Opinion on myByways

Reflections on 2025 through the Word(s) of the Year

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In March 2025, I posted an opinion piece entitled “My Disillusionment with Generative AI”. Things have gotten worse since then, to the extent that “Slop” and “AI Slop” have been picked as the Word(s) of the Year for 2025. What follows are my thoughts on the trajectory of technology and, more specifically, AI, as reflected in the Word(s) of the Year (WOTY).

My Disillusionment with Generative AI

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a techno optimist by default, I do believe technology can solve the problems we face today, and make our lives better. But I do have concerns with the direction we are taking with Generative AI, and the future we are heading towards. This is an opinion piece…

Lite XL text editor on MacOS

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I recently tried Lite XL v2.1.0, a forked and updated version of the original rxi/lite, “A lightweight text editor written in Lua”, on MacOS ARM. Here are some findings.

iOS 12.5.6 for 8-9 year old iPhones!

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Last Wednesday, August 31^st 2022, Apple released iOS 12.5.6. This Security Update fixes a WebKit vulnerability that “may have been actively exploited.” Users of newer devices will not care, but I cannot overstate how significant this is as a demonstrable commitment to security.

Amazing CSS icons at css.gg

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I recently stumbled upon a collection of amazing icons “drawn” with nothing more than CSS! Visit css.gg and browse through 700+ incredible icons created (coded) by Astrit.

Shortcuts on macOS: A review

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This is an opinion piece on Shortcuts v5.0 (1144.2) for macOS Monterey v12.0.1. Readers of my blog know I use Automator, AppleScripts, and shell scripts to get stuff done. So I was curious to see if I could replace all these with just Shortcuts. TL;DR: no, no I can’t.

3600 MHz RAM on AMD B550

Tue, 11 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Up until a couple of weekends ago, I’d been running my Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8 GB RAM at 3600 MHz on my ASRock B550M Steel Legend and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. In fact, I did even better than XMP settings, with a stable system even though I pushed RAM timings by reducing CAS 18 to CAS 16. Then, I upgraded my motherboard BIOS to AMD AGESA AM4 v2 1.2.0.2… and now I can no longer run at 3600 MHz!

Of mice and... keyboards

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I have a desktop PC and a notebook, both sharing a mechanical RGB keyboard, RGB mouse, and “air mouse” (which I use as a media remote control). This post describes my setup.

What I learnt shopping for decent computer speakers

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I was looking for “decent” budget computer speakers… I’ll be the first to admit that I know nuts about this topic, but, after some research, I landed up getting the Edifier R1280DBs launched sometime H1 2020. Here are some things I learnt while researching my purchase.

North Bayou H80 Monitor Mount Review

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Since building my Ryzen-based Windows desktop, I have had a bad case of G.A.S. or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. This time I wanted an adjustable monitor mount to fit my old-fashioned computer table. I couldn’t find well written reviews nor a comparison with a similar model, so here is my opinion of the H80 and F80 monitor mounts / arms by North Bayou.

1stPlayer DK keyboard and mouse review

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I bought a cheap-ish mechanical keyboard from 1stPlayer, the DK 5.0 Lite 87 along with the DK 3.0 mouse. I called this purchase “a mistake” as I am not quite satisfied with the physical build and the very poorly designed software. So, I figured I might as well do a short review that may help prospective buyers.

Quite the year... for silicon

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We will remember 2020 for all the wrong reasons, but on a lighter note, 2020 has been quite the year… for silicon!

The incredible performance of Apple’s M1 and A14 (@ 5m).
AMD crushing Intel with its Ryzen 5000 series CPUs (@ 7nm).
The neck-and-neck race between the AMD Radeon (@ 7nm) and Nvidia RTX.
The launch of next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony.

My first PC build with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I just got myself a new desktop PC! I am not much of a Windows user, but am looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077! I have never built a PC before, so I did the research and learnt a lot. Here is what I bought and why.

An interesting Open Source Directory for developers

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’m always eager to learn about the open source tools or frameworks developers use. I found this list a good “read” :P

Choice of home screen icon with DuckDuckGo

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, just as I post my method of creating a shortcut with an icon of my choice on the iPhone home screen - which I demonstrated with Firefox - along comes a browser that allows a choice of icons out-of-the-box!

RIP Grab.app in macOS Catalina 10.15

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I previously kept Grab.app on Mojave 10.14 by simply copying it over from High Sierra 10.13. I prefer the simplicity of Grab over the new Screenshot.app, and I hate that Screenshot adds a drop shadow.

About the Windows Sandbox

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Starting with Windows 10 May 2019 update, there is a new Windows Sandbox feature, which, despite its name, is based on Windows Containers.

The Impossible Burger

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This isn’t a food blog, but I can’t help myself. Just last week, I had The Impossible™ Burger (emphasis on The)!

Do NOT update Parallels Desktop Lite - it's no longer free

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If, like me, you use Parallels Desktop Lite, then I have bad news for you. It’s no longer free to run macOS or Linux, so DON’T update it if you still want to use it!

Mojave's Screenshot.App and the previous "Dark Menu Bar and Dock" feature

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I know this is very late, but I wanted to post two things I noticed with macOS Mojave regarding the new Screenshot.App tool and Dark Mode.

iOS 11 "likes" and "not likes"

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I admit, my title is misleading. This is a list of mostly “not likes” with iOS 11. Why few “likes”? Because there is enough written elsewhere singing the praises of iOS 11 and detailing “what’s new”. Maybe my dislikes will help you decide if (when) you want to upgrade…

Workflow is a great start to learning to code

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

In August 2016, GE’s CEO said he wanted every new hire to learn to code. And I must say, I do agree! In today’s digital, data-driven, self-service world, everyone should learn to code. But, to clarify, I’m not necessarily referring to programming in C# or Swift (like I do), but rather “coding” for automation.

My list of great free apps for macOS

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Here is my list of free, macOS apps that I have installed and use often. Many are also open source! When I first got my Mac I searched the internet for lists of useful apps but found most outdated. I decided to compile this list as part of a cleanup and “audit” of what’s useful IMHO.

Trying out KeeWeb and MiniKeePass password manager

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been a long time iOS 1Password user, but recently started looking at alternatives. I discovered KeePass, KeeWeb and MiniKeePass, all open source.

macOS Sierra - a half-hearted update

Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve updated my MacBook to macOS Sierra, and it’s rather underwhelming and half-hearted IMHO. And yes, dear eagle-eyed reader, Apple capitalizes the Mac in MacBook but not the Mac in macOS - what a confusing naming (lack-of-)convention. Still, macOS is a better name than OS X (can you say OS 10 10.X instead?)

Horrible Spotlight "Suggestions in Look up" feature in iOS 10

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve stumbled on another “feature” that iOS 10 has mangled - Spotlight Suggestions in Look up. What does this double speak even mean? Worse, I can’t even get rid of “Look Up” and revert my beloved “Define”.

iOS 10 on iPhone 6 - the cons

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I have updated to iOS 10, and so far, I’m really not impressed, since it brings so few features that I care about that work on my iPhone 6 and in my region.

Grav updated to 1.1.1

Sun, 17 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I just updated Grav to 1.1.1!

New limitations imposed on free Apple Developer account

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

About a month ago, I discovered Apple had imposed new limitations on the free Apple Developer account. This limits the period that an app can run on your phone to 7 days (due to Provisioning Profiles) and the number of changes you can make to the project (not the source code, but Capabilities like App Groups).

Macs are so Expensive (Relatively Speaking)

Fri, 11 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I just bought a MacBook Pro! Prior to this, I’ve only been exposed to Windows and a smattering of UNIX/Linux… until now. What really struck me was the price! Total sticker shock, and that was before Apple raised prices on 14 Oct 2015!

Free tools for OS X developers

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A short list of free tools I find useful for blogging and web development! Includes Microsoft Visual Studio Code, ImageOptim, ForkLift 2 and Commander One.

Why I chose Grav CMS

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

In starting this blog, I installed and tested various Blogging and Content Management Systems (CMS), finally settling on Grav. Here’s why I like Grav.