Marius Masalar

New in the latest macOS Tahoe update: slight chance of total system failure

Did you know that one Mac can be used to "revive" a second Mac that's had its system firmware damaged? I didn't. I found out this evening, when Shannon and I discovered first-hand that system firmware can be damaged in "rare circumstances" like...clicking accept on the system prompt asking her to install an update to the operating system. A simple software update completely bricked her...

February 13th, 2026 Technology

"This is how societies get dumber"

I believe AI is changing how we think. So, it seems, does Shreya Shankar, whose recent post I really enjoyed. Change is often good, but not always. Not all advancement is progress. And when it comes to something as important as thinking, it seems like any changes are worth keeping an eye on. When we look back at AI's impact on our ability to focus,...

January 25th, 2026 Good Reads

My favourite technology of 2025 is a Casio watch

I was listening to a podcast recently where the hosts were discussing their favourite technology purchases of the year. As they listed off computers and smartphones and cameras and the like, I found myself thinking about what I would pick. Despite being someone who loves technology, my answer is something that I bet those hosts would barely even consider "technology". It's a watch. Not some...

December 18th, 2025 Technology

Let’s listen to some music together

You and me—we can spare the time. It’s like John Williams said: music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music…so let’s do some listening! What sort of music are you into? Me too. One of the side effects of writing music for games and films is that I’ve ended up learning to appreciate every genre. Occupational hazard. But being...

November 21st, 2025 Audio

"Atlas is a browser, but it is not a web browser"

Point three stood out to me in Anil's provocative piece. It's the only one I fully agree with, but unfortunately it's also the scariest. Especially from a security and privacy angle (a view I am predisposed to, given my workplace). Here's what I highlighted: “Atlas is a browser, but it is not a web browser. It is an anti-web browser.” “In the new-era command-line interface...

October 25th, 2025 Good Reads

"If I forget how to be uncomfortable, I forget how to grow"

The questions posed by this piece, and others like it, have been swirling around in my head lately. In it, Jenny (a fellow Torontonian!) wonders what's underneath modern technology's promise of "convenience". She's pointing at artificial intelligence, but AI is just the neon lights version of the same story this industry has been telling for decades. In it, "convenience" means "productivity", which serves the people...

October 18th, 2025 Good Reads

16 years: what my wife has taught me about life (so far)

People tend to glorify round numbers when they’re celebrating a milestone: 5, 10, 20 years. But something worth celebrating is worth celebrating in between those milestones, too. That’s one of many things Shannon, my wife, has taught me about love and life in the 16 years we’ve been together so far. Here are a few more: Friendship is gardening, not painting. Relationships can’t be set...

August 25th, 2025 Life

"Who benefits from what this technology does?"

In a recent piece, Christopher Butler does a great job of putting into words how AI can, if left unchecked, enable the worst tendencies of late-stage capitalism. The technology industry went from being a mechanism for dismantling silos to one that manufactures them. From a diverse and competitive jungle of hungry innovators, we've found ourselves in a beige desert, where enormous corporate interests quarrel in...

August 18th, 2025 Good Reads