Slade Watkins

Annual mom/son date! Oh, and I'm learning Spanish!

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** The Bulletin ** – December 23, 2023

¡Feliz Navidad y felices fiestas! (Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!),
I’ve done a lot this week: from visiting with friends all the way to my mom and I’s annual December date together. It has been a lovely holiday already, and I’m very excited to close out the year on one brilliant high note. I’m out of announcements for the year, and am going out of commission until December 27th, so don’t expect much from me! (I’m actually putting this together on the 20th, so don’t worry! I’m on my sabbatical!)

I’ve also started learning Spanish! I’m doing Duolingo lessons every day for around an hour at minimum—and also have a friend who is a native Spanish speaker that will be tutoring me as well (to the best of his ability). I’ve always wanted to learn Spanish (and be bilingual), so I’m excited to be taking this step officially and keeping up with it in 2024.

With all of that said, I do have a newsletter to run and many things expected from me in the new year as well, so I hope to come back refreshed to do that for you lot! Alright—enough blabbering: here’s my Bulletin for this week!

This week’s soundtrack

I’m kind of a Spotify/Apple Music addict, so I happen to listen to a lot of music. Here’s what I’m currently listening to—usually on repeat. Here’s what I’ve got for you, for the week of December 23, 2023…

Thanks to Songlink for making all these streaming platform-agnostic!

Things I found across the net

A little lighter on content this week due to the holidays! Just ever so slightly…

  • The teenager who hacked Rockstar and was responsible for GTA 6 leaking receives sentence: In a really depressing end to the story involving GTA 6’s leak a few while back: Arion Kurtaj (18), who is autistic, has been deemed a danger to society due to his skills and “desire to commit cyber crime.” He will be held in hospital for life unless doctors deem him “no longer a danger.” As someone who is also on the spectrum, I have so many thoughts on this story as a whole—but I’ll save them for another time and allow myself time to process it before I discuss this in further detail.

  • Android tablets get some love: 9to5Mac has a really handy list of all the apps from Google that have gotten the Android tablet optimization treatment. As for every other app, I wasn’t able to find a listicle for that—but if you see one, please send it along to me so that I can include it in The Bulletin! Would love to get that out there for those of us who use Android (or in my case, Android-based [Fire OS]) tablets.

  • Apple pulls Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 from sale: The ITC has ruled that Apple must pull its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 from its own retail sales channels (Apple.com and Retail locations) beginning Christmas Day due to allegedly infringing upon two of Masimo’s patents relating to the blood-oxygen sensor included in the Apple Watch Series 6 and later. Apple did this preemptively, removing them from their storefronts earlier this week.

    • President Joe Biden and his administration could technically step in and veto the ruling from the ITC prior to the December 25th Presidental Review Period deadline, but has not done so. (It appears unlikely the administration will.)

    • In the meantime, however, Apple confirmed to 9to5Mac that it is exploring multiple options on the legal and technical sides, to “ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers.” The devices will be available from third-party retailers such as Best Buy while their stock lasts as they are unaffected by the decision.

    • Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) lacks the offending blood-oxygen sensor, and thus, remains available for sale as normal at this time.

  • And finally, on YouTube this week: A couple things here and there that I think are worth checking out…

    • Tom Scott answers the following insane question: why does government drop flies on California? (Well, that’s a new sentence.) I did not know they did this and now I am mildly disturbed. Okay then.

    • MKBHD’s annual Smartphone Awards for 2023 has gone live on YouTube, and I am not surprised at all by the winners in each category. Although I kind of disagree on Best Foldable—honestly, I’m just not a fan of OnePlus anymore, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad device by any mean.

    • The Browser Company is teasing something for January 30, 2024. As an Arc tester since December 2022, I’m quite excited to see what they’re cooking up over there. (Really hoping for Arc 2 on Mobile, with an Android app. Please?!)

https://instagram.com/p/C1IBeIhOCRn/

Aaaaaaaand that’s all I’ve got for you! As usual, you can email me at [email protected] if you want to say hi or something. I’m not gonna be monitoring my inbox very closely but I will get your message, I promise!

Anywho: have a very Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!! 🙂

From my family to yours,
Slade