good tech, part 1
Most of the time I'm pretty critical of the way technology is headed, and that depresses me a bit as somebody who is part of that industry. Things are getting worse for users and we just put up with it. We accept that things take seconds when they should really be taking milliseconds on today's hardware. Websites are full of dark patterns, ads, and unnecessary cookie messages. Everything requires a sodding account for no other reason than companies are greedy for your data.
Every so often though, something bucks the trend. Something that enhances my life rather than making me question whether I even want to be part of this industry any more.
Board Game Arena
I've been playing tonnes of Welcome To, Carcassonne, Kingdomino, and 7 Wonders Duel on Board Game Arena (BGA) recently. I'm so grateful for this site where I can play all these games in correspondence form for a relatively small annual fee. I actually own physical copies of all of these games, but I very rarely get to play them, especially now with a little one to take care of. I have been a regular user of the site, as I imagine many people have, since the pandemic, but it's more or less remained the same no-nonsense site, just with more games to play.
Share WiFi
This is such a tiny thing but so useful. Opening WiFi on your phone and pressing Share WiFi gives you a QR code that your friend can scan to join the network. It's just such a pure feature that's been developed with no ulterior motive than making users' lives easier.