Ben Yafai

Subscriptions 2024

Ben Yafai — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 18:28:00 +0000

Hi!

So late last year I listed my subscriptions here, and it drove me to actually do something about them.

This post will be largely the same, but I'll ~~strike through~~ the things that have changed.

Apps

Ivory (£14.99 per year)

After trying so many Mastodon apps, I keep bounce between this and the official Mastodon app. Some of the smaller UI elements in Ivory stick out to me that keep me using it as my main app.

Carrot (£8.99 per year)

I've been using this weather app for a number of years now, no issues, likely to be around for a while.

Overcast (£8.99 per year)

I've come back to Overcast after a few years in Apple Podcast as my current car doesn't have CarPlay, so I have to do a lot more control by voice.

Overcast has much better Stations, where I can specify the shows and order to play them. Shortcuts integration is better too.

I'm months behind on my podcasts since I commuted less during covid, which was my main listening time. I'm catching up and Overcast makes it easier.

Total = £32.97 per year ~ £2.75 per month

Gaming

Apple Arcade (Included below)

Very happy with this - when my youngest wants a game on the iPad it must come from Apple Arcade, I know it'll be a decent game with no adverts.

Xbox Game Pass (£12.99 per month)

I've cancelled the Game Pass, we just don't use it.

Nintendo (£32 per year)

The kids use it, but rarely. Can probably go too.

NYT Games (£3 every 4 weeks)

This is for me. I play the games daily, it's going nowhere.

Total = £71 per year ~ £5.91 per month

Streaming

Apple TV+ (Included below)

I like it, not the biggest library but generally all good quality.

Netflix Premium (£23 per month)

How much?! I pay for the 4K, and my extended family took advantage of the extra profiles, but after the recent clampdown I was all but certain Netflix was going to go. We do watch it, but not as often as a few years ago.

However, a family member has thrown some money at me to get the cheaper additional login, so it'll stay for a little bit until that expires, and I'll figure it out then.

Disney+ Premium (£79.90 per year)

Disney have a wide catalogue that I generally like. Star Wars and Marvel are loved by the kids, and I'm probably watching more TV series here than Netflix currently.

Amazon Prime (£95 per year)

TV and Movies are okay, but we like the delivery too. Kind of useful.

Now TV Entertainment (£3 per month)

Its days are numbered!

Total = £486.9 per year ~ £40.58 per month

Reading

Newsblur (£19 per year)

Smart RSS reader that I've been subscribed for 10 years so far.

Which? (£9 per month)

As I mentioned last year, I don't need this anymore as the projects are done.

Total = £19 per year ~ £1.58 per month

Email & Hosting

Apple Premier One (£36.95 per Month)

This includes iCloud storage for photos and device backups, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and Apple TV+, all are used regularly in my household.

It also includes Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ but these aren't really used at all. I did check out pricing the individual components but it's better to keep them included.

This is shared with 4 other family members and considering the included services is a pretty fair price.

Microsoft 365 (£80 per year)

I have a Family plan, as a bunch of us use office for school or home-based work, my wife and I use the extended OneDrive storage for iPhone photo backup too.

I also have a bunch of 365 exchange plans for extended family members too (partially paid by work so not included in these totals) and is our primary email service. I don't use the custom domain in 365 Family as it's too restrictive.

I make good use of the shared mailboxes, they are great for younger family members who can have their own Apple ID, Xbox ID etc but the email can be accessed/managed by the parents.

When they get older, we'll license the mailbox, and they can login in themselves.

Proton Unlimited (10.32 per month)

SimpleLogin (£3.15 per month)

I mentioned that I like Proton a lot, but I really didn't use it.

Well, the functions I actually liked were mainly from Simplelogin, which I can subscribe to on its own for much less.

I now use it as the main MX records for all my secondary domains too, very useful.

omg.lol (£48 per year) Cool domain, email forwarding, basic hosting, pastebin, Mastodon, IRC, statuslog... A whole bunch of services for a reasonable price.

I have a few different addresses with a number of years prepaid on each. It'll be around for a while!

OCI (~£2.40 per month)

I have a few servers here, hosting Mastodon, Matrix, this site, other sites, a whole bunch.

I've been taking advantage of the 'forever-free' tier and adding some extra bits on, so my costs are fairly low.

I used AWS before and compared the prices should the 'free' tier ever go away and it still worked out better in OCI, so I'm not too worried if anything changes.

Bunny CDN (£1 per month)

My sites don't get much traffic, so my usage is low. I don't need it but being so low cost, I like having it around.

This year, I actually moved all my DNS to Bunny too, as nice a system as DNSimple, but lower cost.

dnsimple (£4.30 per month)

Ionos ~~(£21 per month)~~

I have a single domain with Ionos now, but the hosting is gone at last!

Total = £650 per year ~ £54.17 per month

Total

I'm happy to report that I spend £1259.87 a year, averaged out as £104.99 per month.

I'll have gained around £653.52 in yearly savings, assuming I keep things as they are for 2024, thanks to kind internet folk who encouraged me to actually look at my spending habits!

😅

Other notes

1Password

I have a free family plan as part of work subscription but would pay myself otherwise.

Domains

Not counted in the above, I have around 44 40 domains, including some for me, my family members and their businesses - ~~£642 per year. Eek.~~

I've whittled down my domains to only 40 and moved registrars. My new total is now £484 per year, saving £158 per year!

App Defaults

Ben Yafai — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 14:02:00 +0000

I'm hopping on the trend of letting people know my App Defaults.

I really enjoyed reading everybody else's posts to see what is about - sometimes I get inspiration for new apps to try, other times I'm validated in my choices - both are good feelings.

So, here goes:

📨 Mail Client: Outlook / Canary / Proton

📮 Mail Server: Microsoft 365 / Proton

📝 Notes: Notes.app

✅ To-Do: Notes.app / Reminders.app

📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Camera.app

🟦 Photo Management: Photos.app / OneDrive (iOS backup feature)

📆 Calendar: Outlook

📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud / OneDrive

📖 RSS: Newsblur

🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Contacts.app

🌐 Browser: Arc (macOS & iOS)

💬 Chat: iMessage / WhatsApp / Signal / IRC / Matrix

🔖 Bookmarks: Browser ^

📑 Read It Later: RSS ^ / Browser ^

🤖 Mastodon: Default web (macOS) / Ivory (iOS)

📖 Blog: super basic self-hosted PHP site

⌨️ Launcher: Alfred

📜 Word Processing: VSCode / Word (rarely)

📈 Spreadsheets: Excel

📊 Presentations: Powerpoint (rarely)

🛒 Shopping Lists: Reminders.app

💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance: Excel (rarely 😬)

📰 News: RSS ^ / Apple News+

🎵 Music: Apple Music / Youtube Music

🎤 Podcasts: Overcast

🎮 Gaming: iPhone

🔐 Password Management: 1Password

👨🏻‍💻 Terminal: Warp (macOS) / Prompt 2 (iOS)

📘 Code Editor: VSCode

You can get a little more insight into some of this by checking out my Subscriptions 2023 - there's a lot of overlap and a bit of extra detail.

Subscriptions 2023

Ben Yafai — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 22:39:00 +0000

I've been reading a bunch of people's posts about their subscriptions on Mastodon recently, Maique and Robb to name a couple.

I thought it would be smart for me to actually know what I'm spending on, so why not share too?

Apps

Ivory (£14.99 per year)

After trying so many Mastodon apps, I keep bounce between this and the official Mastodon app. Some of the smaller UI elements in Ivory stick out to me that keep me using it as my main app.

Carrot (£8.99 per year)

I've been using this weather app for a number of years now, no issues, likely to be around for a while.

Overcast (£8.99 per year)

I've come back to Overcast after a few years in Apple Podcast as my current car doesn't have CarPlay, so I have to do a lot more control by voice.

Overcast has much better Stations, where I can specificy the shows and order to play them. Shortcuts integration is better too.

I'm months behind on my podcasts since I commuted less during covid, which was my main listening time. I'm catching up and Overcast makes it easier.

Total = £32.97 per year ~ £2.75 per month

Gaming

Apple Arcade (Included below)

Very happy with this - when my youngest wants a game on the iPad it must come from Apple Arcade, I know it'll be a decent game with no adverts.

Xbox Game Pass (£12.99 per month)

We barely use it; I've certainly paid over the odds for the few games the kids actually play. I need to pay for them up front and get rid of the subscription.

Nintendo (£32 per year)

The kids use it, but rarely. Can probably go too.

NYT Games (£3 every 4 weeks)

This is for me. I play the games daily, it's going nowhere.

Total = £226.88 per year ~ £18.91 per month

Streaming

Apple TV+ (Included below)

I like it, not the biggest library but generally all good quality.

Netflix (£23 per month)

However, a family member has thrown some money at me to get the cheaper additional login, so it'll stay for a little bit until that expires, and I'll figure it out then.

Disney+ (£79.90 per year)

Disney have a wide catalogue that I generally like. Star Wars and Marvel are loved by the kids, and I'm probably watching more TV series here than Netflix currently.

Amazon Prime (£95 per year)

TV and Movies are okay, but we like the delivery too. Kind of useful.

Now TV Entertainment (£3 per month)

Resubscribed a week ago for a specific series. Took advantage of a price offer, though it'll likely not stick around when the offer expires.

Total = £486.9 per year ~ £40.58 per month

Reading

Newsblur (£19 per year)

Smart RSS reader that I've been subscribed for 10 years so far.

Which? (£9 per month)

Has been super useful when we were moving house, and while a family member has a new kitchen installed - but its days are numbered as these projects are almost complete.

Total = £127 per year ~ £10.59 per month

Email & Hosting

Apple Premier One (£36.95 per Month)

This includes iCloud storage for photos and device backups, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and Apple TV+, all are used regularly in my household.

It also includes Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ but these aren't really used at all. I did check out pricing the individual components but it's better to keep them included.

This is shared with 4 other family members and considering the included services is a pretty fair price.

Microsoft 365 (£80 per year)

I have a Family plan, as a bunch of us use office for school or home-based work, my wife and I use the extended OneDrive storage for iPhone photo backup too.

With 365 Exchange Online I can add all my different domains, have as many aliases and rules as I need and make use of 'free' shared mailboxes!

Shared mailboxes are great for younger family members, they can have their own Apple ID, Xbox ID etc but the email can be accessed/managed by the parents.

When they get older, we'll license the mailbox, and they can login in themselves.

Proton Unlimited (10.32 per month)

The email is a nice service, though critically underused by me due to Office 365 being so good. I do make use of the VPN, but the calendar, drive and password manager are redundant.

But, I don't want to get rid of it. I just like it.

omg.lol (£48 per year) Cool domain, email forwarding, basic hosting, pastebin, Mastodon, IRC, statuslog... A whole bunch of services for a reasonable price.

I have a few different addresses with a number of years prepaid on each. It'll be around for a while!

OCI (~£2.40 per month)

I have a few servers here, hosting Mastodon, Matrix, this site, other sites, a whole bunch.

I've been taking advantage of the 'forever-free' tier and adding some extra bits on, so my costs are fairly low.

I used AWS before and compared the prices should the 'free' tier ever go away and it still worked out better in OCI, so I'm not too worried if anything changes.

Bunny CDN (£1 per month)

My sites don't get much traffic, so my usage is low. I don't need it but being so low cost, I like having it around.

dnsimple (£4.30 per month)

I've tried a bunch of DNS services - this one seems the easiest and tidiest.

Some domains have good pricing and live here too.

Ionos (£21 per month)

One of the first hosting services I ever used and just keeps hanging around, getting more and more expensive.

I need to get the last few sites moved over to OCI and cancel this hosting.

There are a whole bunch of domains here, so the service probably won't go away completely.

Total = £1037.64 per year ~ £86.47 per month

Total

So, I spend £1913.39 a year, or averaged out as £159.45 per month.

That is a lot, no question about it. I can save a little bit in hosting, but most trimmings will come from entertainment, which seems a shame.

I do enjoy tinkering with servers though, so, maybe it's all entertainment?

😅

Other notes

1Password

I have a free family plan as part of work subscription but would pay myself otherwise.

Domains

Not counted in the above, I have around 44 domains, including some for me, my family members and their businesses - £642 per year. Eek.

Advent Of Code

Ben Yafai — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 19:00:00 +0000

2023 - Day 7

Camel Cards

Today's challenge is a simplified poker-like game where 5 cards get ranked by how many cards in each hand are the same. If two hands are ranked the same, then the hand with the highest card wins.

As ever, I regexed out my data from the input;

I chucked together a quick array to get our card values

My first thought was that a usort was the way to go, here's the inline function

This was quite fun and relatively simple. The wide range of php array functions helped a lot.

Part two of course always makes it more complex. Now the Jack becomes a Joker wildcard that can be substitued for any other card, however, to balance it out, only has a score of 1 instead of the previous 11.

I updated the cards array for the new score

I added a little bit of code into the middle of the sort in order to identify the cards and make our substitutions

The first problem I had was unsetting a full hand of Jokers JJJJJ with nothing and producing errors - a quick find.

Then I got the wrong answer because I saw hands like JJJJQ which my code would see that the top result was 4xJ and would try to replace the result exactly as it was, hence the if ($keys[0]!= 1) to make sure I wasn't updating the wrong card.

My full responses are found on GitHub

Advent Of Code

Ben Yafai — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 18:00:00 +0000

2023 - Day 6

Wait For It

Today's challenge is a toy boat race that's speed depends on how long you charge it up at the start of the race. The longer you charge for, the less time to actually race. We need to find out how many different charge times will beat the known record distance.

As usual, I first parse out our data with a strpos and regex to get our times and distances.

I could then run through each time and do a little math to find our possible combinations of hold time and distance travelled.

If the distance requirement was met, I counted that against this race.

The last part was to multiply the counts from each race, which utilised a useful array function in PHP

Part Two was also quite straight forward.

This time we had to consider there was a "kerning problem" where our values 44 82 69 81 were actually a single number 44826981

I decided to add a little code in the middle to implode the numbers, reset the array to a single entry, and I didn't have to rewrite anything else.

All in all, much more enjoyable than yesterday!

My full responses are found on GitHub

Advent Of Code

Ben Yafai — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

2023 - Day 5

If You Give A Seed A Fertilizer

Today's challenge is certainly an interesting one.

We had to map values multiple times to new values, ending with a final value. The lowest final value overall was the answer. Honestly, it was pretty confusing, but I got there eventually.

I first processed each line and ran some regex to get my working values/ranges

As I built up the map array, I let it dynamically create the source and destination names so I didn't have to manually type each one.

I then ran a foreach on the seeds and maps, identifying if the source number fell within the mapped range. If the number was not in the range, then there was no change, otherwise I'd then have to identify the difference between the source and destination range and apply that to the seed's number.

I ended up adding a boolean for when I had found a working range as I didn't realise I was applying a change, then falling into a new range and applying a further change. That made me scratch my head a little.

Part two is a lot tougher! Now the seed numbers are ranges just like our maps were, and here's the first six numbers:

seeds: 3082872446 316680412 2769223903 74043323 4131958457 99539464

That means our start number is 3082872446 and we have a range of 316680412. Now, that alone means we now have 316 million seed numbers in our first range, 74 million in the next range, and so on. I totted it up, we have 2,207,992,808 seeds to work through... 2 billion!

I first decided to run a for loop and test each seed number individually. I hit memory limits. So I stopped tracking every result so I could run a min() later. I just calulated each time if it was lower and stored it for later.

Then I hit PHP's execution time limit. I set it to 3600 seconds (1 hour!) and still it timed out.

I need to think of a better solution, until then, only 1 star today.

My full responses are found on GitHub

Advent Of Code

Ben Yafai — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 14:00:00 +0000

2023 - Day 2

Cube Conundrum

Pulling dice from a bag and counting how many were red, green and blue.

Part one of today's challenge was to check if the game was possible, given limits of each colour that we could pull.

Here's an example line:

Game 4: 1 green, 3 red, 6 blue; 3 green, 6 red; 3 green, 15 blue, 14 red

I first started with a simple regex to pull out the Game number, and the full round of games, then exploded out each round into an individual game.

With a little more regex to grab the numbers and colours more easily, I compared them to our max values and, if the game was possible, added the game ID up.

I used almost the same code for part two where instead of seeing if a game was possible, we counted the minimum number of dice to max sure the game is possible.

I reckon there must be some better regex I could have done earlier on - definitly not my string point. I was glad I could re-use a bunch of the same code this time round though.

My full responses are found on GitHub

Advent Of Code

Ben Yafai — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 13:00:00 +0000

2023 - Day 1

Trebuchet?!

I'm new to #AdventOfCode, it popped up on my Mastodon timeline and I thought why not take part?

Part one I thought was quite simple. I saved the list as a txt file, opened it and iterated over each line.

The magic was this:

Like others, I had a bit of trouble on part two parsing the twone and oneight strings.

I ended up finding the position of each word-number and seeing which was earliest, then replacing only that instance with the integer.

Then, remove all non-digits and get our first and last digits in the string.

I essentially repeated that but used strrpos to do the check in reverse to get the last digit.

Looking back, I have a mess of code, but it works. For a bit of fun, that's okay.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's challenge.

My full responses are found on GitHub