Notices by Jim Nielsen (jimniels@mastodon.social)

@manualdousuario yeah like i have my kids android mp3 players, which are usb-c, but they don't work with my apple usb-c cables and so now i have to remember to bring the "right" chargers/cables even though they're all usb-c.

idk why it's the way it is, i just know it doesn't work ha

@manualdousuario I have a block battery/charger with usb/c but it has multiple ports but you have to plug into the right port depending on the device and some devices won’t charge on the same usb/c cable they need a different one.

Whereas something like this just has ports. Plug it into any one and it figures it out (or so I hear)

https://www.twelvesouth.com/products/plugbug-multiport-usbc-charger-with-find-my

I want the process of charging my device to take up zero mental bandwidth.

It used to be simple — that's my charger & device, plug it in, it works.

Now using a charger is like using a computer.

"It's not working?"
"Did you look at the screen? What's it say?"
"Try unplugging it / plugging it back in. Does it work now?"

To err is human.

To err continuously is agentic.

@manualdousuario oh interesting...i guess that kinda makes sense. and also i'm sorry ha

My #macOSTahoe keeps getting stuck in this weird state

- use computer at night (in dark mode)
- wake up in AM, turn on computer, it switches to light mode
- various tabs and UI elements in Finder, Mail, etc. get stuck in hydrid light/dark

If i go manually change modes at system level, they stay stuck in this "hybrid" mode.

Been this way for like months. Happen to anybody else?

@manualdousuario @mray TY for the links!

I miss the music app that was centered on _my music_

Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, these were the primary axis of navigation — the Nouns of the system.

Now I get Discover, Radio, New, all _their stuff_ while my stuff is tucked away under “Library”

@mray what app do you use for your music collection?

I keep thinking of that phrase — something like, “They reduce the meaning of the word to that which their machines can achieve.” And now I just see it everywhere.

- They made artificial "intelligence".
- They made a "browser" in a weekend.
- They added “presence” to the UI.

Rich human concepts narrowed to fit what a technology can achieve, then they lay claim to the name.

I hope you enjoy my site.

It took a lot of effort — to keep it this basic haha

@manualdousuario love it. Glad you found some inspiration too! My notes are my favorite form of blogging ha :)

@manualdousuario saw it when i visited here https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/building-a-mobile-friendly-form-with-email-domain-suggestion--pre-31048t

lol, "responsible" is doing a lot of work in this cookie banner

idk if i'm the minority in this, but i never liked the "icon for every item in menus"

it's extra noise to me.

Apple always felt like one of the hold outs on this. I could always reference them when I had this design argument.

But now with tahoe, they gave in and I feel increasingly isolated on my island of "exclude icons in context menus"

📝 I'm a curmudgeon for doing menu items without icons (unless you can give a good reason to include them).

And apparently Apple used to recommend the opposite of what they now do in Tahoe.

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/icons-in-menus/

@rodriguezcommaj dude, your website is beautiful.

that is all.

@manualdousuario interesting read, thanks for sharing!

John Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls talking about when they made the song “Iris” and how it was more of a produced song than they’d ever done, which worried them because they started to think:

“’Oh my God, are we sell outs?’ That was a very big deal back then. Now everyone is trying to sell out as hard as they can. There is no such thing as selling out now, which is interesting.”

@manualdousuario @octothorpes @buttondown clearly we need a top-level “.rss” so that could be redirected to rssrssrss.rss