I'm pretty bitter about it all still, but it's a combination of a lot of things beyond this particular bit I shared. All I can say is I'm glad I am no longer in that role, it was slowly killing me.

I’ve abandoned that role and have gone back to an IC role and I’m much happier for it.

If you’re on Linux, using iCloud to add files there should be easy enough as well. Then I just added them as I needed them. I’m on a Mac though so it’s a bit easier.

Sounds like you found a solution though.

I also have a Pixel 7 that I use primarily as a home phone stuck on a cheap very few minutes pre-paid plan. I've used it at home on wifi a number of times just to try it out. I think it's... fine? App quality is definitely a negative as I find as a Mac user that some of my favorite developers are better at making iOS apps, or their app is simply not available on Android at all and the alternatives are not nearly as good.

If not for that I probably wouldn't care from a usability perspective, but I still think Apple's focus on privacy and security tend to win out overall. That said, I now carry around a camera with me 90% of the time so I suspect I will be downgrading to a standard iPhone when I upgrade next if the camera carry continues. When I need super pocketable, I use a Ricoh GR, when I need small but great a Fujifilm X100VI, and when I want to go big I have a Sony a7cr full frame camera (still a small camera but FF lenses are much larger than APSC lenses)

My sump pumps are literally one of my biggest home ownership worries.

it was a heck of a trip though. I had a couple of up and down days but generally, it was a good one. It was my first hike, and it was a multi-day hike. So, in some ways I bit off more than I should've lol

REALLY good book and made me think very differently about beavers. Highly recommend it!

Edit: The section of the book dedicated to European beavers is much smaller than the American counterpart, in case that matters. I do think the coverage was good on both sides though.

In tablet mode, iPad OS. Touch being the primary operation. Basically just as we see it now.

In a pseudo desktop mode, macOS, where you get the power of a laptop in a smaller form factor. You can optionally try to use this in touch mode in a pinch but it's not necessarily designed for it.

The win would be seamless switching. Including apps... if I have photoshop open on iPad, dock, convert to Photoshop for Mac. I.e. you "dock" your iPad and it converts to a more Mac-like experience. Undock, you get the iPad experience.

To me, this would be ideal. I don't generally _need_ a laptop for personal use, so this would be a serious boon for me as I use my iPad all the time in the evening for simple consumption, but I also have a MacBook over here that gets used a few times a week, which is a costly device for how little it gets used.

Screen. The Pro screens are better. How much that matters is up to you. Given I am into photography and wanted to have the nicer screen this mattered to me. You can also get the nano-textured glass on the Pro but I don't believe you can on the others. This is a super pricey option though.

Processor. The Pro has M4, Air has M3.

USB-C port differences. I believe the Pro line have faster USB-C transfer speeds. Not sure if this has changed but it used to be a thing.

I skipped the Apple Pencil this time around, I just didn't use it enough with my previous iPad Pro to justify getting it again. I've had it for two months, so far I am happy with the decision.

There are probably others, so your point is certainly valid, that it is a pain to find the legitimate differences that might matter without digging into the specs.

On top of that, I am no expert top of the job market software engineer. If I lose this job I am going to be competing against people significantly better than me because so many others have (or will) be losing their jobs. Basically, this is the potential beginning of the end of my career.

Thankfully, I think I'm okay through this year, and probably next... but after that, completely a mystery. And that's only because we have agreements for funding through 2026. There are no guarantees beyond that.

I keep hearing stuff like this, but it doesn't seem to be widespread enough to seem to matter, at least in my circle. There's this whole topic of conversation where there's this voter regret thing. I'm in Michigan, so there's been a few of these I've seen proclaiming the Muslim community are having regrets voting for Trump (it was a big thing around the election due to the whole Gaza situation, because voting for Harris was apparently not going to be enough). But I am worried I'm just seeing bullshit propaganda and these types of things aren't actually what's happening because everyone I've talked to seem to be content with the way things are going. It's incredibly weird.