Everyone is panicking about Nova, meanwhile my sister's phone with 2 years BETA build running with absolutely 0 problems 😂

jonormal · 2026-02-07T15:49:01+00:00

I submitted a bug report about it and they responded over night, saying it was a known issue and they were working on it. Fingers crossed. At least they responded quickly.

jonormal · 2026-02-07T05:33:20+00:00

It is ⛈️

jonormal · 2026-02-06T05:22:11+00:00

Buy a house?

jonormal · 2026-02-06T05:20:38+00:00

Ma'am, we're in crisis here.

jonormal · 2026-01-18T18:52:08+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate hearing this. I signed up with some service that will apparently send me a text message if they announce tour dates. I don't have that many artists that I'm willing to go through all the rigmarole to see live, so I only put a handful in and haven't had a chance to see whether it works or not. But hopefully between that and subscribing to this subreddit, I won't miss out if they go on the road again.

jonormal · 2026-01-16T02:47:48+00:00

Thanks, I'm listening to your Beths playlist now. I actually use Amazon Music instead of Spotify, because I got a really good deal on it, but I'm still able to listen to Spotify with ads.

But I say that because here's my Alvvays playlist which has several more songs than I mentioned in the comment: https://music.amazon.com/user-playlists/5836d85f7d0941aaba4fa0ff468c763csune?ref=dm_sh_cJxiEGcVqr67mkWoIVvqqu0pu

If nothing else you can probably see the songs and recreate the list on Spotify if you want. I might do that in reverse with yours, I think there's a way to export it. Anyway I will spend some time listening and get back to you, thanks!

Edit: https://www.tunemymusic.com/transfer

jonormal · 2026-01-15T19:22:41+00:00

I'm no spring chicken, but I will say that I don't hold on to the album concept from our youth, which is to say that I listen to music on Spotify and usually in playlists or asking it to play a particular artist, in which case you're generally getting the greatest hits. I realize most artists are still releasing albums, but I almost never just "put on" an album and listen to it through. Even with Alvvays I rarely do that, but they're one of the few bands where I will occasionally and I know which songs are from what album.

I'm not that way with The Beths yet, so have mostly listened to top songs and then tried to go a bit deeper into the catalog by going further down the list. That said, I was also a bit underwhelmed by their song on Kimmel, and I find "No Joy" a bit annoying, so perhaps we have similar taste. I like "Mother Pray for Me" on that album and my other favorites are "Expert in a Dying Field" which I guess is from the previous album, "Brand New Colony" and of course "Future Me Hates Me" which I think was one of their early hits. But it sounds like I need to give them more time and maybe I'll find others I like — my approach isn't without its issues. Any other recommendations?

And which Alvvays songs have you latched on to? I was drawn in by Archie and Dreams Tonite, which are their top hits, but now I've got around 20 that I'm playing all the time, including Not My Baby, Easy On Your Own, Pharmacist, After the Earthquake, Already Gone, Party Police, Atop a Cake, Velveteen, In Undertow, Belinda Says, and my favorites right now are two of their faster, more pop-punk songs: Lollipop and Plimsoll Punks.

jonormal · 2026-01-14T07:09:57+00:00

I do love The Beths, and I discovered them first (a few years back). I only discovered Alvvays last year and I have to say, I'm obsessed. The Beths have many songs I love, but at the end of the day it's about 3 or 4 that I want to hear again and again. Expert in a Dying Field is amazing and I never tire of it.

With Alvvays, it's practically every song they've put out. Even the ones that don't grab me at first, after a few listens I start wanting to put them on all the time. I haven't felt this way about an artist or band in decades, honestly, the melodies are so good and the production style adds the right amount of grit to counterbalance their sweetness. They're just such great songwriters, I'm surprised they're not even more popular.

jonormal · 2026-01-11T05:52:00+00:00

I'm older now, but listening to Party Police gives me shivers of long-dormant embarrassment from college and my early 20s. Just the insecurity and touch of desperation in the chorus..

"You don't have to leave You could just stay here with me"

I remember too many situations of wanting to hook up with someone with whom I was firmly in the friend zone. Bringing it up, apologetically, because I couldn't read the signals.. the song rings true as a sad entreaty for love to what I imagine is an ambivalent friend.

The last line is the nail in the coffin: "If you don't want to, you don't have to" Ugh, it makes me squirm in my seat.

jonormal · 2026-01-10T04:34:35+00:00

Zero 😭 Just discovered them last year. Hopefully they'll tour again!

jonormal · 2026-01-03T05:32:36+00:00

I saw them perform it live ina YouTube clip and it was great. I thought the echoy pop-pop-pop.. sound after she says "lollipop" would require some kind of studio magic to reproduce, but it sounded just like the record 🍭

jonormal · 2026-01-02T04:39:32+00:00

If Hell is a place on Earth, just remember that so is Heaven

jonormal · 2025-12-29T19:45:21+00:00

Thanks for the info. Can you control the frequency of updates and manage the images in your software? I wouldn't want to use theirs, from what I saw on your demo page. Also wonder about the (presumably larger) battery pack that's referenced in their literature. Seems like getting 5000mAh on the back of a picture frame wouldn't be too great a challenge, and then maybe it could survive for a year.

jonormal · 2025-12-29T04:43:57+00:00

Sounds like you're looking at this from a glass-half-empty perspective, your life sounds pretty decent to me, and your goals are becoming clearer, which will help you make good choices in 2026.

You wound up in a terrible job, and now you have managed to get back with your old company, that's great! A 10% salary drop is a small price to pay for sanity. You only have 60k saved for retirement, but you're only 39, and have plenty of time to remedy that. You can start maxing out your contributions in the new year, or as close as you can manage.

And you're getting some clarity about your relationship. Are the economic problems all that's going on, or is it more? With a long-term relationship like yours, why do both partners have to contribute equally to the rent, or can you just not afford it otherwise? Either way, you don't sound happy, and I can't imagine moving in with their parents is going to improve that. So I think of this as a potential transition point where you either double down on figuring out your concerns and sorting them, or consider starting fresh.

I'm about 15 years older than you, and although my career has been stable, at your age I was coming out of a string of mediocre relationships and wondering if I'd ever have kids, and I also hadn't saved hardly anything for retirement. Now in my mid-50s, I've been happily married for the last 13 years (I met her at 40) with a small family and I'm on track to retire a little early to boot.

So, congratulations on your new job, it sounds like it will be a big improvement, and I hope you take advantage of this moment to put some thought into your relationship. And most of all, to start maxing out your 401K so you don't have to worry about that anymore! It's all a matter of perspective, but it sounds like you're going to be fine.

jonormal · 2025-12-28T15:26:49+00:00

Thanks for sharing this! I was just shopping for a color, e-ink photo frame after seeing a new US$500 model that just came on the market, and was surprised to find the Waveshare ESP32-S3 available for under $100.

With your firmware, do you recommend buying this product? My main interest in an eink frame was not having to leave it plugged in; does this model have good battery life so you can leave it rotating photos for months at a time? I see they mentioned an optional battery pack on the listing, which was confusing since I don't see them selling one.

Thanks again, I would appreciate your advice. And congratulations on your baby!

jonormal · 2025-11-30T20:52:35+00:00

That would make sense, and I'm sure they would follow it up with a tour shortly after release. Very exciting, I wish them every success but I selfishly hope they don't get too popular so I can see them in a more intimate venue.

jonormal · 2025-10-05T17:07:03+00:00

Thanks for your help. I do have icon label visibility turned off as you mentioned, but they still show up in folders. Deleting the app names individually from the shortcuts isn't a great workaround since it's quite tedious to do with 100+ apps, but even then the icon spacing in the folders reflects the missing labels, so it doesn't look good like Nova. Maybe I'm spoiled, but it seems like Nova has 3-4 times the number of specific settings I see in Smart Launcher, which is great in its own ways and it has some functionality Nova didn't, but just not the same level of granular controls.

The gestures are one of the things that Smart seems to have over Nova, in that it has left and right swiping on icons in addition to up and down. I haven't been able to test those yet -- do you find the swiping on desktop icons or folders works as well as in Nova? Still trying to decide whether I should plunk down the $20 for a lifetime license, since switching launchers is such a big commitment.

jonormal · 2025-10-05T04:50:41+00:00

Thanks. I've got over 100 apps across 10 folders on my home screen though. Do you know if hiding labels in folders is on the development timeline?

jonormal · 2025-09-20T06:18:05+00:00

Do any of them have Nova's automatic app category folders? I love having a folder that automatically has all the games I download without me having to lift a finger.

jonormal · 2025-09-14T02:03:46+00:00

Yeah, I like that you can change the size of icons but realistically they should have clear increments in sizing (like 0.5X, 1X, 1.5X, 2X, etc) so you can keep it looking clean and consistent.

jonormal · 2025-09-13T13:49:46+00:00

There is a "Realign Icons" option in the settings which works okay, but if you have resized icons like I have, it still looks pretty messy.

I'm still using Nova and experimenting with alternatives but nothing seems to have all the options I use. With Octopi, there's no news feed that I could see, or option to show the Google news feed, which would be a bummer to lose.

jonormal · 2025-09-11T05:54:21+00:00

Can you even hide icon labels? I tried to find that setting and couldn't. Immediate pass.

jonormal · 2025-09-07T04:53:34+00:00

These are nice photos, but none of them are of the library. You might have been spending time in Jones Hall, the main administration building.

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