Favorite Albums of 2024

At the end of each year, I compile a list of my favorite music albums, mainly to document what I enjoyed listening to but also to share with others.

Just like 2023, 2024 was a huge year for music releases, and I had a difficult time cutting down my list to just 10 albums. My process for hunting for new music remains mostly unchanged. I still use Marcos Tanaka’s wonderful Music Harbor and Adam Linder’s Albums app to find new music releases each week. I also use MusicBox, another app by Marcos Tanaka to save albums to a list for listenting to at a later time. I love this app because it gives me a way to keep track of albums that I want to listen to without adding them to my Apple Music catalog. In this way, MusicBox has become my “potential music to listen to” list.

The following are the albums and artists that I’ve spent the most time with and/or connected with over the past year. There are more than a few albums that didn’t make the cut, but I’ve added them as either Honorable Mentions or into the Moar Music sections.

Also, I’ve compiled these albums on the Album Whale service to make it easier to get to other streaming and purchasing services.

• Favorite Albums of 2024 on Album Whale!
• Even Moar Music 2024 on Album Whale!

Full disclosure: Purchasing any of the music using some of the links below will give a small percentage of the sale to my wife at no cost to you.

10. ATARASHII GAKKO! - AG! Calling

Atarashii Gakko no Leaders, also known as ATARASHII GAKKO! is back with their first album in five years, marking a significant shift since their 2019 release, Wakage Ga Itaru (which was also my top pick that year). A lot has happened in that time—their record contract wasn’t renewed, they caught the attention of Asian American indie label 88rising and signed with them, and before long, they skyrocketed to global fame!

Their new album, AG! Calling, takes a different direction from their past work, reflecting where the group is today. Gone are the jazzy grooves produced by H Zett M from their previous two albums, with their signature jazz/pop/rock sound making way for dance, rap, hip-hop, and funk influences. As a longtime fan, I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic for their earlier style, but I also recognize that artists evolve—and with that, comes the opportunity to reach new audiences.

2025 marks ATARASHII GAKKO’s 10th year as a group. I can’t wait to see what they do to celebrate!

Hot Tracks: Fly High, Toryasnse, Forever Sisters

Listen: Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: iTunes | Amazon

9. L’Impératrice - Pulsar

Following up their album Tako Tsubo (one of my 2022 favorites), French funk outfit L’Impératrice returns with Pulsar—their third album and first entirely self-produced effort. It also marks a first for the band with three guest artists: Fabiana Martone (singing in Italian), Maggie Rogers, and rap from Erick the Architect. If you’re into smooth vocals layered over dance, disco, funk, and techno, this one’s worth a listen.

Sadly, Pulsar may be the last album featuring vocalist Flore Benguigui, who departed the band in September 2024, citing physical and mental health reasons, as well as “profound personal, artistic, and fundamental disagreements” with the rest of the group.

Hot Tracks: Amour Ex Machina, Me Da Igual, Love from the Other Side

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

8. The Marîas - Submarine

Submarine initially slipped past my radar, and I’m still not sure how I missed it. Before I knew it, three year had flown by since their previous album, Cinema, which I really enjoyed, so I was curious to hear how their new material would evolve. Lyrically, Submarine explores the themes of solitude, isolation, and pain, while musically, it feels like a natural progression—building on everything they got right with Cinema and expanding from there.

Maria Zardoya’s breathy, delicately layered vocals float over dreamy instrumentation, creating a soundscape that feels like sinking to the ocean floor and letting the music wash over you.

BONUS: For a glimpse of how they bring these tracks to life, check out their Tiny Desk Concert.

Hot Tracks: Echo, Real Life, Only in My Dreams, No One Noticed

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

7. Khruangbin - A LA SALA

Khruangbin (pronounced KRUNG-bin) took a slight detour on their third studio album, Mordechai, embracing a disco-funk sound and introducing vocals from bassist Laura Lee. Now, they’ve shifted gears once again, returning with a laid-back, mid-tempo groove that leans into their signature stripped-down formula—just guitar, bass, and drums, with a touch of vocals. From the moment the opening bass notes of Fifteen Fifty-Three kick in, everything feels like home.

Hot Tracks: Fifteen Fifty-Three, May Ninth, Ada Jean

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

6. Ginger Root - SHINBANGUMI

Ginger Root, the music project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cameron Lew, surprised me with the release of SHINBANGUMI (which translates to “new program” or “a new season of a show”). It’s a concept album where Lew envisions himself as a fired TV producer who defies the odds to build his own media empire in 1987, complete with faux commercials seamlessly woven between the infectious tracks. It’s very retro, lo-fi and an absolute blast to listen to.

Blending everything that made the ’80s Showa era great with playful interludes, SHINBANGUMI is a love letter to the spirit of ’80s Japanese culture. If you want to appreciates Ginger Root’s aesthetic and sound, be sure to check out his special YouTube video series, SHINBANGUMI Timeline.

Hot Tracks: No Problems, Better Than Monday, Kaze

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

5. Taka Nawashiro - Lifescape

Last year, when I picked my #2 favorite album, Kurena Ishikawa’s Kurena, I wrote, “The guitar solo on the track Sea Wasp was so Metheny-esque, I had to look up who was playing.” It turned out to be none other than Taka Nawashiro.

From what I’ve gathered, Nawashiro was born in Saitama, Japan, and recorded Lifescape in New York with two different bands before completing it in Japan, adding Baba Tomoaki on saxophone, Ruri Matsumura on vocals for Promise of 60, and Kurena Ishikawa on Kobune. While his playing has hints of Pat Metheny, Nawashiro brings plenty of originality and versatility to the project, making it my favorite jazz guitar album of 2024.

Hot Tracks: All of it.

Listen: Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Tower Records Japan | Amazon

4. Nala Sinephro - Endlessness

Nala Sinephro’s last album, Space 1.8, was one of my favorites of 2021. Every so often, I’d check her social media to see what she was up to, but for a while, it felt like she had just disappeared. So when Endlessness was announced, it instantly became one of my most anticipated releases—and it did not disappoint!

The album begins and centers around an arpeggio that serves as its foundation, evolving into a rich tapestry of sounds and textures. Each track is titled Continuum followed by a number, but they aren’t just variations of the same theme. Instead, they flow seamlessly into one another, forming a cohesive, ever-changing sound sculpture that blends jazz, electronica, and ambient into a lush, immersive experience.

I’m still really disappointed that I missed my chance to get tickets to see her perform in Japan this past December—but at least I have this album to get lost in.

Hot Tracks: All of it. This one is an experience.

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

3. Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham - Cunningham Bird

I remember checking in on what Madison Cunningham was up to and noticing she had an upcoming album with Andrew Bird—an artist I wasn’t familiar with at the time. When Cunningham Bird was released, I gave it a listen with no expectations and was completely blown away!

It wasn’t until writing this review that I learned Cunningham Bird is a full track-for-track cover album of Buckingham Nicks, the classic 1973 album from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, released just before they joined Fleetwood Mac. It’s been years since I last heard Buckingham Nicks, so it’s no wonder that I didn’t notice this important detail. Also, since it’s out of print and unavailable on streaming services, tracking it down isn’t exactly easy—though a quick YouTube search allowed me to refresh my memory.

Interestingly, neither Cunningham nor Bird had any strong ties to the album before starting this project, which gave them the freedom to approach the songs with a fresh perspective. Despite being a track-for-track cover, they’ve infused it with so much of their own style that it feels both timeless and revitalized. Buckingham and Nicks’ song writing remains just as powerful 50 years later, and Cunningham and Bird’s renditions offer a beautifully reimagined gateway for a new generation of listeners.

The album gives me the same vibe as Foreverly by Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones—where deep reverence for the originals meets a fresh, inspired reinterpretation.

Hot Tracks: All of it.

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

2. Luna Li - When a Thought Grows Wings

Many of my favorite albums have come from artists that have gone through a breakup or end of a relationship and processing that experience through music. It’s not that I wish that kind of pain on anyone, but there’s something about hurt, healing, and transformation that becomes a catalyst and can fuel incredible music.

Multi-instrumentalist Luna Li went through significant changes before writing When a Thought Grows Wings—ending an eight-year relationship and relocating from Toronto to Los Angeles. The result is a beautifully honest album, filled with poetic lyricism, captivating melodies, and hooks that linger long after the music stops. I really enjoyed her melodic guitar outros on Golden Hour and I Would Let You, making this a deeply resonant and rewarding listen.

Hot Tracks: All of it.

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

1. soraya - soraya

Bassist/vocalist Kurena Ishikawa is no stranger to my favorites list, having secured the #2 spot for her album, Kurena, last year. This time, she joins forces with pianist/composer Kento Tsubosaka to form soraya, whose self-titled debut album arrived in March 2024. The lead single, Hitori / Chiisaku Sayonara wo, climbed to #6 on the J-WAVE TOKIO HOT 100. Both Tsubosaka and Ishikawa have previously released solo works on the jazz label VERVE, and their combined talents shine here.

The simple yet infectious melody of Hitori lingers long after the song ends, while Kazenokade is beautifully composed, swinging effortlessly with a great hook. BAKU is just pure fun. The entire album is filled with gorgeous melodies and masterful instrumentation, and there’s something incredibly comforting about Ishikawa’s vocals.

Looking back, 2024 was a difficult year for me, but this album became a bright spot—one of those rare records that helped me through the rough patches. That lands it in the top spot for 2024. I hope you’ll give it a listen.

Hot Tracks: All of it.

Listen: Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: iTunes | Tower Records Japan

Honorable Mentions

Tears for Fears - Songs For A Nervous Planet

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are in fine form on what feels more like an EP with a bonus live set. The four new tracks feel like they could have been part of a great full-length album. If this had been a full album, it might have made my top 10 for sure.

The live set was recorded during their 2023 Tipping Point Tour. Hearing their hits and new songs from The Tipping Point performed live was a treat. But the icing on the cake was the surprise performance of Break It Down Again—especially since Curt wasn’t even in TFT when it was released.

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

Billie Eilish - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT

Yeah. I really liked this one.

Listen: Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: iTunes | Amazon

Clairo - Charm

On her third album, Claire Cottrill goes deeper into soft lo-fi pop with a 70’s vibe.

Listen: Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: iTunes | Amazon

Los Days - Dusty Dreams

Tommy Guerrero and Josh Lippi are back with another dusty, desert reverb and vibrato drenched collection.

Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon

Pat Metheny - Moon Dial

A solo Metheny record is rare, so much so, that this is only his third. Featuring an amazing set of originals and covers, Mood Dial was a real treat.

Listen: Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: iTunes | Amazon

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield

New music from Priest! 🤘 Nothing more to say! Listen: Apple Music | Spotify
Buy: iTunes | Amazon

Even Moar Music

These are other albums I spent time with during 2024 that you might also enjoy.

Ambient

Cornelius - Ethereal Essence
Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

Genfukei - Descent Ever Near
Listen: Apple Music | Spotify

Alternative

Brokeback - Brokeback and the Black Rock
Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

Dance

Johannes Albert - Cosmic Reverie - EP
Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

Electronic

Joe Nora - Parasol
Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

J-Pop/City Pop

*Toshiki Kadomatsu *- Tiny Scandal
Listen: Apple Music | Spotify

須藤 薫 (Kaoru Sudo) - SUMMER HOLIDAY
Listen: Apple Music | Spotify

Jazz

Jasmine Myra - Rising
Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

Kazuki Isogai, Kumai Goro - Seawater - EP
Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

Mildlife - Chorus
Listen: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

See my Favorite albums of 2023 here.

Week 4/2025

Happy Birthday Eddie Van Halen! He would have been 70 years old today. Ed has been one of my biggest guitar influences, and even after all these years, I’m still learning (and struggling) to play his music.

Tempted by a 50% off membership deal (1 year for $25), I recently revisited Sam’s Club after years away. Walking in, I was struck by how much the layout resembled Costco, though it also carried a distinct Walmart vibe. Compared to Costco, Sam’s Club appeared to have a broader selection of office supplies and business-oriented products. Their produce section also seemed fresher, but since this was my first visit, I’ll need more trips to confirm that impression.

A major change since I last had membership was the discontinuation of physical membership cards. Everything is now managed through their mobile app. While I received a temporary paper pass for the day, I was told that going forward, I need to use the app for everything - even scanning and paying for my items, which I didn’t try this time around. Overall, I’m still a Costco fan, but will check out Sam’s Club when I’m in the area.

On a whim, I decided to read the manga Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi Vol. 1 by Yuri Sonoda, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! The story follows Hachi, a tough streetwise cat, and Maruru, a pampered house cat who accidentally gets lost and tries to adjust to life on the outside. Their unlikely friendship forms the heart of this charming and funny manga.

I was struck by how Sonoda portrays the world through the eyes of these two cats. Hachi’s knowledge of the streets and Maruru’s naiveté create a dynamic that is both humorous and heartwarming. One scene that particularly resonated with me was when Hachi and Maruru struggled to stay alive during the cold winter season, highlighting the harsh realities of life as a stray.

Speaking of comics, DC comics has a ton of graphic novels on sale (1846 of them!) over at Comixology/Amazon. Most are between $1.99 and $3.99 which is crazy cheap. I picked up a few titles just to have them in digital format. Sale ends February 3, 2025. Note: Purchasing any comics using the link above will give a small percentage of the sale to my wife.

My exploration of Static Site Generators (SSGs) continues, and it’s been an interesting, and very nerdy journey. As a longtime blogger familiar with really old platforms like Movable Type and WordPress, SSGs were somewhat of a mystery to me. I’ve dabbled with Hugo in the past and recently took a deeper dive into 11ty, following Kevin Powell’s excellent tutorial on YouTube. Although the video is from three years ago, most of it still works (the biggest change was that Netlify CMS is now known as Decap.) While I appreciate the benefits of SSGs—lightning-fast speed, enhanced security, and greater control—it’s hard to deny the initial learning curve. For anyone coming from a traditional CMS like WordPress, the command-line interface stuff and configuration files will probably be intimidating. The one thing I’ve noticed with SSGs is the overwhelming variety—they offer so many options that it can feel paralyzing.

• With Star Trek: Section 31 premiering this week, Rolling Stone decided to rank every Star Trek movie (including Section 31). While I haven’t watched Section 31 yet, and I’m sad to see it so low on the list. Other than that, I mostly agree with this list and I wish there were more gems than stinkers.

• Bryce McLaughlin, Apple’s global head of music, recently addressed the issue of streaming fraud at the Music Ally Connect conference in London. He highlighted the tactics used to generate fake streams, such as bots and misleading metadata, which are employed to gain financial rewards or popularity. However, McLaughlin emphasized that Apple Music has a very low rate of stream manipulation, less than 1% of all streams. Thanks to their proactive measures against this fraudulent activity, it generally sits at about 0.3% of global streams.

• Speaking of streaming music services, Duetti recently released their Music Economics Report, which highlights some intriguing stats. For instance, YouTube is gaining ground on Spotify in certain genres, while Spotify continues to pay the lowest rates among the top streaming platforms.

• I stumbled upon another launcher app for macOS called Leader Key. It offers a unique navigation method where users can launch applications by simply pressing designated single keys, significantly speeding up the process compared to typing out commands. For instance, pressing ‘T’ launches the terminal.

• This week, the National Association of Music Merchants show (better known to the music community as NAMM) came and went. For me, the biggest surprise was Ernie Ball Music Man teaming up with Cory Wong to release the StingRay II guitar. What caught me off guard is that Cory already has a Fender Cory Wong signature Stratocaster. As Cory explains in this video, Fender was completely on board with him collaborating with Ernie Ball Music Man to create a different signature guitar featuring humbucker pickups.

• Speaking of Cory Wong, he just released Wong Air (Live in America), from last year’s tour. As a bonus, Mark Lettieri is featured on four tracks. Listen here.

Week 3/2025

We recently finished watching the Marvel series Agatha All Along. While I enjoyed the talented cast, there were moments where I couldn’t help but wonder why I was watching it as I didn’t really care much for any of the characters. My favorite moment was in the second to the last episode, “Death’s Hand in Mine”, when Patti LuPone’s character, Lilia took the spotlight.

In anticipation of Severance season 2 which started on Friday, Audra and I decided to rewatch season 1 to refresh our memories. I’m not actually sure if I’m going to be able to resist starting season 2 before we finish the rewatch. We’ve also started watching Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Disney+. It feels a little bit like the movies The Goonies meets Stand By Me in a galaxy far, far away.

I just finished reading Kasumi Yasuda’s Fool Night Volume 1 and enjoyed it more than I expected. What I thought would be just another dark dystopian tale turned out to be an exploration of ecological and ethical dilemmas of survival. I’m adding the next volume to my read list!

• The jazz/pop duo soraya released their beautiful new single Garden of Words. The track features a minimalist yet captivating arrangement with solo acoustic piano by Kento Tsubosaka and heartfelt vocals by Kurena Ishikawa. The tune’s intimate soundscape was perfect for starting my day. Listen here.

• FireAid, a benefit concert happening on January 30th, is dedicated to rebuilding communities devastated by wildfires. The event has an impressive lineup, but what truly caught my attention was that Dave Matthews and John Mayer would be performing together for the first time ever. I can’t believe that this pairing hasn’t happened before and I can’t wait to see what they perform.

• It’s been a while since I’ve found a new text editor color scheme that I like. Flexoki by Steph Ango looks great and I appreciate how in-depth they went in explaining how they created the color palette. Many apps already support it, though my favorite, Drafts app, isn’t on the list—yet. Maybe it’s time for me to experiment with creating a custom Flexoki-inspired theme for Drafts.

• I just discovered that 1Password has a web-based secure, strong Password Generator. For those moments when I need a strong password but don’t want to fully open 1Password, this tool offers a quick, convenient solution.

• I recently read about how OpenAI’s bot overwhelmed a small company’s website, creating what felt like a DDoS attack. It got me thinking: how are others protecting their websites from these malicious scraping bots? While I haven’t reviewed my website logs in detail, I do notice a lot of activity blocked by Cloudflare. So far, it’s been effective, but I’m curious if there are other tools or strategies worth exploring. If you’ve tackled similar issues, I’d love to hear your approach.

• Pixelfed launched its mobile apps this week. I guess this is the Fediverse answer to Instagram? I haven’t found a compelling reason to use it just yet.

• Honda’s YouTube channel recently featured a retrospective on the Prelude, showcasing the car through all of it’s generations. Now, Honda is bringing it back as a 2026 model, and it’ll be interesting to see how well it’s received after such a long absence.

• Video Converter is a free macOS app designed for quickly converting videos from one format to another. It’s easy to use, but it doesn’t offer the advanced features that power users might expect from something like Handbrake. For anyone who needs a simple, no-frills tool for basic video conversion tasks, it’s a handy option.

• The Hearing Things website features a fantastic interview with Ginger Root singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Cameron Lew. He shares a memorable story about being recognized by a fan in a Tokyo gyoza restaurant, which led to an unexpected invitation to a Kabuki-themed karaoke bar. This chance encounter inspired a unique recording session for his third album, Shinbangumi, where he even recorded drums inside the karaoke bar. Note: Shinbangumi may or may not be in my favorite albums of 2024…

• BONUS: For fans of 80s Japan TV shows, Ginger Root’s SHINBANGUMI Timeline music video series is a must-watch. The series beautifully showcases their latest album while serving as a lovingly crafted tribute to Showa-era Japan. If you’re a fan of nostalgic visuals paired with catchy tunes, you won’t want to miss it.

Week 2/2025

Another week flew by… but I’m back! I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of reading physical books before bed instead of scrolling through social media/the internet. My wife and I frequent all of the public libraries on the island and I often have a stack of books near my bed to choose from. This week, I enjoyed Dandadan Volume 7 and 8 by Yukinobu Tatsu. The story and artwork keep getting better. I had a chance to watch a couple of episodes of the anime at the end of 2024 but haven’t had a chance to continue it. The few episodes I watched gave me the feeling of Trigger’s Kill la Kill from 2013, which I felt was groundbreaking at the time. It almost feels like an homage to that show in some ways.

At the start of the year, I re-subscribed to Disney+ and Hulu as a combo package. I’ve never subscribed to Hulu before, but there are a few shows I wouldn’t mind checking out on the service. I’ve been working my way through Agatha All Along which has been hit and miss for me. Just one more episode to go before the end.

And in case you care, I’m hard at work on the follow up to last year’s Favorite Albums post. I hope to have it done before the end of the month if everything goes as planned.

• I’m not sure how I missed this interview and musical retrospective featuring Toto guitarist Steve Lukather from August of last year, but I’m glad it popped into my feed this week. He’s one of my favorite guitarist and a heck of a funny guy.

• I’m really looking forward to all of the new music that’s coming out in 2025! I was so happy to hear that Japanese Breakfast will release their 4th album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) on March 21st. The first single, “Orlando in Love” is available on all streaming platforms now.

• The National Association of Music Merchants show (better known to the music community as NAMM) is coming up towards the end of the month, and I’m already fearful for my bank account. Guitar effects maker MXR dropped a teaser this week on their Instagram with something that looks like a classic Rockman in pedal form. Not even a few hours later, the interwebz sleuths on the guitar forum The Gear Page discovered the manual online, and now all the details are out.

• I enjoyed watching Lukita Maxwell (Apple TV+ series Shrinking) in the short film Mānoa Valley. The film follows the day in the life of two friends spending a summer day in the beauty of Mānoa Valley on the island of O’ahu before one of them moves to New York City. Written and directed by Emily May Jampel, it’s the first recipient of the MCTV Special Selection laurel.

• I’ve been interested in learning the basics of synthesizers (synths) and found Abelton’s Learning Synths website as a starting point. The website has many interactive examples of the various elements of synthesis. Check out their Playground for a great example of all of the elements of synthesizers combined.

• The folks at micro.blog launched micro.one, a new version of the community blogging platform meant to be an introductory, lower-cost option of the service. For $1/month, you get a full featured (short or long posts, photos and podcasting) as well as publishing from the web and native apps. Apparently, only 3000 micro.one accounts will be available. This seems like a great way to get folks interested in micro.blog to give at try. Manton Reece (founder of Micro.blog) and Daniel Jalkut discuss it in depth on their podcast Core Intuition. I’ll be curious to see if this new product can reach a new audience.

Week 1/2025

Happy New Year! It’s been a long while since my weekly posting of the Weekender. Looking through this blog’s archive, the last one was back in July 10, 2023. At the time, I was pretty overwhelmed from the personal projects I had gotten myself into and decided it was okay to just take a break.

During that time, I had also just completed migration of all the blogs I’m responsible for to a new hosting service. Shortly after that, I noticed that micro.blog would occasionally not be able to connect to my blog’s RSS feeds. This was problematic as I used the service to cross-post from my blog to Twitter, Mastodon and Bluesky. After some investigation and troubleshooting, I was able to narrow the issue down to Cloudflare and my webhost using Imunify360. Disabling Cloudflare caching would intermittently fix the issue, so I’d disable it whenever I was ready to post. But that work around was kind of a pain.

Unfortunately, even with the help of friends over at micro.blog, there’s never been a workable solution for getting around this so that I could consistently post from my blog to the service. So after almost 2 years of trying to figure out a solution, I decided it was time to let it go and move on. This isn’t a decision I take lightly as I really do love the micro.blog community, but this issue makes it untenable to be an active member, at least from my personal blog. That said, if my posts make it through to micro.blog because they’re not being blocked by Cloudflare or Imunify360, great!

While looking for a cross-posting alternative, I found Echofeed, a service that can cross-post from any RSS feed to Mastodon and Bluesky. It works well enough for my needs and removes the constant checking and troubleshooting I had to do with micro.blog before posting from my blog. Hopefully, with this setup, I can get back to posting here on a more regular basis.

I’m changing things up from my previous Weekender format and will just post about things that I found interesting during the week.

• One of the casualties of 2024 was Omnivore, the read later app/service. They quickly shut down last Novemeber and I haven’t really found a good replacement that I like. I settled on Omnivore after searching for a bookmarking replacement for pinboard.in. I mainly used it as a way to quickly bookmark stuff for reading/reviewing at a later time. For now, I’m back to using Safari’s built in Reading List.

• I’ve been contemplating some changes for the blog, so I need to brush up on my CSS soon. Hacker News surfaced an interactive CSS Flexbox Playground today which will come in handy. If you’re new to Flexbox, I highly recommend Josh W. Comeau’s Interactive Guide to Flexbox in CSS.

• tahti is a groove box with a lot of cool ideas. If the Elektron Digitakt had a web counterpart, this might be it.

• Robb Knight (developer of Echofeed) created Lens, a handy web page to check your meta tags, icons, and rss feeds are formatted correctly.

• I couldn’t help but nod my head while reading Ars Technica’s senior security editor Dan Goodin’s take on passkeys. I see how promising this could be, but there are still many too many shortcomings. Until sync and portability are worked out, I can’t really recommend them over a password manager.

• Whether or not you utilize or appreciate LLMs, they were unavoidable in 2024. I highly recommend reading Simon Willison’s summary of the developments surrounding LLMs in 2024. He showcases, the good, bad, amazing and the ugly sides of this emerging technology.

• At the start of each new year, my wife and I go to two different temples and draw our omikuji. Omikuji are paper strips with fortunes written on them regarding health, work, love, travel and more. It’s a fun tradition that you can try as well via this Hobonichi Techo webpage.

Apple September 9th Event Prediction Results

✅ The non-Max iPhone Pro will receive the 12MP 5x Telephoto camera
❌ No updates to the standard camera module, but some sort of software improvement will be talked about due to the new A series processor
✅ iPhone Pro models will still have boring colors as usual
✅ Apple Watch Ultra will finally get Space Gray
❌ No new Macs for this event, but maybe the remaining accessories that still use Lightning for charging (Magic Mouse and Keyboard) will finally get USB-C ports
✅ iOS 18 will launch next week, macOS Sequoia shortly after
❌ While Apple Intelligence is a core feature of iOS 18, it wont be released until later this year. Apple will showcase some other feature of the new phone

So, there were improvements to the cameras and I didn’t get the updated Apple peripherals I was hoping for, but 2024 isn’t over yet… I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Apple focused a big portion of the event on Apple Intelligence as the average person doesn’t pay attention to Apples’s WWDC event. This was Apple’s chance to get the word out about the features coming with these new iPhones to the general public.

The sentiment I heard from a few friends after the event was that they’re just not excited about new iPhone releases anymore. I feel that’s only natural for a product that’s almost 20 years old and ubiquitous. We may be at peak iPhone in 2024 and there may only be small iterations that will happen over time going forward. I think the world is fine with that as a majority of folks aren’t nut cases like me that upgrade their iPhone each year. Aside from updating the industrial design, it will be interesting to see how the iPhone evolves over the course of another 10 years.

Apple September 9th Event Predictions

Here are my quick hopes and predictions for tomorrow’s Apple iPhone Event:

• The non-Max iPhone Pro will receive the 12MP 5x Telephoto camera
• No updates to the standard camera module, but some sort of software improvement will be talked about due to the new A series processor
• iPhone Pro models will still have boring colors as usual
• Apple Watch Ultra will finally get Space Gray
• No new Macs for this event, but maybe the remaining accessories that still use Lightning for charging (Magic Mouse and Keyboard) will finally get USB-C ports
• iOS 18 will launch next week, macOS Sequoia shortly after
• While Apple Intelligence is a core feature of iOS 18, it wont be released until later this year. Apple will showcase some other feature of the new phone

Quick Thoughts After A Year with the iPhone 14 Pro

• The switch from Lightning to USB-C has been fantastic!
• The change to Titanium from stainless steel makes the phone feel slightly lighter than the previous iPhone Pro. I wish they’d just use aluminum, but I’ll take any reduction in weight I can get.
• I’ve noticed that it can run pretty hot compared to iPhone 13 Pro when doing some tasks.
• Battery life has been decent. I’ve never had the battery die during a full day. I’ve had the battery run down to about 10-15% several times if I’m playing audio through the speakers throughout the day. I mostly notice this on Sundays as I tend to play podcasts while doing chores.
• I always forget to use the Action button to activate the camera