Per Joe Rossignol and Steve Moser in MacRumors:

Apple is developing a Tile-like accessory that will help users keep track of their personal belongings, such as their keys, wallets, and backpacks, according to an internal build of iOS 13 seen by MacRumors.

I am a Tile user, and have been for years. I tried and gave up on Tile’s main competitor, Trackr, because Tile worked better, despite its higher cost. I use a Tile once every few weeks or so to find my keys, but in the past I have used them to track our cars and luggage, too. A Tile fails to work when is when it is out of range of a Tile user’s mobile phone, which is pretty much all the time in the suburbs where I live.

Though it ultimately depends on price, I expect I would switch from Tile to an Apple Tile-like device, if Apple ever actually releases one. My main reasoning is that they would probably be far more popular than the Tile or the Trackr, which means that there will be more people will be tied into their network. Apple will have to allow people to opt into being part of the “Find My Item” network, I suppose, but I still think many would do so.

Of course, on the day before school starts for my daughter, her $500 ChromeBook dies due to battery problems. The ASUS flaky support website is making me yearn for Apple’s support.

I’d like to extend a hearty thank you to whoever invented Safari Reader Mode. I miss it so much on my Windows 10 work computer, on which I have to run Chrome.

I do not think my apps will be updated in time for iOS 13. Fortunately, it appears that iOS 13 will also not be ready in time for iOS 13.

I don’t want to wear my Apple Watch to sleep. I did so with a FitBit for a couple years and learned nothing of value from sleep tracking.

It’s my wife’s first day back at school (she’s a teacher) and Thursday is my daughter’s first day back. We started the school year routine today, which means earlier wake times and lots more prep for each day. I’m feeling good about things so far, which is good. Let’s see how everything goes.

I find classical music to be far more joyous when heard in person rather than on a recording.

I signed up for Disney+ using the promotional rate I learned about on the “TV Talk Machine" podcast. I would not have bothered, if not for the discount, but I bet my family will use it.

My grocery store has rolled out its enormous Halloween candy display. It is still August.

The terrible thing about being a programmer is that you regularly run into periods of incompetence that you must overcome to move forward. That may be true of most professions, but it hits me hardest in my programming work. At any rate: excelsior!

🎮 I should probably stop playing “Breath of the Wild” (I’m in the middle of my second play-through) because it keeps me up too late at night. That may be a promise to myself that I can’t really keep, though.

🎵 I am very much enjoying NPR’s New Music Friday playlist today. It helps to have two Lana Del Ray tracks and one from TOOL on the list.

Per Bobby Allyn of NPR:

Deaths caused by motorists running red lights has risen to a 10-year-high, a newly released study finds.

I would assume that those ubiquitous red light cameras aren’t working to keep people safer. AAA came to the opposite conclusion:

AAA recommends putting red light cameras in areas that have a pattern of crashes, with local law enforcement officials directly supervising the cameras. “Camera enforcement is a proven way to reduce red-light running and save lives,” said Jessica Cicchino of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

I guess so, but I bet the squad car “enforcing” the red light camera is the actual effective agent.

🎵 I am immune to the charms of “Baby Shark.”

Reid J. Epstein’s article in the New York Times captures, pretty well, the frustrations of the low- and middle tier Democratic presidential candidates who probably don’t belong in the race to begin with:

Still, some party officials lamented a system that limited exposure for lesser-known candidates. The Nebraska Democratic Party chairwoman, Jane Kleeb, a leading figure among rural Democrats, said a debate process that excluded Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana was bad for a party trying to win back voters who flocked to President Trump in 2016. “Voters aren’t even going to know who Steve Bullock is and that we have a governor representing a red state and doing it with strong progressive values,” Ms. Kleeb said. “To me it shows the strength of our party that we have so many people running.”

I know Ms. Kleeb is merely supporting her candidate, but why is he even running if he has no national presence?

Honestly, if hardly anybody knows who you are, why do you think you can win an election for President of the United States? 🤷‍♂️

As a fan and user of Apple Mail on iOS, I am not looking forward to the iOS 13 release. There have been too many users complaining about bugs. I wish Mail were somehow not bundled into the OS.

Per Brian X. Chen of the New York Times:

I’m neither a Luddite nor a cheapskate. But after testing hundreds of tech products — and buying some along the way — over the last dozen years, I’ve come to a conclusion: People will almost always get more joy from technology the longer they wait for it to mature. Cutting-edge gadgets can invoke awe and temptation, but being an early adopter involves risk, and the downsides usually outweigh the benefits.

I would be a late tech adopter too, if I got to test all the new things regularly.

I am trying to get back into drinking tea. For today: oolong.

I have no appointments on my calendar today. I’m suspicious. It’s almost too good to be true.

My mind feels cluttered today. I am very busy but not very productive. I’m getting something done, but it doesn’t feel like the important things are getting done.

From Ryan Christoffel at MacStories:

What was formerly known as Best of the Week has been changed to New Music Daily, which as its name implies, makes this a daily-updated playlist rather than weekly.

I am happy to see that Apple Music made this change. Increasing the churn rate on new music playlists should, in theory, put more artists and tracks in front of lazy but passionate music fans like me.

Zero (the fasting app for iOS) mjdescy.me

I am a big fan of the Zero app, which is a tracker for intermittent fasting. It is free, attractive, and has just enough features to keep me engaged and motivated, and no more.

Currently, my favorite feature is its Apple Watch complication, which fills up a ring (similar to the Activity app’s rings) as you progress through your fasting period. I find that filling that ring every day, and the app's cheerful notifications every morning, really help motivate me to stop snacking or having an extra meal at night.

The only thing I don't like about it is that it requires you to set up an account with an email address. While the company behind it does not appear to be abusing my privacy in any way, I would prefer that they didn’t require an account. Perhaps they will adopt Sign in with Apple when it becomes available this fall.

If you are interested in Zero, download it from the iOS App Store.

Culture critic Steven Hyden argues that U2’s Song’s of Innocence was unfairly maligned.

But looking back all these years later, I can’t help but wonder: Why were we so mad about U2 putting a free album on our phones? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live again in a pre-Trump world, where you had the luxury to get worked up about a so-called Orwellian scheme involving a melancholic late-period U2 record? Isn’t it crazy that people cared so much about this?

I listened to that album a couple times when it appeared on my iPhone, but found it forgettable. I may just give it another shot, now that I am no longer irate about getting it for free from Apple. 😜

Ransomware Attacks Are Testing Resolve of Cities Across America mjdescy.me