Ethan Dresner

he/him

My /now page

Things I think are cool:

Watching:

Invincible (Season 2)
Game Changer (Dropout.tv)

Tinkering with:

Sampling methods for LLMs and their various effects
The RFID in the kyber crystals sold at Disney World for their lightsabers
A Google Pixel 8 Pro (soon...)

If you know me, you'll know I have a little bit of a phone obsession. It's probably my most expensive vice. I see a new smartphone on the market that's different than the others and sometimes I just can't stop myself from snagging one (usually second hand).

I've got more Android phones than I can remember and they've all done their time as my daily driver at one point or another. More recently, during the pandemic, I caved and bought an iPhone. To my surprise, it's a pretty great experience, but it's still no Android when it comes to tinkering so I don't usually stay with iPhone for long.

The other day I decided to boot up my Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra for a fresh Android experience that wasn't Samsung-based, and while sadly it is showing its age and doesn't have the cellular bands I need here in the US, it did reignite my love of tinkering with Android. Samsung locks their phones down pretty well, making it just about impossible to unlock the bootloader and a huge pain to root if you do manage it.

I just bought a Google Pixel 8 Pro, which is easily unlocked and rooted, so that's where I'll be doing my tinkering once I get ahold of it. I'll report back on my experiences!