I’ve always loved the New York City subway signage system. I used Vignelli’s maps and design standards manual as a learning aid when I taught college. Today I learned that the MTA sells surplus signage and equipment, and you can buy it directly from them. I think you have to go pick it up yourself, though.
Apple is now selling us, the faithful, a USB-C case for the AirPods Pro as a standalone item, for $99. Apparently it’s not shipping until after Christmas. I think I’ll probably wind up upgrading my AirPods as a unit when these die, but it’s good to know that’s an option. In terms of useful appliances I use every day, I’d have to rank AirPods in the top 3—and they show the wear and tear. (via)
Music-Map is the kind of thing that shows up every couple of years with some new technology underneath it, and it usually disappears after a few months. In any case, this one does what it says on the tin: plug a band in and you get other bands that sound similar. Bookmarked. Also related: Gnoosic, which follows a slightly different format.
Apparently Goldman Sachs is rethinking their banking partnership with Apple; apparently they didn’t understand that consumer banking was hard, and stuff. There’s no telling how they’re going to exit the partnership, or who is going to take it over from here, but all of the executives who were originally in charge of it have bailed out, according to the WSJ. I’ve been nothing but happy with my Apple Card, and paying it is easier than checking Instagram. My savings account keyed to this card is earning 4.15% APR, which is better than any other bank account I’ve had in my life. I really hope they’re able to keep it running smoothly; as of August they had over $10B in deposits.
Defector ran a very interesting article on TwitchCon, the annual gathering of gaming streamers, and the author did a very good job of breaking down the harsh financial realities of making money streaming online:
After data on Twitch’s payouts to creators leaked in 2021, one analysis found only the top 1,332 streamers on the entire platform made at least the US median household income. Streamers below that level are far less likely to have the sort of off-platform sponsorship or ad deals that can add significant income.
I keep getting emails, one every couple of days, where someone has subscribed to my YouTube feed. Many of the creators I follow there have subscription numbers in the hundreds of thousands; they are also posting new videos every day. I don’t think I could keep up with that schedule.
There’s a Swedish company called Teenage Engineering who make all kinds of amazing synthesizers, and they just released a consumer-level unit called the EP-133 KO II for about $300. I have no idea what it sounds like, but as a piece of electronic design, it’s fucking beautiful.
Following up on my post about Mint closing down, The Verge did an article about alternative financial planning services; some are apps, some are superpowers spreadsheets, and some are online services. I don’t know if I trust anyone to steward my financial information anymore, but I figure everyone has already mined that information for all the money possible anyway.
Steve Albini has an outsized voice in the music industry of my generation; he engineered some of the seminal albums of the 80’s and 90’s. He was/is also a notorious curmudgeon, with an almost pathological need to offend and anger anyone and everyone. He’s slowly changed a lot of his attitudes about music, people, and his place in the discourse, and most importantly, has owned up to his responsibility in all of it.
As the years wore on, his perspective started to shift. “I can’t defend any of it,” he told me. “It was all coming from a privileged position of someone who would never have to suffer any of the hatred that’s embodied in any of that language.”
It’s fascinating to read about someone who unabashedly, unashamedly owns up to his faults without the aid (or hindrance) of an army of PR flacks and crisis managers.
Huh, this finally looks like it turned into something: the I’m Back Film digital back for film cameras looks like it’s a shipping product; the claim is that it’s an adjustable unit for any 35mm film camera, shooting a 4/3 image sensor, which you can then use with a wide-angle adapter for “full frame” size images. At ~$500 it’s pricy for use as a walk-around toy, but it’s nice to see the technology is advancing. (previously.)
This seems like something that should have been A Thing five years ago, but is only now just appearing: Orion is an app for the iPad that lets you use it as a second monitor for any device with a HDMI out port—things like digital cameras or video game consoles, for example. The obvious choice here is a digital camera; I’d love to try this with a camera up on a 10′ pole to preview the image, for example, or to really take time to compose an image and see what it looks like before hitting the shutter button. Brought to us by the folks who built Halide, a more powerful (but somewhat obtusely designed) camera app for the iPhone. One caveat: it requires iOS 17, as Apple finally built external webcam support into that release.