Headworx

Despite all the progress in all categories where technology is involved, we have not moved much on the energy production front. Surprisingly, it is still the bad old coal and oil, which we burn to propel things, make living comfortable (HVAC) and light our nights. Widespread nuclear, not to mention small scale fusion, is still the thing of a distant future. And it will probably keep getting worse before it starts getting better. But production is not the biggest energy issue we are facing. The real issue is distribution - or - to be precise - the power transmission grid. It is already saturated today. And the reason is: electrification of everything. Total electrification, pushed as the center of the politically correct "green" agenda means we need to triple the electricity capacity. TRIPLE. See the recent discussion between Lex Fridman and Elon Musk : So energy usage right now is roughly one third, very rough terms, one third electricity, one third transport, one third heati...

eSIM is not an Apple-specific feature, although Apple's push motivated mobile carriers to properly support it. It can be used as a regular SIM card, but without the physical SIM. The installation process, rather than using a paper clip to open the SIM card tray, is to use the system feature or an App. In my example I have been using an eSIM from Truphone, which is supported by a very convenient app. But maybe before we dive into the details - what is the problem eSIM is solving? Well, it allows to buy a SIM card without buying a (physical) SIM card. And that makes things super convenient when, while traveling, you want to buy a local SIM card to have inexpensive internet access. Data roaming charges are still a nightmare, especially as the speeds reach hundreds of Megabytes per second. That is very often $50 or more PER SECOND for Internet access (and you thought your hotel's WiFi at $9.99 per day was expensive...). That is why people swap SIM cards before landing on internatio...

Everything comes to an end and so does the x86 architecture, probably taking down Intel with it. Arm has always been an alternative but coming from the low end, had never been considered a real threat to Intel-based desktops. Until Apple unveiled the first Mac based on the M1 processor in 2020. That was a shocker, as the Apple silicon - based machines could outpace the Intel - based ones, run the emulated x86 code, and particularly shine in performance-per-Watt.  Energy efficiency today rules everything. From buildings to transportation to computing. But we were reluctant to embrace energy efficient designs when it meant performance penalty. With the rise of Apple silicon, that penalty was no longer there. So essentially Windows remained the only market for Intel's x86 chips. Microsoft tried exploring alternative architectures, but the Windows RT launched in 2012 never gained much popularity - it was slow (due to slow processors) and had very limited compatibility (the x86 emulatio...

I have done quite a lot of travel in the last two weeks. Actually it was a full RTW circle: Poland - Hong Kong - California - Indiana - Washington - Poland. Was using the iPhone a lot for all sorts of things. The battery life has proven to be sufficient. Which is a big relief. I purchased a small universal power bank (the Anker 622 , which is both magnetic and cable and can charge other devices over USB-C too). And I have not used it, which actually is a good thing :). What has really proven to be the strength of the iOS platform is its market leading position which forces vendors to prioritize applications and services to support the Apple devices. You simply cannot afford not to. To get around Hing Kong you need an Octopus card. The issue with the Octopus is you need cash (yes, cash!) to purchase it (unless you have an account in one of the local banks). Now there is a virtual Octopus for Tourists (an iOS app which integrates with the Apple Wallet). The app actually allows you to to...