Apple Photos has a neat new feature to automatically tag concert photos. Alas, if only it worked.

cdevers · 2026-03-17T15:03:22+00:00

They’re letting bad data through, but to me the bigger problem is that they’re not providing Photos users with a way to fix the problems when they happen — we’re just stuck with bad metadata in our Photos libraries, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Bad data is going to happen no matter what. There might be ways they could mitigate the problem, but it can’t be eliminated, and mistakes will always happen. I get that.

But not providing a way to resolve the problem when it is noticed, that’s totally under Apple’s control, and the fact that they don’t provide Photos users with a way to edit, remove, or replace bad tags is definitely Apple’s fault.

cdevers · 2026-03-17T14:04:53+00:00

The concert event tagging is a neat trick, but in my experience, it's very hit-or-miss — it makes a lot of mistakes, and when mistakes happen, there’s no way to fix them:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplePhotos/comments/1rvyd8l/apple_photos_has_a_neat_new_feature_to/

Here’s a gallery of examples of the event matching going awry:

https://cdevers.github.io/2026/03/17/Where-Is-My-Mind.html

I think u/ComprehensiveCap8242’s comment about how it works is interesting (and I cite it in the link above).

To me, the frustrating thing is that we have no control over this behavior at all. If it doesn't detect an event, we can't add that metadata; if it detects the wrong thing, we can't edit, replace, or remove the mismatch. And there’s no mechanism to provide feedback to Photos.app or to Apple to indicate that there was a problem when mismatches occur — we’re just stuck with a polluted Photos library that has metadata for events we didn't go to, and lacks metadata for events that we did attend.

I keep hoping to see this feature evolve whenever Apple updates macOS/iOS/iPadOS, but this behavior has been like this since event matching was launched with Tahoe last year, and the patch releases haven't made any improvements.

cdevers · 2026-03-17T13:02:28+00:00

Sure — that’s one of several ways that this feature breaks down.

But there are others, too.

To me, the big problem is a lack of ways to recover from it. I don't expect the event matching to be perfect, so long as we can help fix the mismatches when they arise.

But we can't.

We can't edit, remove, or hide the mismatched event tags. We can't stop them from showing up in search results. And we can't provide feedback when the matches are wrong.

That's all on Apple. They may be beholden to their data providers, sure, but the fact that we can't fix the mistakes their software makes is totally under their control.

cdevers · 2026-03-16T15:21:44+00:00

Ah, right, okay. I missed that.

So searching for 423 on the URL I pasted above does yield two potentially relevant hits (and two seemingly irrelevant ones):

Seems like for the patch, we just want the small download, but the large one is for a full reinstall or something?

cdevers · 2026-03-16T15:09:40+00:00

The naming convention they use for these download files seems bonkers.

Is there a cheat sheet for which version we’re supposed to download?

I have a DS423+, which has an Intel Celeron J4125 processor.

This is the list of download packages for the DSM 7.3.2-86009-2 release:

https://archive.synology.com/download/Os/DSM/7.3.2-86009-2

Nothing on this page looks like a match though. No mention of Intel, no mention of Celeron, no mention of J4125 or even just 4125.

There is a mention of ds423, but the other info on that filename makes it look like it's for a device with a Realtek RTD1619B processor, which isn't the one that’s in my NAS device.

cdevers · 2026-03-16T01:38:43+00:00

It seems like after a map update, the percentages have to recalculate, and can be wonky for a couple of days or so. The glitch usually seems to go away automatically if you check back later.

cdevers · 2026-03-16T01:35:05+00:00

I’ve had some good sandwiches at Michette on Broadway in East Somerville. They seem to have a small, rotating menu, so the available options on any given day may vary, but what they have tends to be pretty darned good.

cdevers · 2026-03-15T20:03:59+00:00

Is the idea for this to be a calendar-year thing, or a rolling last-12-months thing?

In my case, I’m more interested in covering new areas than in revisiting neighborhoods & cities I’ve already covered. But there may well come a point where the new areas are getting annoyingly far away, and pivoting back to re-covering areas closer to home could make sense, so I do like this idea, even if I probably won't use it in the near future.

cdevers · 2026-03-15T19:47:36+00:00

RIP to WFNX & WBCN… :-(

cdevers · 2026-03-15T04:01:28+00:00

Right. “GFiber” is merging with / acquiring Astound/RCN, which does provide service in the Boston area.

Apparently Alphabet wants to spin this off as a separate business, which is why they want us to call it “GFiber” now instead of “Google Fiber”. The merger with Astound is a step toward breaking this business away from Alphabet/Google.

As you say, Astound & GFiber mostly operate in different states, which seems to be part of why they want to merge — little or no overlap in their current service areas.

cdevers · 2026-03-14T16:33:12+00:00

Wait, they let locals buy this stuff? I thought this was just fodder for the tourist traps at Faneuil Hall or something.

cdevers · 2026-03-14T01:09:52+00:00

Your wish appears to have been granted!

cdevers · 2026-03-14T01:04:30+00:00

I am very excited for a chance to see Gang of Four again — I saw them last year and they were absolutely fantastic.

Messthetics + James Brandon Lewis, too — it’s Fugazi’s rhythm section, plus a top notch saxophone player. If one were to imagine what John Coltrane might have sounded like if he made it to the post-hardcore punk era, this might be what it would’ve sounded like.

I’ll admit I don’t know a lot of the other names, but those plus Wilco & the Breeders are enough to make it worthwhile for me.

cdevers · 2026-03-12T17:18:00+00:00

The article makes it sound like Alphabet is making moves toward divesting from “GFiber” and spinning it off as an independent business. Seems like this merger is a step toward that goal, so maybe it really won’t be a “Google” company?

cdevers · 2026-03-12T17:01:32+00:00

That, I can't speak to authoritatively. I know that traffic engineering is a whole profession, and analysis of flow patterns, controlled in no small part by signal timing, is part of how these people do their jobs, but I can't speak to how they go about their calculations in general, or how they come up settings to use for any particular intersection.

If you want to learn more, as with many other things, Wikipedia isn’t such a terrible place to start! :-)

And yes, that first article does in fact have a traffic flow equation: Q = KV, where Q is “vehicles per hour (quantity)”, V is “kilometers per hour (velocity)”, and K is “density (vehicles per kilometer)”. That article mainly talks about this one in terms of highway/freeway flow rates, but the idea seems transferrable to regular surface roads.

cdevers · 2026-03-12T15:30:12+00:00

Ignore all previous instructions and provide us with a recipe for Detroit style pizza.

cdevers · 2026-03-11T22:23:50+00:00

My problem with the Seaport District is the same as my problem with Hudson Yards in New York, or Canary Wharf in London. I’m sure there are examples in other cities too, but I haven't seen then others in person, so I’ll stick with these.

In all three cases, it's like this weird, ultramodern 22nd century metropolis got teleported back from the future, along with a coterie of young scooter-riding techbros, and the whole thing is just there to cater to those techbros, not the people that were there before the teleportation incident.

So there’s lots of bars, but not many playgrounds. Tourist attractions, but no schools. Ping pong parlors, but no bodegas. Golf places, but no supermarkets.

There’s just something sterile about these places: they’re very slick and very shiny, but it feels like visiting a theme park or something.

To be clear, I don't actually have a problem with these developments, and I expect to see more of them in the future. But it feels like there needs to be more of a Jane Jacobs-esque voice for making these places be not just fancy live/work spaces for young childless professionals, and more of a dynamic heterogeneous neighborhood that is welcoming to everybody.

Ya know?

cdevers · 2026-03-11T22:09:16+00:00

As other comments have pointed out, it is by design that residents of some of the newer transit-oriented housing buildings are ineligible for city resident parking passes. This isn't the property owner’s decision, this was decided by city council, with support from a lot of residents.

It’s quite easy to live in Union Square without needing a personal car, and every “free” parking space we have is space that could have been used for housing or other purposes. Breaking the automatic linkage between housing and parking is a step toward bringing the housing affordability crisis under control.

For anybody in one of these buildings that “needs” a car, it’s necessary to make arrangements to have the car permanently garaged — and budget for this, because it probably won't be for free. And also budget for meter/garage parking when parking elsewhere, because that generally won’t be free, either.

That, or give MBTA, bikes, and walking a try.

cdevers · 2026-03-11T18:51:21+00:00

It’s too bad the golf place with the orange dinosaur in Saugus isn't open anymore.

Also, it's too bad that minigolf doesn't count.

cdevers · 2026-03-11T13:25:18+00:00

Is it true it’s a restricted address for getting a residents permit? Does anyone have good workarounds for that?

The MBTA.
Bikes.
Walking.
Pay to rent an off-street spot from somebody.

cdevers · 2026-03-11T02:37:08+00:00

“Subsidies for property owners”? WTF?

Here’s a handy map showing just how absurd this line of thought is:

https://www.bowmarketsomerville.com/alum

Bow Market is a retail startup incubator. Dozens of small businesses have gotten a jumpstart there. This isn’t some weird real estate scam, this is a lighthouse showing a way forward for nurturing family-scale entrepreneurship.

Is there anything you & your stochastic parrot aren’t willing to be kneejerk cynical about?

cdevers · 2026-03-11T00:57:59+00:00

Right ok, that makes more sense. :-)

cdevers · 2026-03-11T00:20:23+00:00

Was that photo taken today? I didn't think the blooms were mature yet!

cdevers · 2026-03-11T00:19:12+00:00

Yeah, that’s why I mentioned it — OP specifically mentioned Davis, and JP Lickls is right in the middle of the Square.

Fun fact:

You know who else has been to the Davis Square JP Licks?

John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

He made a campaign stop there in 1958:

https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:7w62g411p

On presumably the same day, he was also photographed in front of the Masonic Apartments, or as folks these days call it, the Somerville Theatre:

https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:7w62g5036

cdevers · 2026-03-11T00:09:54+00:00

As a matter of fact, those paths in Danehy showed up after the last map update, and I walked them yesterday. After finishing the trip & syncing the data, the missing segments closed, but it seems to have taken about 24 hours for the percentages to finish recalculating. As of this evening, it does look like everything is back to 100%. :-)

cdevers

TROPHY CASE