w/e 2021-12-05
Blimey, December 2020 here already. Time flies.
§ Remember last week when I spent a couple of days writing some code, as a start to make Webmentions (IndieWeb Trackbacks) work on this site? This week, looking at what there was left to do, and how much of django-wm I’d just end up copying, I did the sensible thing and ask the maintainer if they were open to me making it possible to use that package without having to set up Celery, which seemed over the top just for me to send and receive very rare mentions.
They were not only into the idea but also went ahead and wrote most of the code for it. So there’s a lesson for anyone planning to spend days re-inventing the wheel only perhaps a slightly different colour this time? I haven’t tried the code out yet but I look forward to a glorious future of mentioning.
Incidentally, Jeremy did helpfully do a manual webmention from my post to his last week. He has his site set up to display the entire source blog post (i.e. mine) which is entirely fine… but given only part of my lengthy weeknote was related to his post, it does make me wonder about this weeknote format more. I often think each of these sections could, or should, be a separate blog post. But, based on past experience, maybe I’d never get round to writing any of them without a weekly deadline?
§ I upgraded to macOS [opens “About This Mac” to remind himself what version it is] Monterey yesterday.
I was going to say, “As usual there are no new features in it I need but I’ve already used “Hide My Email” when buying a Christmas present off a random website so that I can disable that address at some point soon. I never did get into adding +something to the end of my normal email address’s name to make unique disposable ones, and Hide My Email seems a decent-enough interface to make this easier.
Talking of Apple I wondered this week how much I pay to Tim Apple each month. Let’s break it down with some rounded figures:
| Item | Cost | Cost / month | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iCloud | £0.79 / month | £1 | |
| Fitness+ | £9.99 / month | £10 | |
| MacBook | £2,900 / 8 years | £30 | Price of MacBook Pro 14″ I’d get |
| iPhone | £679 / 6 years | £9 | Price of iPhone 13 Mini |
| iPad | £579 / 8 years | £6 | Price of base iPad Air |
| Watch | £369 / 6 years | £5 | Price of Watch 7 |
| Total | £61 |
For the hardware I’ve looked at what I’ve got now, how long I’ve had it, how much longer I reckon it’ll be before I replace it, and what the cost of a current new replacement would be.
£61 per month, or £732 per year, every year, is a fair amount really isn’t it. And this doesn’t include the percentage I’m effectively paying to Apple when I buy something on one of their app stores. e.g. Apple takes £3 of my monthly subscription to the Guardian‘s iPad app, taking my monthly Apple Tax up to £64.
If, like me, you don’t upgrade stuff often it’s easy to ignore the costs for a long time. But if, also like me, you try to stick to a rough budget, then in theory one should smooth out such large occasional payments by putting money aside regularly. The thought of putting aside £50 per month in order to only upgrade my Apple hardware every 6-8 years makes me realise how expensive even this is.
But, going by how often some friends replace their laptops or phones or whatever, and how much more Apple hardware and services some friends have/use, this is probably quite low for people who are fully into the “Apple ecosystem”. Replace your laptop every couple of years, get a new phone as often, pay for Apple TV+, Apple Music, more iCloud space, buy AirPods, TV, AirTags, cases, etc. and watch that figure climb.
An amazing achievement really, whatever you think of the company.
§ We started watching Tick, Tick… Boom! on Netflix this week but lasted maybe fifteen minutes. I could, perhaps, cope with a musical, but not a musical about musicals full of musical people who love musicals. Everyone is unbearable. And my heart did not at all bleed for a 30-year-old complaining that his life was over.
I have now started watching Schitt’s Creek. Will this be like The Good Place, something everyone loves but I couldn’t bear? Or will it be like Succession, something everyone loves and I also loved? I’ve heard the first season is not good but I’m straight-facedly working my way through that for completeness, so am reserving judgement for a while. TV Chart does demonstrate the show improves but there’s no indication of a sudden improvement…
§ I’d just stop working now if I were you. It’s practically Christmas already.