Still No PS5: A Month Into the Restock Hunt
A month into the PS5 launch and I still can't get one — some notes on restock bots, scalper markups, and giving up on principle vs giving up for real.
The Dish Fell Down and All I Could Think About Was My Old Screensaver
Arecibo's instrument platform collapsed into the dish this week, and it sent me down a rabbit hole of memories about running SETI@home on my family's old Compaq back in 2001.
We Lost Arecibo
A few days after the Arecibo Observatory's platform finally collapsed, some thoughts on what we actually lost, and why it took this long to fall.
We're Losing Arecibo And Nobody's Talking About It
While everyone was chasing PS5 restocks this week, NSF quietly announced it's decommissioning the Arecibo Observatory after a second cable failure left the structure too dangerous to repair.
I Did Not Get an RX 6800 XT and I Have Thoughts
A blow-by-blow of losing the RX 6800 XT launch-day checkout race, and a small rant about bots eating GPU stock during a very weird month for hardware launches.
Refreshing Best Buy at 6am for a PS5 I Did Not Get
A morning spent refreshing four different retailer tabs trying to buy a PS5, and losing to bots, on the actual US launch day.
Refresh, Refresh, Refresh: My Xbox Series X Launch Day Survival Notes
Notes from a chaotic Xbox Series X launch day: why stock tracking is broken, what actually helped, and why the $219 storage expansion card still bugs me.
Big Navi Looks Great on a Slide, I Still Dont Have a GPU
AMD's Radeon RX 6000 launch event had great slides and a Ryzen 5000 chip dropping tomorrow, but after missing the RTX 3080 by three minutes in September I'm not holding my breath on actually owning one.
Big Navi Pricing Looks Great, Which Is Exactly Why I Won't Get One
AMD's RX 6000 pricing looks great on paper, but after living through the RTX 3080 launch chaos in September, I'm not holding my breath for November 18th either.
A Week With the iPhone 12 (And My Drawer Full of Old Chargers)
A week in with the iPhone 12 - the MagSafe click is great, the missing charger in the box is a little less great, and my hand cramps on those flat edges.
The iPhone 12 Box Is Missing Something
The iPhone 12 shipped without a charger or earbuds in the box, and MagSafe is back as a magnetic charging ring. Some thoughts on what that combination actually adds up to.
iPhone 12 Day, and the Case of the Missing Charger
The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro hit stores today, and the thing everyone's actually talking about isn't the 5G chip, it's the empty half of the box.