IKEA just announced a suite of smart home products that work with the Matter standard, including a whole slew of smart light bulbs, five smart sensors, remote controls and a smart plug. I’ve dabbled with home automation before, and I’ll be looking at these carefully to see how well they work with HomeKit. Our AppleTV is ancient, and if we upgraded to a new 4K version I could use that as the hub for smart devices, including these.
A small glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak world: Defector, the creator-owned website founded by former writers at Deadspin, is five years old and profitable, quietly publishing excellent journalism. I’ve been a member since they launched, and will continue to do so (as well as the Autopian). Today I’m adding the Baltimore Banner to this group.
Here’s a cool site to check out over coffee on a Sunday: Historic Aerials is a Google Maps-style interface where you can look up your address and walk back in time as far as they’ve got aerial photos of it. They also have topographical maps which typically go back much further. For our house, the earliest photo is from 1957 but the topo maps go all the way back to 1894.
Phillip Bump was until recently a journalist working for the Washington Post who decided to leave. He wrote thoughtfully about what institution he wanted to write for next, in his words, “…directing their accrued power responsibly.” He talks about not publishing on Substack due to that platform’s position on supporting white nationalists, but finding an institution that does good work and using his voice to build that power. See also: How to Read This Chart.
(via onfocus)
I saw a great reel on the Autopian’s Instagram feed about a beautiful harlequin Series II Land Rover spotted on its way back from Monterey Car Week the other day and immediately mashed the LIKE button. They got so much response from it, they followed up and got the full story, which is even better.
Here’s a great article on how to curate your own feed with RSS: Find a good reader app and connect to the sites you like the most through their syndicated feeds. Most modern platforms have RSS built in; it’s just a matter of digging out the URL and hooking it up. I haven’t played with an RSS feeder in years, but this is a great idea.
Here’s a 7-minute retrospective on the USCGC Taney, a Treasury-class cutter that’s currently moored in Baltimore Harbor, and one of only two surviving ships from the attack on Pearl Harbor. This channel is run by a Brit who has an entire channel dedicated to the histories of warships, something I’ve been diving into to get my mind off the world burning around me.
These days I’m drinking very light beer and mostly staying away from the brown alcohols, but the Wirecutter’s rating of canned cocktails piqued my interest, especially the Old Fashioned option. I recently bought a bottle of Bulleit’s premixed Manhattan cocktail and found it a bit harsher than what I’d been mixing at home; it’s amazing how much a proper vermouth smooths out the recipe. Given their cost per unit, I won’t be testing any of these anytime soon.
From Can’t Get Much Higher newsletter, a list of the 18 best Podcasts About Music. This is basically a Venn diagram of my favorite things. Many of these I’ve never heard before and am excited to dive into; some of these I’m already familiar with (Reply All, Heavyweight, 60 Songs that Explain the ’90’s) but demand a repeat listen.
Pitchfork did a great interview with Turnstile on the eve of their new album release: it’s great to see them repping Baltimore and getting their due. I really hope they are able to keep their feet on the ground and stay connected to their roots—it sounds like it’s working.