Changing the resolution is pretty easy:

1. Shut down your virtual machine (don't just suspend it; fully shut it down).
2. Open the VM's Configuration window:
3. Click the Gear icon in the Parallels Control Center, or go to the Mac menu bar and select Actions > Configure.
4. Click on the Hardware tab at the top, then select Video (or Display) from the left sidebar.
5. Look for the Resolution dropdown menu. You will generally see three options:
   1. Best for Retina2. Scaled3. Best for external displays

Best for Retina is where I’ve always lived. This option utilizes the full high-DPI capabilities of your Mac. Text is razor-sharp, but elements often look tiny or require OS-level scaling.

Out of bad luck, when resizing the VM window, the scaling of the window dropped haphazardly on me, and I instantly noticed performance improvements across the board. I moved through the settings and found the scaling had flipped to “Scaled”, and I haven’t gone back since. Text is indeed softer, but every piece of software works as intended and as designed.

I’ve been a proponent of using Windows software on a Mac for a long, long time. Some pieces of software still sit exclusively inside Windows. Rather than fighting this reality, I recommend exploring the efficiencies Parallels provides. Too many people opt to run two computers — a Mac for personal use which syncs to their iPhone and iPad, and their work-issued Windows laptop — which causes distraction, syncing issues, and poor flow. Parallels fixes this in a nearly perfect way.

Indeed, some things don’t look perfectly sharp all the time. But they work — without distraction and hiccup — and this is all that counts.

The quote:

"Rules are for those who cannot follow directions. Standards are for those who aspire to do special things."

Tim Corbin, Head Baseball Coach, Vanderbilt University

I prefer to abide by standards — by the spirit of the rule, not the technicalities of the rule.

Bauhaus Clock for iPhone and iPad is a design-first, utility-second sort of app. It’s simple, doing nothing more than tell the time in one or two locations. But how it tells the time — with its gasp-worthy combination of visual, haptics, and audio features — make it one of those delightful apps you’ll love to have on your device.

Bauhaus’s design is something you have to see to believe. Each face has the subtlest background texture to it, which is most noticeable on the larger iPad display. There’s attention to every pixel here — lume colours, numerals, clicks, and hands are all dialled in (see what I did there?) for a truly delightful experience.

The attention to detail flows through to your home screen’s widgets, though in a far smaller form factor. I’ve put one on my home screen because of its inviting design. It’s the only widget right now pulling me back to a full-colour home screen — I’ve greatly enjoyed the “clear” icon option for the last few weeks, but the Bauhaus Clock widget is better served in full colour.

You can customize a few different things in the app’s settings list by tapping on either of the clocks in the app. You can switch the seconds hand to move like a standard quartz hand, a faster mechanical hand, and a digital hand. I instantly went to the mechanical option, especially after feeling the app’s haptics kick into gear. You can also customize lime colours, pick different faces, and learn how to use Shortcuts to automatically open Bauhaus Clock when you connect your device to a charger.

Now, excuse me for the bluntness: you’ll have to get over the price. Bauhaus Clock costs more than a few bucks as a one-time purchase price. I guarantee we’ve all spent worse money on worse things, so I don’t much care for “Wow, it’s expensive” as feedback. You can tell this app took many, many hours to design and create, and that has to have a price tag.

Bauhaus Clock for iPhone and iPad is one of very few delightful apps to hit my iPhone in the last few years. It’s made with the most amount of care. It exudes beauty and class. And it does so little, you’ll find yourself simply wanting to open it to tell the time.

On replacing our now-dead first-generation HomePod

Despite the busyness at the office, I’ve had a chance to do lots of research on topics and products this week. After just about 10 years of daily usage, our first HomePod in the house has seemingly run its race — I have tried to reset, restart, and redo every step I know how to wake up the device, but the HomePod seems to be turned off for good. I reached out to my friend Marius — a genuine audio mastermind — to provide some recommendations for replacing the HomePod. Though his initial recommendation was just to get another HomePod (which is the most likely path forward, I’m thinking), he had more than a few recommendations that would look wonderful on any sideboard or home theatre system:

• Cambridge’s Evo One
• Ruark’s R410 All-In-One Music System
• Mu-So 2nd Generation

Each of these look stunning. The Ruark option is shouting my name. I have to determine whether this type of audio system would both fit our needs and work inside our living room area, but for now, I’m going to do some dreaming.

(These are obviously far superior options to my first stop: the B&O Beosound A9. You are welcome to click and buy, if you dare.)

On discovering the power of AI tools

I’ve also spent a good chunk of time playing around with new AI tools to help alleviate some of the work pressure we’re facing at the office. My research time is limited to spare moments before bed, but this hasn’t stopped my mind from being blown.

Normal Newsprint readers will be quite well-versed in tech and AI, so it might surprise you to learn I’m not that well-versed in AI. I’ve really only dug into MCP protocols and some Claude Cowork capabilities in the last 14 days or so. I’m implementing AI in some fun ways, such as keeping detailed meeting minutes, as a starting place for tax research, and as a way to improve all sorts of written communication around the office.

But the plot continues to thicken thanks to that unbearable work pressure. I have to find ways to get 40 hours of work done in 24 hours or less, and the only two options are to find new ways to do the work or to abandon the work altogether. Without giving away too many secrets, Claude has saved my bacon over the last few weeks. The generated results are equivalent to a third or fourth year accounting student. Spare minutes through the day were preparing the AI tool to process the work, while evening work slots were spent developing and executing the prompts required to get through the work.

Though I can’t find the link right now, I watched some sort of video where Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, discussed what he believes will be a shift from production to verification thanks to AI. That experts will be required to verify the results rather than process and produce the results. That there will be a shift away from repetition and towards strategic and creative thinking.

My experience this last few weeks has been Huang’s thought-process, in a nutshell. I’d send the AI tool down the path of completing the production portion of the project, and I’d spend the time verifying the outcomes. In some cases, the tool produced an outcome or result better than I could have. In others, the tool made drastic mistakes. The moulding of the two together with my human mind seemed particularly powerful — I felt more prepared in one’s project completion than I’ve ever felt, simply because I verified all the parts I expected to be true and easy, I fixed all the parts that were difficult or flat-out wrong, and I learned other parts that I would not have taken the time to complete myself if I had to produce the outcome.

Just this morning, I learned MCP connectors between Claude and Gmail can actually scour my email inbox, learn my writing style, and produce email drafts that I can verify before sending. The results have been fantastic.

I’m talking in broad generalities here, simply to help stir your mind. And though I’m behind the times — and you can laugh at me all you want — I know I am absolutely on the bleeding edge of the coin in my region, in my market, in my industry, and, I would be willing to bet, in general. AI’s speed is increasing and its break-neck pace is impossible to keep up with. Broadly speaking, general people will not yet be using these tools to work with this level of speed and precision.

I’d also like to acknowledge the general malaise I sense around AI. It could well be that I’m so far behind the times that those with malaise or AI melancholy have “been there, done that”, and that I’m going to be burnt out going down this path in the coming months and years. Perhaps. Perhaps I’m still in the naive stage of the game.

But being on the leading edge — where you watch, wait, and listen to those on the bleeding edge — has its benefits. There’s a good deal of AI acumen out there already, providing flashing warning signs around the parts that should scare me (keeping my brain sharp because of the offload of production) and providing green flags around parts that should excite me (improved effectiveness and higher value driving for customers). I prefer this approach of dipping my toe in and having my mind blown, at least vis a vis the malaise I’m sensing in the bleeding-edge world.

It’s so much fun to break ground in this arena. I am fascinated to see what it does to our business in the future.

On rediscovering my iPad

My last weekly thought: I’m finding an all-new affinity for my 13-inch iPad Pro. I’m not sure why. There’s something so easy about picking it up and reading, researching, and browsing on the couch. Having access to these newly created Claude projects also likely has something to do with it — the heavy file lifting is done on the Mac (of course), and the prompting can be done on the iPad in the comfort of my couch.

I just wanted to shout some praises for the iPad Pro. It continues to be one of those delightful devices I enjoy picking up each day.

A love letter to the Leica CL

My favourite quote, among many:

That camera taught me a lot. I took it all over the world on my travels. It showed me how powerful a simple but extremely high-quality camera can be. It also taught me something more personal — that I’m far more likely to pick up a camera and take it with me if I genuinely love how it looks and feels. And the Q is a camera I wanted to have with me. I could put on a suit, sling it around my neck and walk into a fancy restaurant and it fit right in. I could also take it through a crowded, dusty city street in India and shoot just as naturally.

One day, I’ll pen a love letter to my Leica Q2. It is, truly, one of the best tools I have ever owned.

The Second Cup

Binepad’s BNK-16 Macro Pad

In one sense, you could probably map these keys to a standard number pad layout. Though, this device is likely better suited to the left of your keyboard than to the right of your keyboard.

FloatyDo

This is the simplest to-do list app I think I’ve ever seen.

The Things I Wanted to Know Before Buying Apple’s Studio Display XDR

Here’s a wonderful review of the Studio Display XDR. I’m not sure on the website’s design, though.

Apple Frames 4

I used to use the MacStories Apple Frames shortcut all the time back in the day. It was a must-have shortcut. Now I use Shareshot for the few screenshots I do share. But in a pinch, this is a great shortcut that shows the true power of the Shortcuts app.

Quote of the Week

"Technology begins by making old work easier, but then it requires that new work be better."

Seth Godin

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

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It also happened to be a great week for space exploration. Our whole family spent Friday night in front of the TV, watching NASA’s dedicated feed for Artemis II’s return to Earth. I think, for my kids at least, it wasn’t as momentous as I was perhaps expecting — maybe there’s something about the fantasy worlds created or advanced technology surrounding them that takes away an allure of a trip to the Moon. Rewind to 1969-1972, and you don’t have the Internet, you don’t have AI, you don’t have cell phones. You don’t even have Star Wars! Perhaps there was an absolute bout of wonder 54 years ago that my girls just didn’t have this time around. Even for me — given all the remarkable feats of technology that hit the news every single day — it was challenging to envision the speeds, the precision, and the engineering required to bring those four brave astronauts home. There’s something about space that is so unforgiving and so vastly different from this beautiful Creation. I’m not sure a lowly accountant can fathom the challenges involved.

I’m going to steal a link from Nick Heer’s Pixel Envy to top off the Artemis II trip here on The newsprint. Most readers will have already visited the Artemis II-dedicated Flickr page. If you haven’t, there are some truly stunning photos here that no human camera has ever captured before.

My Review of the Nuphy Node 100

This review turned into a longer bit of writing, so I made it a dedicated post instead. Maybe it’ll do better for SEO as well? Who knows?

I purchased one of Nuphy’s base-line low-profile Node mechanical keyboards a few months ago and have used it on and off each week since. I figured it’d be good to get some thoughts out there — this is one of the most price-accessible mechanical keyboards you can find right now.

The Second Cup

Astropad’s Workbench for Mac

For years, the default remote desktop app for the Mac and iPad was Screens. I’ve tried Screens multiple times and can never work through all the firewall settings in place. I have a pretty simple Eero network, and everything I’ve tried with Screens has failed to get through. Perhaps there’s a new kid on the remote desktop block.

The Martyr’s Crown

Now, this is an interesting thought experiment. I like the discussion.

Notebooks Are Coming to Gemini

I was perplexed this last few weeks when I went into Gemini to add a group of documents — Excel sheets, PDFs, etc. — only to find that Gemini didn’t really have the capability to do this a few weeks ago. I immediately jumped over to Claude and came away pleased with Claude Projects. Of course, give it a week in the AI world, and Gemini now has the same features.

AI-Powered Google Finance

Another Google upgrade this week. I always get a little iffy when talking about stock research apps. I think, for most people, the only barometer you need to measure is whether you think the company will still be here in 40 years. If the answer to that is “No”, don’t invest. Use your own brain and second-order thinking to figure it out.

Quote of the Week

Concerning AI, and after my experiences with AI in accounting this week—

I should mention something before moving forward here. It’s interesting how often my definition of “accounting” or “taxation” or “financial reporting” differs from what people think I do each day. I am sure the same can be said for doctors or lawyers.

In the case of the following quote, “accounting” probably means “bookkeeping” — data entry and record keeping to ensure excise tax compliance, timely data for decision-making, or base data provided to professional firms for financial reporting. “Taxation” is an entirely different thing — I wouldn’t even consider it accounting. Sure, accountants do tax, but not all accountants do tax, just like not all doctors are surgeons. And “financial reporting” would align more with the production of year-end financial statements, reporting to management and shareholders, and reporting to lenders or other users of the financial statements.

So when you hear “accounting”, I think 9 times out of 10, you should think “bookkeeping”, which is something not many CPAs would work through these days.

""Doing it" goes first. Current models can parse accounting data and reformat it faster and more accurately than any accountant working manually. If a significant portion of your revenue comes from charging clients for data entry and coding, that model is already dying. Within 12 months, there won't be a justification for spending human hours on those tasks... What survives? Confidence. In 5 to 10 years, some clients will hire a CPA for one reason: insurance. The tax pro doesn't prepare, only reviews and grades his confidence level in case of litigation or an audit. Underwriting of returns and compliance will be a massive industry. Clients will be able to handle 90% of the prep, but will always want someone on their side to talk to the IRS in case of an audit. That's not worth nothing."

Roger Ledbetter, The Slow Death of Tax & Accounting Work

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

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I’ve been allergic to low-profile keyboards in the past, for whatever reason. There aren’t as many of them on the market, and they all seem to have a compromise I’m not willing to deal with. The Nuphy Node 100, for the most part, is no different — there are compromises in this low-profile keyboard that keyboard aficionados will scoff at (me included!).

But the Node 100 has one ace up its sleeve: price. This has to be one of the best value mechanical keyboards I’ve ever used. At $100 USD, you simply cannot go wrong.

Materials, Fit, and Finish

For $100 worth of materials, you’re going to get what you pay for here. This is a fully plastic keyboard. It’s quite light to move around, and it has those cheaper ABS plastic keycaps that tend to look slightly shiny after a month or so of use. Materially, there are no miracles at work here.

I do quite like the aesthetic, though. The Node 100 comes in three different colours — Lunar White, Ink Gray, and Light Pink. Ink Gray is, indeed, gray. No matter what those images look like, it is not black, or space grey, or space black, in any way. This Ink Gray is far lighter than I was expecting, to the point that I don’t feel it would fit in an all-black setup. It looks great, but it isn’t black.

I like the bits of colour Nuphy have used to highlight special function keys. I immediately moved the green, yellow, and red keys into an orientation that works well for custom keyboard shortcuts in our tax software, and it looks flat out slick.

There are some feet on the underside that you can flip up to increase the typing angle. Again, they are plastic feet, so long-term durability may be poor, but it’s there if you’d like.

Lastly, layout: I’m a giant fan of the Node 100’s key layout. It’s a “100%” keyboard, but it has more of a 96% layout in the low-profile variety. Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down all line the right side of the Enter key, making room for a full-size zero key in the number pad. This is an ideal layout for a keyboard — you get a full zero, ensuring you don’t have to change any typing muscle memory, and you get a full-size plus key in the number pad. It is so difficult to find this layout in the keyboard world.

Overall, fit and finish is of the $100 price point. It’s not great, but it’s good considering the price. The most important physical parts of the Nude 100, more than anything, is its perfect layout for anyone needing numbers in their daily work.

Typing Feel

This is my first-ever set of linear switches. Nuphy has recently debuted Blush silent linear switches, in both low-profile and high-profile varieties, and they are a great option for those who work in an office environment or who work around sleeping children. They aren’t as quiet as the Durock Silent Shrimps I have in my high-profile keyboards, but these are entirely passable for quiet environments. I’d wager they are quieter than those ultra-cheap Logitech or Lenovo options you see on every cheap office desk.

I don’t mind the feel, either. I’m not sure linear is my favourite pick — when I get going, it’s easy to get hammering down and the lack of tactical bump provides no feedback on where in the downstroke you are.

The Blush switches are quite light — it does not take much to actuate a key switch on this keyboard. For quick, light typers, I imagine this would be a dream. I can get going at a brisk speed, but I’m not as light as typer as others. The result: I make many mistakes typing on the Nude 100. It’s easily my least effective keyboard in terms of accuracy.

I’m largely positive on the Node 100’s Blush switch feel. The keycaps are pretty large and flat, and the light switch makes for an effortless actuation. When it’s really time to bear down and get work done, I can fly on this thing — but I have to be willing to go back to correct my mistakes, or have AI do some extra heavy lifting on my written work.

Other Notes

For a $100 keyboard, there are a surprising number of additional features you gain here:

• The Node 100 can be used wired or wirelessly, and comes with a little USB-nubbin’ thing you can plug into your computer to bypass Bluetooth. I’ve just used Bluetooth and it has worked great.
• The keyboard has a touch-sensitive area in the top corner that you can use to increase volume, screen brightness, or any number of customizable settings. I’ve used the feature precisely once — it was a bit sensitive and I couldn’t properly dial in the volume I was looking for. I haven’t used the feature since.
• Battery life has been stellar. I haven’t charged it since I did the initial charge out of the box. I’ve used it for, let’s say, two days a week for the last few months. I’m pretty impressed with the battery life.
• The Blush switch options are pretty great and a worthwhile recommendation. If you don’t like them, you can swap them out, as the Node 100 is hot-swappable. Again, pretty impressive for a $100 keyboard.

Summary

This was a pretty simple review for a pretty simple keyboard. At this price point, you aren’t going to get every feature under the sun — a plastic chassis, cheaper keycap plastic, and an overall lighter and cheaper feel.

Where the Node 100 really shines is in its layout, standout battery life, and surprisingly good typing experience. I actually quite like the Blush Nano switches in the Node 100. Though they aren’t my favourite switch ever, these are an easy recommendation for any office environment.

I’d recommend anyone take a look at the Node 100 to get a sense of whether a low profile mechanical keyboard makes sense for your desk, especially at $100. If you have any sense of mechanical keyboards at all, I’d suggest looking at the Air V3, and specifically if you use the 75% layout. My gripe with the Air V3 is the number pad layout — a half-zero key, and a pushing of the Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys to the top right rather than providing a few extra function keys that you can map to special shortcuts. If you’re like me in this regard, you may be stuck with the Node 100 regardless.

Diving into the resurrection story yields some stunning wisdom, and it’s the story that gives something new each year. Our pastor spoke at length today about “tetelestai”, the Greek word for “It is finished”. I don’t normally (ever, honestly) put in AI-generated content here at The Newsprint, but I figured I would include the following Gemini results when I asked Gemini “What does tetelestai mean?” The results:

The word tetelestai (τετέλεσται) is one of the most significant terms in the New Testament, famously known as the final cry of Jesus in the Gospel of John (19:30). While it is often translated as "It is finished," its cultural and linguistic background provides a much richer "paid in full" connotation.

Linguistic Structure — The word is the perfect indicative passive form of the Greek verb teleo (τελέω). Understanding the "Perfect Tense" is the key to its power:

• The Verb (τελέω): Means to bring to an end, to complete, to fulfill, or to pay a debt.
• The Perfect Tense: In Greek, this tense denotes an action that was completed in the past but has ongoing, permanent results in the present.
• The Nuance: It doesn't just mean "I'm finished with this task"; it means "This task is completed for all time, and the results will never change."

The Cultural "Paid in Full" Context — In the first century, tetelestai was a common word used in everyday secular life. Archaeologists have found ancient papyri, such as tax receipts and business contracts, with this word scribbled across them.

• Accounting and Commerce: When a debt was fully settled, the creditor would write tetelestai on the certificate of debt. It served as a legal receipt, proving the person no longer owed anything.
• The Servant’s Report: A servant would use the word when reporting back to a master after completing a difficult assignment. It signaled that the job was performed exactly according to instructions.
• Sacrificial Purity: Priests would use a related form of the word when inspecting a sacrificial animal. If the animal was found to be without blemish, it was declared "complete" or "fit" for the altar.

Theological Significance — By using this specific word, the biblical narrative suggests a multi-layered completion of Christ's mission:

• Legal/Debt: The "debt" of sin incurred by humanity is cancelled. The ledger is zeroed out.
• Prophetic: Every Messianic prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures was fulfilled.
• Sacrificial: The final, perfect sacrifice was offered, rendering the old system of animal sacrifice unnecessary.
• Active Completion: The "work" of salvation was finished by the creator; it was not left for humanity to complete or "earn."

Summary of the Term — If you were to see a bill today stamped with a big red "PAID," that is the modern equivalent of tetelestai. It is a word of finality and triumph, shifting the status of a person from "debtor" to "free."

"It is finished; the work is done, the debt is paid, and the victory is won."

What a remarkable set of results. It is finished! The job is done. The debt is paid. Then, now, and forevermore.

I’ll also share the very best Easter sermon I’ve ever heard: Alastair Begg’s “The Man on the Middle Cross”. Of course, the criminal on the cross next to Jesus presents so many corollaries — as in, what actually is the value of baptism if that criminal could enter heaven through his repentance in the very last moments of his life? Those issues are for another day, for another mind, for another conversation. For today, that man represents our chance at eternity. Thank goodness for that man! (Both men, of course.)

I hope you’ve had a blessed Easter weekend.

Beyond this, dear readers, I apologize. I have half-baked thoughts on several topics, none of which are ready to go for this current Sunday. I have a few topics to tackle in the coming weeks:

• Impressions of the Nuphy Node 100.
• My first few weeks or month with Claude Pro.
• Thoughts on the upcoming Star Wars: Maul series.
• Re-reviewing the Logitech MX Master 4 (spoiler: this is a far bigger update than what I’m reading from other up-graders.)

Perhaps I’ll call this my “sabbatical week” — hat tip to my former Blanc Media colleagues. I’ll leave you with a quote from Wesley Huff, one of my favourite apologists right now:

"And not just mercy, but grace. So, mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. So, mercy is you deserve sin in hell, but you don't get it any longer. But now, not only are you forgiven, but God then adopts you as a child. You don't deserve that. So you're not just forgiven; you are adopted into his family and given Eternal life"

Wes Huff, I Explain the Gospel to Julian Dorey

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

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I’ve learned a few things while being transparent about The Sunday Edition over the last few weeks:

• This little “newsletter” or weekly post is read by more people than I thought. My analytics and direct subscriber count are low, but it’s sent out to RSS, which I have no record of. This is good and bad, in both things I know and don’t know. The fact I’ve received so many emails recently goes to show people are reading, and I’m so, so grateful for the encouragement.
• Far-off readers (readers who may not live in the same locale) seem more interested in technology writing, while local readers appear to be more interested in the financial writing. This is interesting.
• Creativity and whatever part of my brain is used during tax time must be the same muscle; I expected to have ample energy because I’d be using a different part of my brain, but this couldn’t be further from the case.

This week, some thoughts on the Studio Display XDR and some fun links I found during the week.

Two Weeks With Apple’s Studio Display XDR

Yes, an accountant who uses the Studio Display XDR. What a joke! And it probably is a joke, but I truly don’t care. This is likely a 10+ year display and I finally have the best Apple display you can buy. My opinions of it are reflective of it being the most expensive Apple display you can buy — there’s some great stuff packed into this otherwise-recycled design.

120Hz refresh rate is the feature I didn’t know I would love. I suppose I’ve experienced this sort of smooth refresh rate on the iPad Pro, iPhone Pro, and MacBook Pro, but I didn’t think I’d notice it on the large 27-inch display. Instead, to me, this is the most important new feature in the Studio Display XDR. Smooth scrolling, smooth video, smooth cursor movement — everything is buttery smooth across the entire operating system, and it’s such a joy to use.

Conversely, sometimes you’d like to show off a particular feature that makes regular passersby go “Wow!”. 120Hz is not going to bring about any “Wows!”. Non-tech folks are so used to this sort of refresh rate in their iPhones that they somewhat expect the same behaviour from a large Studio Display. It’s difficult to convince anyone that this level of smoothness is worth such an investment.

Also of note: macOS will downgrade refresh rates to the lowest common denominator if you have a second external display hooked up to your Mac. I tried to use the XDR beside a first generation Studio Display and macOS immediately downshifted the XDR’s 120Hz rate to its common 60Hz refresh rate. I wasn’t prepared to spend this kind of money only to use the display in 60Hz mode, so I moved the second Studio Display somewhere else.

I am growing annoyed of Apple’s constant need to recycle parts, designs, and manufacturing processes. Tim Cook’s logistics expertise is at the heart and soul of Apple’s extraterrestrial share price. His ability to lead manufacturing of tens of millions of devices at the highest possible quality and ship all over the world in under a week is what has led to Apple’s economies of scale. That same manufacturing prowess is on full display in something like the Studio Display XDR.

Instead of put the mini-LED and 120Hz refresh rates into a new package, Apple opted to design a Studio Display that looks effectively identical to the prior generation. (The XDR is slightly thicker than the first generation Studio Display; it’s immediately noticeable when side-by-side.) I’m sure the XDR is produced on the same manufacturing line. It appears to use the same packaging to be delivered. It uses the same potato camera and the same speakers as the lower tiered Studio Display. It uses the same smaller 27-inch display size. What an absolute shame this is only 27-inches diagonally.

Everything about the XDR’s physical production appears to be recycled and reused. And no, at this price, this is not an exciting thing to me. I want to arrive at the office, look at my display, and instantly remember that I have the newest toy.

The bright 2,000 nit mini-LED display is beautiful, especially when viewing 8K content. I immediately noticed the difference in the bright whites and the black blacks when comparing the XDR to the first generation Studio Display. The first generation Studio Display was actually poor in this regard — many light leaks and poor contrast provided distraction in certain environments (specifically, for me, when watching Star Wars shows with lots of black space content). The XDR completely fixes this shortcoming, and it’s almost as instantly noticeable as the 120Hz refresh rate.

I also don’t think I understood the impressiveness of HDR content until I viewed some on the XDR for the first time. I simply YouTubed an 8K HDR video to experience the full capabilities of the display, and I let out an audible gasp while watching.

Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know, and I honestly didn’t know how beautiful 8K HDR content could truly be.

I’ve run into a few software or graphical glitches, and I hope there’s a fix coming. I regularly (by regularly, I mean between 10 and 15 times a day) catch the XDR display glitching out, including a flashing pointer, duplicated pointers, invisible pointers, or skewed pointers. It seems the fix is to either scroll the mouse over to the MacBook Pro’s display, or moving the mouse from one side of the display to the other seems to do the trick.

I’d be curious if there are two channels at play here (one left and one right) and that the sheer amount of data running through the cable gets crossed up or something.

These glitches are annoying at worst. They don’t shut down or inhibit my work in any way. Though, if I were a designer and my mouse pointer was the actual piece doing all the work, I think I’d be more than mildly annoyed.

My ears aren’t trained enough to hear a difference in the XDR’s audio capabilities. I’ve always felt the Studio Display speakers were pretty good, and I most certainly cannot tell a difference between this and the first generation Studio Display. I also can’t tell a difference in microphone quality when recording Loom videos or speaking in a Google Meet meeting.

I have noticed, however, the M4 Pro MacBook Pro suffering a bit with lags when preparing a Loom video. My little talking-head bubble in the corner (which I regularly shoot with the XDR’s built-in camera) is almost always laggy — I can see myself jumping from frame to frame in the video while recording. Now, when actually producing and sending to a client, that video is much smoother. Something seems to be going on when working live.

And lastly, my one particular wish is that there was one more USB-C port on the back of the Studio Display XDR. This is largely a nitpick, but I think it’s real. I plugged my now-old OWC Thunderbolt 4 dock into the second Thunderbolt 5 port in the back of the XDR, leaving only two USB-C ports remaining. I connect a Logitech Bolt receiver into one of those ports for my MX Master 4. It’s not often where I need more than that one USB-C port, but I know for a fact others will want more than one port available in the back of this display.

The reason this irritates me: I am willing to bet Apple is recycling a manufacturing process here, and rather than bore a new USB-C port into the back of the XDR display, they opted to keep the same number of holes in the back of the chassis and only update the internal components to add a second Thunderbolt 5 port. To me, two USB-C ports represent a “good enough” approach. At this price tag, “good enough” is far from good enough.

I can’t imagine 6 months with the Studio Display XDR will produce too many additional thoughts beyond what I’ve outlined above. I’ve contemplated bringing the XDR home for the sake of being able to watch TV shows on it and making better use of that mini-LED glory. But there’s also something about knowing there’s a $5,000 CAD display sitting in my basement used for maybe 2 hours a week. Perhaps a truly lengthy test of those capabilities would yield some new opinions.

Instead, the Studio Display XDR has provided a great experience so far, but falls short on the expectations I thought I would have had if I had ever been able to work on a Pro Display XDR. I’ve always enjoyed using a Studio Display, and that enjoyment certainly isn’t gone. It’s just that I was expecting more for this price.

I am simply an accountant, though. As I’ve been told time and again, no accountant needs this type of display just to view spreadsheets.

(Trust me though, you’d be surprised.)

Brutalist CISO Notes

I had a truly friendly reader reach out after one of my prior discussions on the futility of building a second brain. He provided a link to his self-created “Brutalist CISO Notes” guide, in which he showcases how he takes notes each day. A quote from the site:

The more elaborate the system becomes, the less it gets used. It quietly turns into a digital attic. Things go in. Very little comes back out. You end up managing the system instead of the system serving you.
What actually works at this altitude is not knowledge management. It’s operational memory.
A CISO notes system only has three real jobs. Capture fast. Preserve decisions. Drive action.
Everything else is overhead.

In some ways, this reminds me of the Bullet Journal methodology, or Patrick Rhone’s Dash/Plus system, which I still use in my notes to this day. Perhaps I can adapt the Dash/Plus system with a few pointers from this CISO Notes guide.

The Second Cup

Bleep

This is app one of two this week that reminds me of MyMind. To me, MyMind looks a bit more automated and automatic, while Bleep looks to require a bit more of your customization.

Spatial

And app two of two that reminds me of MyMind. I would suggest Spatial and Bleep are largely targeting the same audience here, though I think Spatial has a tad bit more flair to it. The onboarding experience was really, really well done.

Plain Text Accounting

I’m not sure I’m technical enough to pull this off, and the simplicity of this type of system would likely make my blood boil. Overall though, if you’re looking for something quick, easy, and painless to keep sense of your internal accounting records, and you have a bit of technical know-how in your arsenal, this could be a fun little system.

Steve Kerr’s Handwritten Letter to the Blue Jays’s John Schneider

Greatness, meet greatness. Player-first coaches like Schneider always make me a bit weary — I don’t believe you can lead a clubhouse by pleasing each player. But some guys just have “it”, and it seems Schneider just has “it”. The Jays are off to a great start this year and the clubhouse seems to have picked up right where they left off after that heartbreaking October.

Maurizio Baldassari Basket Weave Virgin Wool Cardigan

Pricey, but beautiful. I love me a good crossover between a sweater and sport jacket. This is right up my alley.

Quote of the Week

“And it’s not always about looking the best: intentionally dressing casually to a formal meeting sends a powerful message about who holds the power.”

Morgan Housel, The Art and Science of Spending Money

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

P.S. — If you’d like to see this in your email inbox, please subscribe below. If you have trouble subscribing, shoot me an email, and I’ll get you on the list. Thanks for the consideration!

I had the chance to jump on the ice the last two weeks with a group of local men. Though the hockey is unorganized, it’s been wonderful to get out there, work in a sweat, and battle through some friendly competition. There’s something about that hockey adrenaline rush that becomes so physically satisfying for your body and soul in so many ways.

It can go too far, though.

I found myself talking to different sets of folks this week about my experience as a hockey official. Hockey was remarkable to me in my teenage years and early 20s — I had the chance to work Junior A hockey at the age of 15, I skated in the first ever Winnipeg Jets training camp, and I worked elite level games that featured current NHLers like Matt Barzal. Most importantly, I met many fantastic people, expanded my network of connections for the future, and learned how to deal with conflict in situations few people can understand.

But full transparency: That conflict gets to you after a while. I worked Junior A hockey in my hometown as a head official in my early 20s, and I had people I looked up to shouting at and berating me from the stands. I had local leaders attempt to breakdown doors and break their sticks over doorknobs. Not only that, but I had young kids booing me and calling me an idiot to my face. I was spit at more times than I can count. Let me tell you, I have some stories.

“It’s part of the game,” they say. And it is part of the game, until it’s not. I had someone recently quite literally say “Yeah, but Josh, you knew what you were getting into when you signed up to officiate.” You don’t know what you’re getting into. No young official who signs up at 12 years of age can understand the feeling of people you have respected your entire childhood booing and swearing at you.

While you’re in the role, it’s part of your identity. You put on a brave face, hit the ice, and be the best judge you can be at a breakneck speed. You smile and laugh when someone cuts you deep. You shrug off the fan insulting your spouse. You ignore the local police officer, who, after being called for a penalty on the ice, threatens to call you in after a game. You put up with it because any small crack will lead to a valley for a hockey player to gouge you. You must appear unflappable, for anything else will lead to utter chaos.

Very brief moments over the last two weeks reminded me of those brutal moments from the past. Something comes out in people on the ice. Perhaps it’s the Zamboni fumes unlocking an inner zombie in most hockey folks. Whatever happens, it’s brutally exhausting, brutally embarrassing, and absolutely worthy of following your reputation when you leave the rink. If something makes you become an animal on the ice, you need to leave the game behind.

If someone asked me to ref a hockey game today, I wouldn’t last five minutes. The very first shout and I’d come unglued. I’d be part of viral videos showcasing a referee attempting to fight a coach or a fan. I no longer believe I’m capable of suppressing the kind of emotion I suppressed as a young man, working through the ranks as a hockey official.

Hockey is a chicken soup for the body. It provides just the right amount of competition to get your blood flowing. It provides the chance to share and converse with other men. It provides a chance to escape the stresses of a hard business day.

But it can go too far. If you’re an animal when the puck is dropped (or when the first pitch is thrown, or when the ball is tipped off), leave the game behind. Your actions follow you and will destroy relationships in the future.

Everyone has a story

Aleem Shaun:

I was recently reminded of a word that isn’t found in a standard English dictionary. The word, sonder, was coined by John Koenig in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. It’s a French word meaning to plumb the depths, but the English version is defined as the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

I appreciate self realizations like this. It is through these realizations that humanity can build back bridges and heal.

Shaun concludes:

But I am also aware that some people have a greater responsibility and a greater need for sonder than others. People who hold decision-making power that impacts an entire community, nation or nations. People who hold ideologies that consider some people more human than others. People who hold the power of life and death and are willing to enforce it are the ones who need sonder the most.

This I disagree with.

People with power do absolutely require a greater need for sonder, but that does not preclude people with less power from needing that level of sonder. This double standard allows someone with less perceived power to be a jerk, while someone with more perceived power is to be held to an immeasurable higher standard. This is an unfair way of thinking and acting.

Worry less about the log in your brother’s eye and worry more about the log in your eye. Hold your own need for sonder to the same level as you hold your brother’s need for sonder.

Note that though I disagree with this conclusion, I still love this sort of piece from Aleem Shaun. Everyone has a story, and discovering those stories is one of the most amazing things that keeps us uniquely human.

The Second Cup

Hästens Grand Vividus Bed

My wife and I are looking at new mattresses, so I naturally typed in “Best mattress money can buy” into Google. This is what came up. I had a good chuckle.

Incase’s Compact Ergonomic Keyboard

This appears to be the Microsoft Sculpt, Version 2.0. Made by Incase. Designed by Microsoft. My world for a number pad edition. The Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard was my favourite keyboard of all-time.

A $200,000 Star Wars Lego Set

My favourite part of this is the random set of Clone Wars episodes he chose to model the set after. The Geonosis episodes with Luminara and Offee were great, albeit a little creepy.

Eugenio Suárez’s World Baseball Classic Championship Interview

Most Canadians were cheering against the United States for the wrong reasons. I was cheering against the United States because it felt like it would be so fresh to have someone other than one of the baseball giants to hoist the trophy. Venezuela did not disappoint. I will likely never forget the way the team all stood up and shouted their anthem in all its glory. I don’t think any pro sports championship has yielded that kind of joy shown by the Venezuelans this week.

Quote of the Week

“Instead of condemning people, let's try to understand them. Let's try to figure out why they do what they do. That's a lot more profitable and intriguing than criticism; and it breeds sympathy, tolerance and kindness.”

Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

P.S. — If you’d like to see this in your email inbox, please subscribe below. If you have trouble subscribing, shoot me an email, and I’ll get you on the list. Thanks for the consideration!

It’s the time of year or where my workflows and habits are really put through the grinder. If a habit is going to last for me, it has to get through the depths of a tax-season-March. And the list of habits I’m shedding is growing by the day:

• I’ve written a Sunday Edition post for about 70 straight weeks, and I’m going to narrowly hit the deadline today.
• I’ve successfully worked out for 5 or 6 days a week for the last year and a half. That fell by the wayside this week.
• I’ve planned my task list and daily time blocks consistently for the last 4 months. Nope, that habit was crushed this week.
• I’ve read five complete books since mid-December. I didn’t pick up a book once this week.

This March-grind is a truly great testing ground for habits that actually improve my life. If they improve life, I’ll work doubly hard to make it happen. But if it’s just a habit for habit’s sake, then it’ll die. I guess there’s no sense in completing unnecessary stuff each day for the sake of “keeping my habits”.

Now, on that note, I’ve struggled to find time this week for this Sunday Edition. So below is a somewhat longer piece I published a long time ago about Registered Education Savings Plans. I continue to have conversations with friends, family, and clients about RESPs. They are out-of-this-world good investment vehicles.

How RESPs Are the Best Investment Tool When You Have Kids

A Registered Education Savings Plan is the most powerful way to save for your child’s future. Pretty definitive, but I mean it. RESPs are easy to set up and easy to contribute to, and you can receive an incredible 20% kick-in from the government (to a maximum of $500 per year) on your contributions each year.

Even if your child doesn’t head to university or college, I think saving and investing inside the RESP is still worthwhile.

Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) Tech Specs

First, a bullet list of important information for clarity’s sake:

• RESPs can be set up for your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or even family friends. Beneficiaries (the child) have to be a Canadian resident and have a Social Insurance Number.
• RESPs can be set up as Individual RESPs for a specific beneficiary, or can be set up as a Family RESP. I always recommend setting up a Family RESP, as they are in nearly every way superior to Individual RESPs.
• You can contribute to an RESP for up to 31 years, and the plan can remain open for 35 years (or longer if the beneficiary is disabled).
• The government matches 20% of the first $2,500 contributed each year to the RESP (leading to a maximum of $500 per year). This is the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG).
• There is a lifetime CESG maximum per beneficiary of $7,200 and the grant is matchable until the beneficiary is 18 years old. You’ll note quickly that a maximum grant of $500 per year will finish somewhere shortly after the child’s 14th birthday. If you don’t contribute the full amount each year from birth, you can carry forward the unused CESG limit until the child turns 18 years of age.
• The rate at which CESG is paid out on your first contributions each year is dependent on your family’s net income.

Withdrawing from the RESP falls into two different scenarios. If the funds are withdrawn for education purposes, then:

• Funds are paid out to the student with proof of enrolment. Payments are comprised of the CESG amounts and investment earnings (known as Accumulated Income), and the principal amount contributed by the plan holder.
• Earnings and CESG amounts are claimed on the beneficiary’s tax return in the year of withdrawal.
• Principal withdrawal amounts are non-taxable.

If the beneficiary doesn’t attend post-secondary and the funds are withdrawn for non-education purposes, you have 4 options:

1. You can keep the RESP open for 36 years from the date of plan creation. This is a great option if the child needs a few years to decide their path for the future.
2. You can transfer the amount to a different beneficiary. This is easier if you have a Family RESP. CESG earnings and investment earnings can all be used for another beneficiary in the Family RESP plan.
3. You can transfer the amount to your RRSP (more below).
4. You can close the RESP.

Withdrawing Funds if Your Child Goes to School

This path is easy to explain, as it’s quite common for children to go to post-secondary in their years immediately following high school. If the funds are withdrawn for education purposes, the withdrawals are made of three different portions:

• The CESG: This amount is taxable upon withdrawal.
• The investment earnings: These amounts are taxable upon withdrawal.
• The principal contributions: These amounts are not taxable upon withdrawal.

(The first two make up Accumulated Income Payments and will be reported on a T4A slip on the child’s tax return.)

So, if you read between the lines, you’ll note there is a form of income-splitting here — by contributing to the plan and earning accumulated income and having those amounts taxed in the child’s hands, it’s likely the accumulated income will be taxed in a lower tax bracket (most students have low levels of income in their post-secondary years).

To ensure the investment earnings and CESG are taxed in the lowest possible tax bracket, withdraw the earnings and CESG amounts in a year when the child does not have a summer job. Do not withdraw more than the child’s non-refundable tax credits in that tax year if you want to completely shelter the income from tax. If the child has picked up a summer job, their employment earnings will eat into the Basic Personal Amount available to shelter the income from tax. In this situation, the child should withdraw from the contribution portion of the RESP (the portion that is tax-free).

But what happens if your child doesn’t go to post-secondary? Or what if you know they’ll never want to go to school.

Well, you should still invest inside that RESP.

Withdrawing Funds if Your Child Does Not Go to School

This is where things get fun, and I’ll pull some math out of my hat to prove it.

First, if you have a Family RESP, transfer any unused money to a child who is attending post-secondary school.

From here on in, my comments assume all beneficiaries of the Family RESP are not going to school.

If the child doesn’t go to post-secondary school, you have two options for the money in the RESP: You can transfer the RESP to your RRSP (to a maximum) or you can close the RESP.

Don’t close the RESP.

If you close the RESP, you’ll forfeit the CESG amounts, pay tax on the investment earnings and pay a 20% penalty on the investment earnings.

Closing the RESP is costly.

Instead, if the child(ren) is/are older than 21 years old and the RESP has been open for 10 years, you can withdraw the accumulated income from the RESP and transfer them to your RRSP. You can transfer up to $50,000 tax-free to your RRSP (assuming you have enough RRSP contribution room to do so), forfeit the CESG, and avoid the painful 20% penalty when you close the RESP.

By opening an RESP and investing in the RESP throughout your child’s life, you will receive CESG money that is subsequently invested. Then, if your child doesn’t go to school, you can keep the investment earnings on the CESG money, just not the CESG itself.

In a way, this is like investing on margin: You’re “borrowing” the CESG money and investing it for your child’s life, only to “return” the CESG money back to the government in the end.

Here’s the math, which requires a fun future value calculation:

• Contributions of $200 per month ($166.67 principal plus $33.33 CESG) for 18 years (216 months) at 5% results in a future value of $83,808. Repay the CESG of $7,200 and withdraw your initial contributions of $36,000 ($166.67 × 12 × 18) and you’re left with $40,608 of accumulated earnings.
• You can transfer up to $50,000 to your RRSP tax-free (and pay tax on it later).

Here’s the math if you don’t include the RESP in the same savings plan:

• Contributions of $166.67 per month (remember, no CESG money) for 18 years (216 months) at 5% results in a future value of $58,202. Take out your initial contributions, and you’re left with $22,202 of accumulated earnings.

That’s a really, really big difference. $18,407, in fact.

So, the lessons for today:

1. Always open a Family RESP, as you may end up with more than one child even if you don’t plan on it.
2. Contribute as much as you’re comfortable contributing to, a maximum of $2,500 per year. To receive the maximum CESG, you do not need to maximize your contribution each year — the CESG maximum will be reached after 14 years. Spread out the difference of that 4 years and provide yourself some additional cash flow in your life.
3. Withdraw from the accumulated earnings of the RESP in a year when your child does not have a summer job or has low levels of income.
4. Do not withdraw more than the Basic Personal Amount (plus tuition and the Canada Employment Amount, but that gets sticky) each year, unless the RESP has a large balance and your child does not anticipate going to college for a long time.
5. If your child does not go to school, don’t fret — the accumulated earnings can be transferred to an RRSP to a maximum of $50,000, sheltering the income from immediate tax and allowing you to control the tax as you withdraw from your RRSP down the road.

The Second Cup

A bit of a theme this week for The Second Cup. Evidently, a new computer launched, and there’s some excellent work out there discussing its implications.

“This Is Not The Computer For You”

I’m not sure that this constitutes a “review” of the MacBook Neo. But if you obsessed over anything as a child — computers, sport, books, chess — this may hit you right in the feels.

Software Bonkers

So, the future is everyone making their own apps. Yet, more than 75% of the people I meet each day struggle to set up their Outlook account.

The MacBook Neo

I love when John Gruber writes about Apple devices.

MacBook Neo Review - It Might Be TOO Cheap.

And this week’s final look at the MacBook Neo, from Dave2D. Dave’s videos are skyrocketing to the top of the list each time a new device is launched. Dave seems so approachable, relatable, and down to earth.

Highlight of the Week

“Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done. But really, you’re just preparing to get something done. When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing.”

James Clear, Atomic Habits

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

P.S. — If you’d like to see this in your email inbox, please subscribe below. If you have trouble subscribing, shoot me an email, and I’ll get you on the list. Thanks for the consideration!