purchase option based | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

+ Power users need love too

By Matt Birchler | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Remember when the Switch 2 was *only* going to cost $449?

Nintendo Life: Nintendo Delays Switch 2 Pre-Orders in the US Amidst New Trump Tariffs Nintendo has delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the US while it evaluates the potential impact of new tariffs from The Trump Administration. And A $2,300 Apple iPhone? Trump tariffs could ma … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Let's move on from post-credits scenes

Director James Mangold: talking about whether he'd want to put a post-credit scenes in one of this movies back in 2018 The idea of making a movie that would fucking embarrass me, that's part of the anesthetizing of this country or the world. That's | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

How Nintendo's "game-key cards" actually work

I've seen a remarkable amount of misunderstanding out there on how Nintendo's game-key cards work. People are losing their ever loving minds over all things Switch 2, but this one really gets me because the people who are the most upset about it seem to not | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

People’s passion for art made by humans persists

M.G. Siegler: A Spirited Debate Around AI This isn’t the end of art. It may indeed be the dawn of a new age for art. And that may not devalue the human-created art as is the clear fear right now. In fact, it may even *elevate* it | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Peanut butter toast

You never know what moments have staying power until they hit you. | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Some thoughts on the Switch 2

Nintendo finally rolled out the red carpet for the Switch 2 yesterday, and I'll be honest, I'm super excited for it. The hardware The hardware for the new Switch is everything I ever wanted, minus one thing. The performance looks pretty darn good, and it appears | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

A new/old Pokémon game, how Hollywood can make good movies, and a puzzle with all edge pieces

We are so back! Please keep making smaller, original movies so that we get new franchises A puzzle with all edge pieces that looks fun but also very hard Every font is free…as long as you remake it yourself Fellow olds, if you haven't seen this, | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Introducing Quick Stuff

Today I'm introducing the most side of side projects I've done in a long time, and I'm calling it Quick Stuff. Quick Stuff is a place for me to put all of my little projects in one place, and I'm really happy | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

The post you knew was coming about the Switch 2 display

Nintendo gave the Switch 2 it's grand unveiling today, and I think it looks great. $449 is a steep starting price, but considering the features and the fact we live in a world of inflation and significant tariffs on many goods coming into the US, it's | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Benchmarks from M2 Pro to M4 Pro

Long story short, I picked up a new MacBook Pro this week. I got the M4 Pro version with the higher core count and 1TB of internal storage. It's the exact same model in the lineup as the M2 Pro I've been using for the last | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

“Retina” is not a static PPI

I’m just going to keep posting about this every few months because people keep getting “retina” wrong. According to this YouTube video that was recommended to me today, retina on desktop monitors is exactly 218ppi (pixels per inch). Now of course the iPhone 4, which was | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

You have got to be kidding me

Mia Sato writing for The Verge: Elon Musk’s $1 Million Handout Winners Are Connected to Republican Causes On Sunday, a few thousand people in Green Bay, Wisconsin, gathered to hear Elon Musk speak — and give away two giant cardboard checks for $1 million. Attendance at the event | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

I've moved to Ghost Pro

Here's hoping this post is short and sweet… Back in 2019 I moved my blog off of WordPress and over to Ghost. In short, I wasn't happy with WordPress and wanted a blogging engine that felt more like it was made for blogging than a | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Settings > Default Apps > Voice Assistant

Parker Ortolani writing Gemini, Siri, and Default Assistants on iOS, arguing that Apple should allow you to set a different default voice assistant: it would do two things: it would mitigate some of the damage with customer relations while they wait for the new Siri and it sets a … | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Yesterday's 'golden age' turns into today's mess

Nick Timiraos for the Wall Street Journal: Corporate America’s Euphoria Over Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ Is Giving Way to Distress Investors were caught flat-footed by Trump’s animus toward Canada, which wasn’t a part of last year’s election campaign. Global | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

I keep telling people Google TV is better than you think

Jason Snell: Who’s the Laggard? Comparing TV Streamer Boxes In short: Google TV is tasteful, well done, supports live streaming decently if not perfectly, and is a great extension of the Google ecosystem. As someone who does use YouTube TV and YouTube Premium, if I had to stop | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

+ Book and video game review catchup

By Matt Birchler | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Before you burn it down…

I enjoyed this quote from Casey Newton on today's Hard Fork podcast: Even as somebody who generally likes technology, I think some of these tech oligarchs have this extremely know-it-all attitude that "our tech is better than your tech, yours sucks," and they sort of bluster | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

The Snow Leopard we've built up in our heads

Nick Heer: linking to Jeff Johnson's The myth and reality of Mac OS X Snow Leopard I read an article today from yet another person pining for a mythical Snow Leopard-style MacOS release. While I sympathize with the intent of their argument, it is largely fictional and, as | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Should we do a Conclave?

Niléane insists she's not bringing another task manager, Chris has a new e-ink toy he loves, and the whole crew finds interesting ways to add some more text expansion to their lives. We want to hear from you! How would you have done our challenges? How | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

Balatro continues to bring a smile

Jay Peters for The Verge: Why Balatro’s Developer Stays Anonymous It’s an arrangement that the Playstack team figured out with LocalThunk ahead of other ceremonies like The Game Awards, where Balatro won three awards and was nominated for Game of the Year. LocalThunk didn’t | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

My job doesn't need to exist?

Rands: The Product Engineer You don’t need Product Managers. There. I said it. As someone who just moved into a product management role, you had best believe this line caught my eye. 👀 The post makes some reasonable arguments, although I think a lot of it is an | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago

+ Why don't I post mock ups anymore?

Hey, where did the design concepts go? | Continue reading


@birchtree.me | 1 month ago