From the Couch of Ben Johnson

Father, Principal Engineer at Prodigy Education, serial hyperbolist.

How has no one rebooted Captain Planet yet?

Was woken up in the night by the kiddo while I was in the middle of a dream about updating the firmware on my Bluetooth headphones. Thrilling.

Finished a whole 20kg bag of flour. Never thought it would happen, but much bread and pizza was enjoyed.

A reminder to all those trying something new: give yourself permission to suck at first. In unrelated news, my first baguette:

For all the complaints about Apple’s current software quality, Keynote on the iPad is a work of art (especially with the pencil).

Guilherme Rambo wrote the definitive guide to CloudKit. If only Apple’s own docs were this good.

I’m really impressed by the look and feel of this WWDC. If they did this from now on I wouldn’t mind at all. It’s a better experience for those of us who have always watched from home.

I was wrong! Actual Developer Kit Mac Mini Hardware for the ARM transition.

I wish newspapers like the NYTimes or the Globe and Mail would let you pay a little more to turn off all the ads. Paying for “Unlimited Digital Access" but then also getting ads is a bit of a slap.

Lots of people are talking about what Apple is going to do with ARM test hardware. My bet: iPad as an XCode build target with a custom version of Sidecar (or a reverse Sidecar). Still a Mac app but it can borrow the processor in the iPad.

Yeah, Apple is on the wrong side of this fight with Hey. Requiring this insane degree of nuance in the rules is not a good look. There’s no way Basecamp could have guessed this would be an issue.

My son has been falling asleep with help from the sounds of Dark Noise. For some reason, the sound he likes the most is Lawn Mower. Siri has gotten wise. 🤦‍♂️

They’re renaming Aunt Jemima and Uncle Bens. I honestly can’t believe that this took 130 years. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.

This is a really good post from Andrew Canion on replicating some of the features of Hey.com in Mailmate. I’ve been using Mailmate for years but still feel like I’m just scratching the surface.

The thing about my philosophy degree that has stuck the longest is the ability to see and empathize with all sides of an argument. This is a blessing and a curse.

I’m a sucker for any behind-the-scenes-of-business-during-a-crisis story, but this one is even about baking! Inside King Arthur Flour, the Company Supplying America’s Sudden Baking Obsession 🍞

Whoa. The Amazon iOS app now lets you purchase Kindle books. I guess the deal with Apple extended beyond Prime Video…

Can’t say enough good things about The Original Bug Shirt. The feeling when you’ve got 10 bloodsuckers trying to get at your face and they can’t get in. Priceless. 🦟🛑

My mother-in-law bought me a nice basil plant to support my pizza habit. Makes much more sense than the incredibly expensive small containers of supermarket basil. 🍕🥬

“Mr. Trump said he planned for a police and law enforcement presence to “dominate the streets” and said he would respond with an “overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled.”

Oh, well then. I’m sure that will fix the underlying problem.

The difference 15 minutes makes. I pulled the one on the left early because my kiddo and I had to leave for our hike. They’re both the same dough. White with a poolish. 🍞

More pizza progress. Kids, margarita, pesto, mushroom, and all dressed. 28 hour proof then frozen. This is the first time trying it with frozen dough balls and they worked out great. 🍞

The fold in the SpaceX Spacesuit reminds me of the grille on the original Tesla Model S. It’s not nessesary or functional but somehow it makes everyone feel more comfortable. A thoughtful design.

“Collect a variety of sticks and line them up in order from shortest to tallest!”

My son’s poor teachers are trying so hard. That’s a load-bearing exclamation mark.

My father-in-law redeemed the free year of Apple TV+ and was incredibly confused when in the app he seemingly still had to pay for TV. When I saw Dustin Curtis’s post on the naming confusion I laughed, but seeing it in person, it isn’t really funny.