Many tech changes filled out this year for me. There were new devices, apps, systems, and games. My setup switched more than once. I can't imagine as much happening next year, but it wouldn't surprise me either. And really, this year’s turnover of digital tools and toys is kind of my norm.

Winter 2023

Upgraded my original Switch to the Switch OLED, selling my iPad 8th gen to help pay for the Switch. Glad I made the switch!

Changed blogging platforms from Blogger to Micro.blog. It was a fun learning experiment.

I also pushed away from Apple software, adopting 3rd-party options instead. This included a retro move of turning off cloud-computing, favoring local-first computing. For the first time, I started using Obsidian for notes and journaling.

Spring 2023

A few months later, I reverted to Apple software. When all your hardware with its default apps comes from Apple, it's so easy to utilize and it works better overall. And I’m used to it. Back to iCloud and Photos I went.

I switched blogging platforms again, from Micro.blog to WordPress.com. I also joined X, formerly Twitter, to test it out under Elon Musk's control. Within a month, I deleted it.

WWDC23 happened. I liked much of the newly announced iPhone and MacBook features. But the Vision Pro headset? I have strong doubts about its future success. I'm sure it is the epitome of AR/VR and all that. But I'm also sure most normal people will never want to compute in a headset no matter how good it is at Spatial Computing. Why? Headset wearing is fundamentally undesirable. Spatial Computing sounds cool. But I’m a nerd. Will non-nerds think it’s cool? And what’s so wrong with Mobile Computing; it’s a huge hit!

Also, after using it for less than a year, I replaced my iPhone 11 with the iPhone 12 mini. That was a surprisingly quick move. It was an affordable refurb from Amazon in excellent shape. One of my teens thus upgraded from iPhone 8 Plus to iPhone 11, which was the reason for my upgrade. His iPhone 8 Plus would no longer be supported in the Fall.

Summer 2023

Threads! A new social microblogging site from Facebook, I mean Meta. Okay, Instagram, whatever. I tried it. It was neat. I also tried Bluesky. It was all too much social media. I settled on Mastodon and still enjoy it today.

This season saw another new blogging platform for me: Neocities. I started learning more HTML+CSS, blogging on Neocities in tandem with my WordPress site.

There was also a lot of Apple stuff. New iPhones were announced. My wife got the latest iPad Pro 12.9. And I got the iPad Air 5 with M1 chip as an M1 MacBook Air replacement. I basically went iPad-only for three months.

I tried to quit wearing my aging Apple Watch that was made worse by the new watchOS. I went a week without it and survived, though my wrist felt very weird.

Fall 2023

My iPad Air was augmented by a Logitech Folio Touch keyboard case and an Apple Pencil. Both are excellent additions that expand the iPad's usefulness, which by default is an otherwise fantastic tablet computer.

On a minimalism kick, I took down the mess of wires and peripherals from my Switch dock and desktop computing setup. I went handheld only on the Switch - nice! And I went mobile only with the iPad - also nice!

I ended up putting away my Apple Watch for the long haul, going watch-less full-time. And instead of AirPods, I found a new pair of JBL earbuds that rival AirPods Pro while costing a mere $50 on sale! Still enjoying them; they’re indispensable.

Another notable change was unbundling my family's Apple One subscription plan when the company announced price hikes across the board. We kept Apple Music and upgraded iCloud storage to the next tier, leaving our monthly cost about the same.

There was another cycle when I pushed back against Apple's ecosystem reach. The local-first computing paradigm became my ideal. I was back on Obsidian and other 3rd-party apps, just like earlier in the Spring. It was like a refresh.

That refresh quickly ended! I was bored, I guess. So I thought about switching from Apple to Windows and/or Android. Greener grass syndrome. To be clear, there are distinct objective advantages going non-Apple, which was part of the draw. But in the end, I reverted hard-core back to Apple and felt relieved and happy.

Instead of being iPad-only, I got my Mac back. Seeing that my teens didn't use the MacBook Air for more than a Chromebook replacement, I reclaimed it. Doing so was a catalyst to jumping back all-in with Apple's default apps. They're really great!

I now use my MacBook at home for more heavy tasks like my HTML coding. My iPad-laptop is my mobile computer for typing on the go and sketching with the Pencil. It's also been nice to use the iPad for more of its excellent original design as a tablet. I play TCG Live on it, and sometimes my son plays TCG Live on the MacBook when we battle.

Another surprise and great upgrade this Fall was to our family gaming laptop. The hard drive was full because modern games quickly engulf 512GB. So I added a 1TB SSD to it, and I added another 8GB of RAM. It now works and plays much better, making my kids quite happy.

Most recently, I was gifted for Christmas some cool and helpful new supporting tech. One is a 15,000 mAh powerbank for charging my devices on the go. And complementing that, I got a Sunjack 25 watt portable solar charger; it works great! I'll likely share a whole post about it.

Summary

This year was a busy one in the tech sector, changing up the hardware and software setups for my computing, gaming, and blogging more than once. It's as if I'm really into these hobbies or something.

What do I predict for 2024 tech stuff? I can't see my laptop or tablet changing next year. They're both still too new and excellent. But the 15" MacBook Air is attractive. My Kindle Paperwhite upgrade from 2022 will also remain the same, I'd say. The Kindle Scribe might tempt me though.

There are two potential new gadgets for next year that would definitely tug me: a Switch 2 (because more and better Nintendo games) and an iPhone SE 4 (because of USB-C). I want 2024 to be the year I can finally say I'm all USB-C all the way.

I might leave my WordPress host for Neocities, blogging there exclusively. As for apps, I hope to stick with Apple the whole year. It just works. Leave well-enough alone, yeah? I can at least purge old notes and bookmarks while reorganizing things.