The View from Aristeia

Upshot: My EV options remain lousy, they'll probably get worse, and AI chatbots are still terrible search assistants.

While digitizing my analog videotapes, I came across a short 1989 demo by Bill Gaver of his SonicFinder™, an interesting piece of early work on audio in user interfaces.

After more than a decade storing photos and videos in iCloud, I decided to download my stuff to my PC and delete the copies at Apple.

A few years ago, I published a series on metadata in image files with a focus on old slides and photos that had been scanned.

It's been more than two years since I last looked into the availability of all-electric convertibles, so I thought I'd do a quick check to see where things stand now.

For six years, I've been in the market for an electric compact SUV.

Finding an Old TV Episode I recently found myself wondering about a TV episode I saw decades ago.

Yesterday I published the results of my latest testing of German grammar checking systems.

Update: I have since added Anthropic's Claude to my tested systems, and it outperformed every system I discuss below.

In March, I decided to move from Windows to Mac.

Five years ago this week my search for an electric compact SUV ended with me buying a conventional gas-powered car.

I can speak some German.

I like to travel.

Some years ago, I got it into my head that just as there are cookie cutters for cookies, there should be pie cutters for pumpkin pie.

More than three years ago, I blogged about EVs being luxury goods.

You're tootling down the road using a navigation app connected to your car's infotainment system, and you're approaching a turn in the route.

This is part 7 of my series on metadata for scanned pictures.

Today marks exactly four years since my search for a little EV convertible ended with my purchasing a gas-powered Miata.

On this day four years ago, my search for an electric compact SUV ended with the purchase of a gasoline-powered car.

I read a lot of articles about EVs (electric vehicles).

In October 2015, I found myself behind the wheel of a rental car in Bucharest, Romania.

For years, I've dreamed of a vine-covered pergola ablaze with flowers, something like this (snatched from here): In 2020, I decided to look into making this a reality.

Part 1 of my report on this project is here.

This is part 4 of a series about my designs for stained glass window panels.

This is part 3 of a series about my designs for stained glass window panels.