Why I'm not getting an M4 Mac mini and programming languages 2016 vs 2024
Plus, a special feature on digital twins, how Henry Winkler became the Fonz, what's on the moon where Apollo 11 landed, and more.
I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.
My articles
Let’s kick it off with a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
The one Mac Studio feature keeping me from buying a new M4 Mac Mini this fall: Is the new M4 Mac Mini powerful enough to replace your Mac Studio? Maybe, but one missing feature is making me hold off. Could this small detail change your decision?
Stability AI's text-to-image models arrive in the AWS ecosystem: Want to create photorealistic images at scale? AWS Bedrock adds Stability AI's best models for developers. Learn how this breakthrough could transform your visual content strategies.
The rise and fall in programming languages' popularity since 2016 - and what it tells us: Our latest deep dive crunches the numbers from 2016 to 2024, revealing fascinating insights into the popularity of programming languages and how emerging trends and industry shifts have influenced developer preferences.
XR, digital twins, and spatial computing: An enterprise guide on reshaping user experience: Explore the synergy of XR and digital twins, and see how their integration is driving innovation and efficiency across sectors, from engineering to entertainment.
Printing parts for the Ultimate USB Charging Station
I’m transitioning from testing components to printing them in volume to actually building the charging station. I hope to actually begin building it for actual use sometime in the next week or so. In the meantime, I’m cranking out a lot of components. These are my custom-designed brackets that hold the Multiboard side panels together.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
This is a very cool 3D-modeled animated video showing the expected state of the Apollo 11 landing site today.
Actor Henry Winkler is now 78 years old. In this fascinating personal story clip, he looks back on his early days as an actor, and talks about how the Fonz became his iconic role.
When I was a young teen, I was fascinated by CB radios and trucker culture. The song Convoy was, to my young perspective, the coolest thing ever. Here, CW McCall performs the song.
Interesting reads
And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth reading.
Thoughtful piece by ZDNET’s Jack Wallen, Is AI the new bloatware?
Here’s an interesting take on branding foibles. Michael Keaton is really Micheal Douglas, while Michael Douglas is the son of Kirk Douglas, whose real name was Issur Danielovitch. Keaton now apparently wants his Douglas surname back from Douglas.
Send in your projects
I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.
If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.
Both my EPs are now streaming
Available on all your favorite streaming services.
More clicky
I’ve got a lot happening all over the web. Here are links to my various stuff:
House of the Head: home for my published music
ZATZ Labs: where I host my published software projects
Feel free to dig around, visit, and say hey!
Leave some comments
Substack supports comments, so feel free to leave some. I promise to read them. Just, please, let’s keep our personal politics out of any discussion.
That should do it for this week. This newsletter is really starting to pick up subscribers. Please help it out by sharing links on all your socials.
Have a great week!