Taken at the GZ Haixinsha / Ersha Island Garden Expo. The center of the kapok flower is Canton Tower (the “Slim Waist”)~
Interesting Tools
Trippy
https://trippy.rs
A network routing traceroute tool. Personally I don’t find it as nice as nexttrace—I’m still used to using nexttrace.
IP Purity
https://ippurity.com
Check the purity score of your outbound IP~
Live Weather
https://zoom.earth/places/china/guangzhou
Visual 3-day weather forecast UI. Great for tracking typhoon eyes and wind directions~
ChatGPT Atlas
https://chatgpt.com/atlas
The ChatGPT browser. Chrome’s AI features still haven’t rolled out unless you download beta builds, so you can give this ChatGPT one a try~
Platypus
https://github.com/sveinbjornt/Platypus
A handy tool that packages command-line scripts into Mac .dmg / apps—super practical.
Tryal Cove
https://tryalcove.com
Bring iPhone’s Dynamic Island to your Mac~~
Learning
Skill Shunt
https://skillshunt.io
Explore various tips and tricks for Claude Code.
MCP Learning
https://github.com/microsoft/mcp-for-beginners
A learning roadmap for MCP (Model Context Protocol).
Reading
The Good Times Are Over for Tech in 2025
https://www.seangoedecke.com/good-times-are-over
Sean Goedecke’s perspective on the current state of the tech industry.
Life
iPhone Repair
In October on my way from Tianjin to Guangzhou, my trusty iPhone 13 Pro Max of several years suddenly suffered the “green screen of death” at the airport. Took it straight to the Apple Store Genius Bar:
- Screen issue; just needs a replacement. Since it’s out of warranty, replacing it costs about CNY 2,800 (had AppleCare+, but of course it broke right after expiration~).
- Any guarantee it won’t turn green again after replacement? Nope. They explained all iPhone OLED screens have this risk and wouldn’t admit it’s a known defect~
- Can I trade it in? Genius Bar said they don’t accept devices with broken screens and told me to find third-party buyers outside.
- In the end, a friend bought it off me for 2,100.
Honestly, I kind of expected this outcome, just wanted to see if there was any glimmer of hope~
This is a known issue for this model, not user damage. Overseas they often replace screens for free;
In mainland China, no such luck. I shared my thoughts on Apple’s service quality in the mainland years ago.
OnePlus 12 Repair
A few months ago, I spotted two black dots on my OnePlus 12. Saw plenty of similar cases on Xiaohongshu—it was a panel defect (liquid leakage). So I went to OPPO after-sales service:
- Online booking made easy with customer support helping schedule the appointment.
- An hour beforehand, the tech called to confirm the phone model and issue, checking parts inventory in advance (to prevent a wasted trip).
- Arrived at the store, showed them the phone directly, mentioned it’s a backup phone with zero drops or water damage (tech immediately logged it for screen replacement).
- Tech said it could be repaired out-of-warranty, but needed manager sign-off (standard service jargon, really).
- Screen was swapped out over lunchtime, they applied a fresh screen protector for free, and gave a 6-month warranty on the screen.
Their service and accountability were so much better than Apple’s.
Not sure if Apple got burned too much by Huaqiangbei scalpers/repair exploits, but for a tech giant to degrade the service experience for everyday consumers just to fend off arbitrage feels like a net loss~