HiWire

Three times the price... the review from Singapore mentions how slow the Android interface works. You'd think Sony would have figured this stuff out by 2022. Their previous DAP products have been a hodgepodge. I looked at the much less expensive and positively reviewed Sony NW-A55(L) out of morbid curiosity, but it's hard to find and somewhat antiquated at this point. I'll stick with my phone and ancient iPod Shuffle from 2009 for a while longer. They work quite well and without the hassle of Sony software. There is also the question of what to do when the internal batteries die. I've returned quite a few iPhones to Apple for battery replacement and the Sony path is much less clear.

Reasonable pricing by Astell&Kern standards...

Sony announced a new MP3 player (or DAP): https://musicphotolife.com/2022/05/sony-wm1zm2-review-digital-audio-player-walkman/ It's breathtakingly expensive, that's for sure. I was thinking of getting the Mojo 2, so if this thing sounds better, maybe it's better to have everything in a Sony money box. Also available in gold if you're so money: https://www.sony.ca/en/electronics/walkman/nw-wm1zm2 In other news, the new Sony money cans may not be as good as the old money cans – ain't nothing like old money: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/sony-wh-1000xm5

The Kills - No Wow

I'm waiting for the M2 Pro, etc. to be announced later. I like that they bumped the memory limit to 24GB for the MacBook Air and Pro. The M1 Pro and Max are massive overkill for most of my office, but also a bit of future-proofing (I think the "M3" is closer to fitting into my upgrade timeline). Apple was smug, but correct about current Intel, AMD, and Nvidia products being huge power suckers. Sometimes it takes a lot of power to do the job. Their specs page claims you need a 67W power adapter to use the fast charge function on the MacBook Air. Hopefully people won't need that all the time (the standard bricks are 30W and 35W).

I'm a little bummed about macOS 13 dropping support for Macs before 2017 (the full list is on their macOS Ventura Preview page), but it was inevitable. Looks like a new Mac will be in my near future. https://www.apple.com/macos/macos-ventura-preview/

I'd go with Macrium Reflect, then. I hesitated for years about buying the Acronis subscription... looks like things went badly sideways after I had to use their product.

A bit late to the question, but I had good experiences with the former Acronis True Image, now (vaguely) renamed Acronis Cyber Protect. They have an example of their compression rates: https://kb.acronis.com/content/16791 However, the latest PC Magazine review of the software was kind of lukewarm, so maybe they're not as reliable as before. You can also use Windows' built in File History application to manage disk image backups: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-full-backup-your-windows-11-pc

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Chromeo – Date Night: Chromeo Live!

O No

Found it! I was trying to find this song... took a while, but I described it in Google as a "rising synth instrumental with wordless female vocals"... not actually wordless, as it turns out (stunningly obvious?) – I Feel Love by Donna Summer with help from Giorgio Moroder, of course:

Air – Pocket Symphony

Roxy Music is touring again, with Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, and Paul Thompson (with St. Vincent). So excited!

Golden Earring – Moontan (1973)

Samus

The Night Manager (2016) Highly recommended

Happy Birthday!

The new Mac Studio is close enough for me right now. It's a bit overkill for my work, though.

Happy Birthday!

This one comes to mind:

Tears for Fears' Favorite 5 Albums (Right Now):