Joel Crane
@potatofi.bsky.social
Idahoan 🥔 living in Finland 🇫🇮, working at Hamina Wireless. CWNE #233. I'm into old computers, retro videogames, 3D printing, and fixing stuff.
Shoutout to Chrome's "Relaunch to update" button for ruining countless documentation screenshots.
November 3, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Shoutout to Chrome's "Relaunch to update" button for ruining countless documentation screenshots.
I regularly get asked, what's Halloween like in Finland?
🇫🇮 Finnish parents don't like Halloween, more work
🎃 A thing at our kids' international school
🎃 Virtually no trick/treat
🎃 Small 1-tbl display of Halloween stuff at the store
🎄 Store dominated by Christmas stuff
🎃 Big growth in the past 5 yrs
🇫🇮 Finnish parents don't like Halloween, more work
🎃 A thing at our kids' international school
🎃 Virtually no trick/treat
🎃 Small 1-tbl display of Halloween stuff at the store
🎄 Store dominated by Christmas stuff
🎃 Big growth in the past 5 yrs
November 1, 2025 at 11:20 AM
I regularly get asked, what's Halloween like in Finland?
🇫🇮 Finnish parents don't like Halloween, more work
🎃 A thing at our kids' international school
🎃 Virtually no trick/treat
🎃 Small 1-tbl display of Halloween stuff at the store
🎄 Store dominated by Christmas stuff
🎃 Big growth in the past 5 yrs
🇫🇮 Finnish parents don't like Halloween, more work
🎃 A thing at our kids' international school
🎃 Virtually no trick/treat
🎃 Small 1-tbl display of Halloween stuff at the store
🎄 Store dominated by Christmas stuff
🎃 Big growth in the past 5 yrs
It’s tragic that iOS corrects “wifi” to WiFi and not Wi-Fi. So close.
November 1, 2025 at 10:01 AM
It’s tragic that iOS corrects “wifi” to WiFi and not Wi-Fi. So close.
Due to an Azure outage, Hamina is down. Rest assured that our engineering team is refreshing the Azure status page as quickly and often as possible.
October 29, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Due to an Azure outage, Hamina is down. Rest assured that our engineering team is refreshing the Azure status page as quickly and often as possible.
This evening, I'm implementing subcarrier drawing for S1G (802.11ah) for my interactive spectrum chart. It looks like my spectral mask guesses for 1 MHz 802.11ah channels weren't quite right!
October 26, 2025 at 8:36 PM
This evening, I'm implementing subcarrier drawing for S1G (802.11ah) for my interactive spectrum chart. It looks like my spectral mask guesses for 1 MHz 802.11ah channels weren't quite right!
Same. The single thing I've enjoyed in the iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26 lineup is window management on iPad. Everything else about it is an inconsistent, hard-to-read mess. I'm worried that we are stuck with this, going forward.
Don't think I've said this in 20 years, but I really wish I hadn't updated Macos to Tahoe 26. Not only does it look to be a janky mess, but the performance is degraded.
I can disable the glass via the Terminal which brings the performance back, but then important menubar icons vanish. It sucks.
I can disable the glass via the Terminal which brings the performance back, but then important menubar icons vanish. It sucks.
October 21, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Same. The single thing I've enjoyed in the iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26 lineup is window management on iPad. Everything else about it is an inconsistent, hard-to-read mess. I'm worried that we are stuck with this, going forward.
Every day, I exchange a bunch of emails with someone to set up a meeting, when they could have just emailed me their question. Some people seem to be allergic to written communication, especially when it is asynchronous.
Probably the burnout talking.
Probably the burnout talking.
October 20, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Every day, I exchange a bunch of emails with someone to set up a meeting, when they could have just emailed me their question. Some people seem to be allergic to written communication, especially when it is asynchronous.
Probably the burnout talking.
Probably the burnout talking.
macOS 26 observation:
People buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens...
People buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens...
October 20, 2025 at 8:53 AM
macOS 26 observation:
People buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens...
People buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens so UI designers make bigger UIs so people buy bigger screens...
A new-old-stock Nokia 6300 from eBay. I still have mine in storage in the US, but have been planning to pick up another for awhile. I carried it for 5 or 6 years. I do wonder if Elisa (Finnish carrier) offers any 2G service, and if it would be expensive.
Next, I’d like to find a NOS Motorola Razr.
Next, I’d like to find a NOS Motorola Razr.
October 18, 2025 at 9:26 AM
A new-old-stock Nokia 6300 from eBay. I still have mine in storage in the US, but have been planning to pick up another for awhile. I carried it for 5 or 6 years. I do wonder if Elisa (Finnish carrier) offers any 2G service, and if it would be expensive.
Next, I’d like to find a NOS Motorola Razr.
Next, I’d like to find a NOS Motorola Razr.
No Kings Protest today in front of Oodi in Helsinki at 2 PM! I’ve never been to a protest before, but it’s time. See you there? 🇫🇮🇺🇸
Organized by Democrats Abroad (I’m not a democrat but am happy to assist): www.democratsabroad.org/danafreling/...
Organized by Democrats Abroad (I’m not a democrat but am happy to assist): www.democratsabroad.org/danafreling/...
Helsinki No Kings/No Tyrants Protest
Democrats Abroad strives to provide Americans abroad a Democratic voice in our government and elect Democratic candidates by mobilizing the overseas vote.
www.democratsabroad.org
October 18, 2025 at 6:34 AM
No Kings Protest today in front of Oodi in Helsinki at 2 PM! I’ve never been to a protest before, but it’s time. See you there? 🇫🇮🇺🇸
Organized by Democrats Abroad (I’m not a democrat but am happy to assist): www.democratsabroad.org/danafreling/...
Organized by Democrats Abroad (I’m not a democrat but am happy to assist): www.democratsabroad.org/danafreling/...
Neat show. Victims of their own success! 2 hour wait to get in, and then the hall was absolutely jam-packed. I’ll bet that they do this again, but much bigger. I’m already looking forward to it!
October 11, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Neat show. Victims of their own success! 2 hour wait to get in, and then the hall was absolutely jam-packed. I’ll bet that they do this again, but much bigger. I’m already looking forward to it!
Finnish Retro Con 2025
Suuri retrokeräilijöiden tapahtuma Tampereella 11.10.2025
RetroCon.fi
October 11, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Transferring a CD-ROM image over 802.11b at 11 Mbps with a Mist AP12. -69 dBm with 27 dB SNR. FTP throughput is 250-265 Kbps.
Encrypted with WEP, and using Juniper Mist VxLAN rules to block access to the rest of my network. Insecure SSID is disabled whenever I’m not using it.
Encrypted with WEP, and using Juniper Mist VxLAN rules to block access to the rest of my network. Insecure SSID is disabled whenever I’m not using it.
October 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Transferring a CD-ROM image over 802.11b at 11 Mbps with a Mist AP12. -69 dBm with 27 dB SNR. FTP throughput is 250-265 Kbps.
Encrypted with WEP, and using Juniper Mist VxLAN rules to block access to the rest of my network. Insecure SSID is disabled whenever I’m not using it.
Encrypted with WEP, and using Juniper Mist VxLAN rules to block access to the rest of my network. Insecure SSID is disabled whenever I’m not using it.
I love that my 14-year-old found the LEGO Game Boy at the store today.
October 3, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I love that my 14-year-old found the LEGO Game Boy at the store today.
I despise it when iOS apps ask for all of the photos in your library, instead of just letting the iOS photo picker select them one at a time to send to the app. API calls exist for both, and developers always seem to choose the wrong one.
October 3, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I despise it when iOS apps ask for all of the photos in your library, instead of just letting the iOS photo picker select them one at a time to send to the app. API calls exist for both, and developers always seem to choose the wrong one.
I like this: www.crowdsupply.com/centylab/poc...
PocketPD
A bench power supply that fits in your pocket
www.crowdsupply.com
September 26, 2025 at 6:49 AM
I like this: www.crowdsupply.com/centylab/poc...
The couch co-op game of the day was LEGO Voyagers. Totally adorable, fun puzzles, super forgiving, and great little world building. The framerate on Switch seems a tad slow. Hoping @digitalfoundry.bsky.social will do comparisons.
September 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM
The couch co-op game of the day was LEGO Voyagers. Totally adorable, fun puzzles, super forgiving, and great little world building. The framerate on Switch seems a tad slow. Hoping @digitalfoundry.bsky.social will do comparisons.
Reposted by Joel Crane
"As a child, I'd think nothing of temporarily cranking up property taxes just to pay for a pet project; now, it makes me think of my own slowly rising property tax bill."
Why, as a responsible adult, SimCity 2000 hits differently
After years as a parent and homeowner, I sympathize more with my virtual citizens.
arstechnica.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM
"As a child, I'd think nothing of temporarily cranking up property taxes just to pay for a pet project; now, it makes me think of my own slowly rising property tax bill."
I played with Icon Composer today. I think it would be nice for iOS/iPadOS 26 users who want a home screen shortcut for spectrum.potatofi.com. The problem is that I probably can't pass a .icon file through Safari for iOS/iPadOS to use.
September 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
I played with Icon Composer today. I think it would be nice for iOS/iPadOS 26 users who want a home screen shortcut for spectrum.potatofi.com. The problem is that I probably can't pass a .icon file through Safari for iOS/iPadOS to use.
Reposted by Joel Crane
Classic Mac's OS file system innovations (resource forks, metadata) were often lost in transit on the Internet in 1995, and the same is true 30 years later with Infinite Mac.
I found a workaround using modern macOS's built-in .zip archives – a brief writeup: blog.persistent.info/2025/09/infi...
I found a workaround using modern macOS's built-in .zip archives – a brief writeup: blog.persistent.info/2025/09/infi...
September 18, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Classic Mac's OS file system innovations (resource forks, metadata) were often lost in transit on the Internet in 1995, and the same is true 30 years later with Infinite Mac.
I found a workaround using modern macOS's built-in .zip archives – a brief writeup: blog.persistent.info/2025/09/infi...
I found a workaround using modern macOS's built-in .zip archives – a brief writeup: blog.persistent.info/2025/09/infi...
Yikes!
"The disruption is due to a change in the operating voltage of the inner-city tramway. The voltage was increased from 600 volts to 750 volts on the night of Saturday, 13 September. This damaged some of the older trams’ inverters, which convert direct current into alternating current."
"The disruption is due to a change in the operating voltage of the inner-city tramway. The voltage was increased from 600 volts to 750 volts on the night of Saturday, 13 September. This damaged some of the older trams’ inverters, which convert direct current into alternating current."
HSL/HRT (Helsinki Regional Transport) is increasing the tramway voltage from 600 VDC to 750 VDC. The main purpose of the notification I received was to to advise on overnight service interruptions, but I love that they took the time to explain what and why:
www.hsl.fi/en/hsl/news/...
www.hsl.fi/en/hsl/news/...
Inner-city trams not in operation on the night of 13 September due to voltage increase | News | HSL | HSL.fi
www.hsl.fi
September 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Yikes!
"The disruption is due to a change in the operating voltage of the inner-city tramway. The voltage was increased from 600 volts to 750 volts on the night of Saturday, 13 September. This damaged some of the older trams’ inverters, which convert direct current into alternating current."
"The disruption is due to a change in the operating voltage of the inner-city tramway. The voltage was increased from 600 volts to 750 volts on the night of Saturday, 13 September. This damaged some of the older trams’ inverters, which convert direct current into alternating current."
Replaced. The Anker A1384 adds another USB-C port, bumps from 24 to 30W, has a percentage indicator screen, and supports all of the PD voltages. The formfactor isn’t as nice (doesn’t sit on the bottom of my backpack, isn’t as nice to hold), but at €60 it will do the job. Gloss plastic is awful, too.
September 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Replaced. The Anker A1384 adds another USB-C port, bumps from 24 to 30W, has a percentage indicator screen, and supports all of the PD voltages. The formfactor isn’t as nice (doesn’t sit on the bottom of my backpack, isn’t as nice to hold), but at €60 it will do the job. Gloss plastic is awful, too.