Yup, it's spring (Credit: Lance Ulanoff)
Social media order
Why is it that all social media platforms insist on trying to show me what they think is important? I get it, it’s all about engagement. For me, it’s still “What’s new?”
Depending on the day or week, my Instagram feed can feel like a heavily redacted document, only showing me certain posts while carefully hiding others deep in my feed (or not showing me them at all).
A while back, Twitter introduced “Latest” vs “Home tweets.” The former is my chronological feed and the latter is a curated one. I hate the curated one and when Twitter defaults to it, I quickly switch it back.
Last week, Twitter tried to take away that option, meaning that I would have to manually switch to Latest or chronological tweets every time I wanted to see them. It was such a bad idea that Twitter rolled it back within days.
If social media companies want people to stop seeing them as the enemy, this is exactly the kind of stuff they must stop doing. No one wants a managed version of reality. To see only what an algorithm chooses to show you. We joined these platforms because we wanted to follow the activities of certain people. We chose them and have decided we want what they have to say and show us, in the order they do it.
Social media companies do not know better than us or what’s good for us, and these moves are not about us, anyway. As I noted above, they’re engagement tweaks to encourage more scrolling, more ad feeds, and more money.
I’m glad people are saying, “no,” and companies like Twitter are getting the message.
Can EVs save us from the gas crunch?
As gas prices soared past $4.30 a gallon, I began to wonder what this might mean for the electrical vehicle market. Is this a golden opportunity?
On the face of things, it’s cheaper to “fuel up” a typical electric vehicle. Teslas, most of which have a 300-mile range, can juice up for pennies per mile. A Tesla Model 3 might cost $8 to fill its battery. Longer-range models (bigger batteries) and faster charges could cost almost twice as much. Even so, with most gas tank fill-ups costing $40 or more, this sounds like a sweet deal.
However, unlike gas-powered vehicles, EVs have never been as plentiful. Tesla makes them as fast as they can and the mainstream auto manufacturers are only just beginning to ramp up what will be considerable EV strategies. These high-tech vehicles are also suffering through the same chip shortages hitting the rest of the auto industry. EVs are generally more expensive than traditional gas vehicles. Finally, it might be harder than ever to get one because – yup – everyone has the same idea.
PC trouble
This week my Surface Pro 7 started acting up. It was failing to recognize every second or third mouse click. You have no idea how important the ability to simply click and move on is until it stops working and your productivity starts to flag.
I ran diagnostics, checking the drivers for the mouse and my Windows Update. Everything was in order. After almost a week of investigation, I decided a PC Reset might help.
I made sure all my files were backed up to OneDrive, checked which apps and settings I’d have to redo, and then pulled the rip-cord. The Reset went smoothly, but the problem was still there.
Finally, I picked up my four-year-old Surface Mouse and stared at it. Could it be the culprit? The only way to know was to swap in a different mouse, preferably a new one. Sometimes it pays to be a technologist. I had one in a drawer. I installed it (it takes less than 20 seconds) and–of course–problem solved.
Lesson: When looking for the answer to your PC problems, start small and then work your way out to progressively bigger potential issues. I did it backward.
Stay well.
See you soon.