Kelson Reviews Stuff - Page 1

I wanted to like this keyboard. The other Fossify apps have worked out well, and unlike, say, GBoard, I know nothing’s leaving my device. And it does support multiple languages, which helps when I’m practicing Spanish in Duolingo. But it only supports tapping, not swipe gestures or auto suggest, and I just can’t seem to type reliably that way.

The problem is that I have a lot of trouble tapping the right letters with my thumbs. (I swear this has gotten worse over time – I’d assume my hands had just gotten clumsier, but I’ve gotten better at touch typing on a real keyboard in the same timeframe.) That’s been mildly annoying with GBoard, but GBoard also supports swiping gestures, and autosuggest usually includes the word I wanted if I’m a little bit off. And I think the hit boxes might be a bit bigger, or adjust based on what autocomplete thinks is more likely.

So with Fossify Keyboard, I frequently end up with severalbwordsblumpedntogethrt because I keep hitting “b” or “n” instead of space, and then I have to go back and fix it (which of course is a pain on a touchscreen).

I gave it about three weeks on my phone, during which I used it for all the usual text messaging, social networking, email, and so on. I’ve since switched back to GBoard.

It seems to work better for me with a tablet, though, where I can sort of touch type or hunt and peck. I’ll keep it on there for a while and see how it holds up.

Good coffee and sandwiches, maybe a bit expensive. They also sell artisan honey and beeswax products. Lots of tables inside, and a large patio with covered tables outside. Free WiFi and a couple of outlets in the dining area. Small parking lot plus street parking. Restroom door is outside.

Is it better than stopping by the bank every other week for more rolls of quarters? Maaaaaybe. It was during the 2020 covid-lockdown coin shortage, but now?

It means doing my laundry depends not just on the washer and dryer working, but on the control box working, the control box’s internet connection working, my phone being charged, my phone’s internet connection working, and the CSC online servers working.

I can’t remember the last time the washer or dryer broke down. But there’ve been plenty of times when the app couldn’t find them, or couldn’t find my account.

On the plus side, it is nice to be able to check whether a machine is available before going to the laundry room. And sometimes it alerts me when a cycle is done. (It’s supposed to always, but it doesn’t.)

But that’s a lot of extra points of failure for not much improvement.

Update August 2024: They’ve started sending me ads through system push notifications, which I consider an abuse of notifications. So I’ve turned off notifications from the app entirely and lowered my rating. The only alerts a laundry app should be sending you are “your cycle finished” or “the machine you were waiting for is available.” And that never worked reliably to begin with.

A basic on-device gallery app that lets you view, browse, organize and delete your photos entirely on your own phone, and open them in other apps for sharing. No tracking, no ads. Works as a file picker too, when you’re already in another app and want to load a photo. Mostly replaces the offline use cases for Google Photos.

There’s a simple editor for cropping, rotating, markup and a few pre-defined filters. (IIRC the Simple Gallery app it was forked from had a few more adjustments it could do, but the Fossify project had some concerns about the license.) I’d like to use it to crop photos for iNaturalist, but there’s currently a bug where it loses EXIF data when editing. Even when I want to remove GPS coordinates, I don’t want to remove the time the photo was taken!

Anyway, if you do want to sync your photos with a cloud service, you can use another app for syncing while still using this one locally. I’m currently uploading to Nextcloud, and planning to try Immich when I can set aside some time to set up an Immich server.

This is serious coffee.

They don’t even have WiFi – you come here for the coffee and food (and maybe to hang out), not to park your laptop for the day. The hours are a bit short (they mainly serve breakfast and lunch, and close by mid-afternoon), but they make up for it in quality.

Two Guns brought the Flat White here from New Zealand in 2011, long before Starbucks started serving it – and the authentic version is not to be missed! Their mocha is the perfect balance of coffee and chocolate (most places are too heavy one way or the other), with just enough sweetness and no more. Even their chai lattes are just sweet enough.

Their breakfast sandwiches are good too, though I hardly ever end up here at breakfast or lunchtime. When I do, I usually go for the Stanwich.

The original Manhattan Beach location on PCH was one of my regular stops for years before the shopping center closed down to make way for new construction at the end of 2022. Thankfully they’d already expanded to a small chain in that time, and all the locations I’ve been to have been just as good as the original.

Locations

El Segundo: Lots of indoor seating and a good-sized patio across from the Civic Center. Next door to Rinaldi’s, which is a good sandwich place, though Two Guns has a full breakfast/lunch menu here. Lots of Pokémon Go stops and gyms in the area too. (321 Main St. / map)

Manhattan Beach Blvd: Pickup only the last few times I’ve been there. A good place to stop while walking to or from Downtown Manhattan Beach from PCH. Street parking only. (875 Manhattan Beach Blvd, between Poinsettia and the Urgent Care / map)

Redondo Beach: (Back on PCH!) Lots of indoor seating. I’ve only been to this one once, and I don’t remember if they have a patio or not. There’s a small parking garage on the PCH side, and a small parking lot uphill on the side street. (1212 PCH at Avenue E / map)

Manhattan Beach/Highland I’ve never been to this one. (3516 Highland, just south of Rosecrans / map)

Hermosa Beach: This one’s new, and I haven’t been to it either, but it’s right by the Ardmore/Valley greenbelt, so it’ll be a good place to stop on the way to or from a walk. (555 Pier Ave / map)