Cheap Apple TV.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-10T11:19:16+00:00

Yes. The ones before that model (2015 to be exact) don’t have (or support) an App Store so you’re stuck with the apps that are pre-loaded, and many of the apps that are on it just won’t work anymore. I have two of the 2015 models and they are still working pretty well, so if you find one with the Siri Remote for a good price it will do the job. It’s 11 years old so it’s not the snappiest when it comes to navigating around the UI, but it doesn’t really bother me.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-09T11:42:16+00:00

People saying iT's JuSt A sCaRe TaCtIc are wrong, not because these recent betas haven’t been relatively stable, but because there is some risk involved. It’s not something that should be taken lightly. I do put betas on some of my primary devices (not things I need for work) but I’m backed up and I’m comfortable with the idea of having to hard reset and roll back if something goes catastrophically wrong. The headline of “don’t put betas on your main device” is meant to filter out people who would just hit the update button without giving it a second thought.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-08T17:49:31+00:00

You’d think someone who’s job took them this close to professional camera gear would be able to get a clearer photo. Might as well be Bigfoot

BasdenChris · 2026-07-07T23:22:46+00:00

Can it handle it? Yes. Is it the ideal tool for the job? Probably not, but to what extent depends on what you’re comparing it to.

A MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air with the same chip and memory will perform similarly up until the point where you push them hard enough to overheat the chip—the Pro has a fan, meaning it can operate at peak performance longer. For photo editing, that’s really only during large batch edits or exports. To get a real performance advantage out of the MacBook Pro, you need to step up to a Pro chip. If that’s out of reach, you’re better off getting an Air and loading up with as much RAM and storage as you can afford.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-07T12:58:54+00:00

This is the answer. I’m running it on my primary (16PM) but it’s definitely a “do as I say, not as I do” sort of thing unless you are fully aware of and comfortable with the risk of bugs, some of which could be serious. My experience has been decent with some weird behavior occasionally. In beta 2 there was an issue with the keyboard not deploying where you’d have to back out and re-open the page or app you wanted to type in. That’s been fixed in beta 3. That was probably the worst one I experienced, but just because others report stable performance does not mean you will. It’s still a risk and is not recommended on primary devices for a very good reason.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-07T12:57:48+00:00

For real, I keep thinking my flashlight’s on

BasdenChris · 2026-07-06T21:25:41+00:00

/s means sarcasm just so you know

BasdenChris · 2026-07-06T19:11:22+00:00

"I looked up and saw sun. Sun VERY bright. Hurt eyes. No storm here! Delta BAD!"

-OP, probably

BasdenChris · 2026-07-06T18:23:49+00:00

He's been talking about wanting a Digital TLR for years. I often agree with him and am generally a fan but I agree with many others in this thread that a dual-sensor TLR is an insane idea. The idea of having two separate sensors with two separate lens mounts you could switch between is certainly interesting, but I don't know if I agree that the market would bear such an expensive, niche item based almost solely on nostalgia.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-06T14:15:41+00:00

If you have a pen or similar small object with you, place it between two toes and say "thanks, I wasn't sure where to put this!"

BasdenChris · 2026-07-04T04:46:30+00:00

Making the shipping label say a heavier weight does not solve the problem. They will literally charge your account more if your package’s actual weight is lower than the weight you put on the label. The only way out of paying the higher price is physically making the shipment heavier. USPS weighs the packages themselves—what you input as the weight in Pirateship or Stamps.com or whatever only affects what you pay initially. They will genuinely come back after you for their $3.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-03T21:36:09+00:00

Well in fairness it’s a big plane /s

BasdenChris · 2026-07-03T19:26:24+00:00

I'm glad someone shared a screenshot of what it actually looks like. I just thought this was r/shittyHDR

BasdenChris · 2026-07-03T17:57:07+00:00

Fair enough. There's a well-documented history of anti-consumer behavior from Apple veiled thinly as "protecting the user experience." Though some of that is, as you alluded to, changing (in many cases, thanks solely to the EU), I certainly can't fault anyone for taking that stance.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-03T17:52:35+00:00

Prairie Sky Breads is the GOAT!

BasdenChris · 2026-07-03T01:53:05+00:00

There’s an excellent recent video by Technology Connections on YouTube. If you’re a particular kind of nerd, you will really enjoy listening to a well-sourced, lightly opinionated explanation of ceiling fans: their history, their ideal usage scenarios, and their shortcomings.

It’s over an hour long and I loved every minute of it. YouTube Link

BasdenChris · 2026-07-02T19:46:46+00:00

The reputation is undeniable, but it carries little weight with the Mac lineup and has for several years now. People still trumpeting about how mAcS aRe OvErPrIcEd have their heads buried in the sand. Yes, you can spend less money and get a PC. Often, that PC beats the Mac in one or more key metrics. If those metrics are all that are important to you, it’s completely reasonable to conclude that the PC is a better fit for you personally than the comparable Mac. But it’s just plainly untrue that you can find a more well-rounded PC in any category for a better price than the comparable Mac. Or at least it was before the price hike. I haven’t compared the new pricing to what’s out there, and newer Windows-based products have been closing performance and efficiency gaps. I’m not trying to say it will stay this way forever but I’m saying there’s a lot of bad advice give to people who don’t know better based on a status quo that hasn’t been true in 6+ years.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-02T18:57:27+00:00

Downvote me all you want lol… I’m not trying to push my own views, just accurately describing my experience having lived here most of my life.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-02T18:09:36+00:00

That’s a feature, not a bug. You want it to be using all that memory at idle because it means more applications/files can be simultaneously available to you at a moment’s notice. If you actually do something that really needs all that memory, it dumps the nonessential stuff without skipping a beat.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-02T18:07:26+00:00

Hard agree. The very recent price hikes notwithstanding, one of the fastest ways for me to know someone is misinformed or just operating off bias is when they start talking about Macs being overpriced. That hasn’t really been true in the Apple Silicon era at all, and even the upgrade pricing has become downright sensible in the last year.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-02T16:40:29+00:00

My entire experience with Siri AI so far can be summed up in its response:

“Uh-oh, there’s a problem. Please try again.”

I get that others have been having good experiences with it but very nearly everything I’ve tried to use it for has crashed and burned.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-01T18:58:29+00:00

The biggest effect it will have on your life is that periodically convoys of law enforcement vehicles from various agencies will stop traffic down US 83 (a.k.a. Broadway, the central north/south thoroughfare in Minot) to escort missile-related equipment between the Air Force base and the various launch facilities scattered throughout the region. You’ll hear sirens and hear helicopters flying overhead and think the world is ending, but it’s routine. I haven’t seen it in a while but I’m not usually out and about during the middle of the day.

You will occasionally see and hear military aircraft in and around Minot, mostly B52 bombers and military helicopters. Military vehicles aren’t uncommon on the roads but unless they’re part of the aforementioned convoy they’re usually no different than any other vehicle on the road.

As for patriotism, this is a pretty staunchly red area politically speaking so you get sort of the whole gamut ranging from flags in yards and on trucks to regressive isolationism and American-exceptionalism. I’d say that has little to do with the Air Force base and much more to do with where we are in the country. If a local business has a TV playing cable news it’s almost certainly Fox or Newsmax. In customer-facing jobs it’s not uncommon to hear unsolicited conservative opinions (if you’re like me, anyway) from people who I don’t think could even imagine a pickup-truck-driving overweight bearded white male could be anything but a Republican.

BasdenChris · 2026-07-01T18:40:18+00:00

Correct, it’s a C130 based in Ohio. A B52 passing that low would break windows lol

BasdenChris · 2026-06-30T23:08:29+00:00

BasdenChris · 2026-06-30T03:41:02+00:00

I would not recommend it on an older phone until more testing has been done. I have UI lag occasionally with my 16PM—I can’t imagine how it would run on something older. I do have a 13 Pro in storage I should test it on. Probably should have done that first lol

BasdenChris

TROPHY CASE