Jordan Gloor

Usually when I buy for music I just shop what's physically for sale at a nearby store. The other day though I copped several albums on BandCamp. Here I describe the feeling behind those decisions. Three Lices and a Molly - Maybe we'll hug each other in a past life It's a saturated lo-fi universe out there, but this album latched onto my brain the first time I heard it. There's some "weirdcore" dialog and sampling that to myself a weirdhead felt too distracting. They weren't enough to turn m...

In December 2021 I wrote a guide to monitoring and blocking advertising trackers on Android phones. A few tools are available to do this, but TrackerControl is the one I use. While the app can help you block these trackers, its primary goal, according to the developers, is to make the tracker activity on your Android device visible. TrackerControl lets you export the data on these trackers, and I used that feature to put together some charts with LibreOffice Calc. These charts compare the num...

Videos proliferate on the internet with claims of being educational and informative. They claim to give you deep dives into niche topics, show you alternative perspectives, or brief you on current events. They give you the impression that staying informed and savvy is as simple as opening a video streaming app. "Do your own research" is a frequent exhortation on the internet not uncommonly accompanied by a video recommendation. But can watching a video really be an effective form of research?...