Bring Back the Old Yahoo Mail

Yahoo recently introduced New Yahoo Mail. Normally I try to avoid making negative remarks on this blog, but I feel that there are 3 major changes in the new version of Yahoo Mail that make it worse, not better.

First, space utilization is poor. In the image above, you can see how each message consumes far too much vertical real estate, thereby limiting how many messages can be viewed on the screen. This applies to both the desktop/laptove and iOS mobile versions of Yahoo Mail. Disabling message previews helps a little bit, but there is still a lot of wasted screen real estate. And those silly icons next to the sender names? No thank you. Exactly what purpose do they serve? Recommendations to Yahoo: Give users the ability to toggle between the current view and a compact view of email messages. Also give users the ability to show or hide the icons.

Example #1 of a useless AI-generated email summary

Example #2 of a useless AI-generated email summary

Second, Yahoo Mail introduces AI-generated email summaries. Again, no thank you. I know how to read, and I don’t need Yahoo Mail to summarize things for me. Everyone is trying to add LLM features to their products for the sake of adding LLM features, rather than solving real problems. When I see the AI summaries such as the 2 examples above, I am reminded of a humorous Reddit post. Recommendation to Yahoo: Give users the option to show or hide the AI-generated summaries.

Third, the new folder structure is confusing. I have some custom folders where I store emails of various topics. However, the Archive, Spam, and Trash folders have been moved to a new location that can be displayed by clicking on the 3-dot icon. This is something that I will probably eventually get used to, but for now I have been repeatedly been clicking on the “Folders” icon to look for the Archive, Spam, and Trash folders, only to be reminded that I have to click elsewhere. Recommendation to Yahoo: If something is not broken, don’t try to fix it.

Overall, I do appreciate having a free email service, and even though I think the new New Yahoo Mail is a downgrade, it is probably not as horrible as I might have made it seem. Maybe I’ve reacted negatively because change can be hard sometimes, but there is really nothing about the New Yahoo Mail that I see as a positive change. I wonder how others feel about the New Yahoo Mail—am I overreacting?

Maintaining and Troubleshooting My Bambu Lab A1

I purchased my Bambu Lab A1 Combo about 5 months ago, and with the exception of a heatbed temperature malfunction, I’ve had a great experience with it because the 3D printer just works. In comparison to my older 3D printer, the Bambu Lab printer is relatively worry-free because bed leveling, Z-height adjustments, and flow calibration are done automatically, and success rates with prints are very high. That being said, the printer does require occasional routine maintenance, and there are some common issues that I’ve either experienced myself or see reported by others that may require troubleshooting.

MAINTENANCE

First let’s talk about routine maintenance. I find it helpful that my Bambu Lab A1 reminds me of scheduled maintenance. For example, it tells me when it is time to lubricate the A1 Y-axis guide rail. It displays a QR code on the screen which takes you to the wiki page with written step-by-step instructions and an accompanying video to illustrate.

Another reminder is the availability of firmware upgrades. Upgrading is as simple as accepting the upgrade on the touchscreen or from the Devices tab in Bambu Studio. While most firmware upgrades are welcomed with open arms, there has been recent controversy with the impending release of their Authorization Control System which they state is being done for security reasons. Some users have lamented this forthcoming change, the rumor mill was in full swing, and Bambu Lab issued a statement to set the record straight related to third-party integration with Bambu Connect in an attempt to quell some of the fear. A summary is provided here and here and a zillion other places. Suffice it to say that I am not bothered by it at all, and I will likely just instal the firmware update when it becomes available.

Visit the A1 Maintenance Guidelines for additional recommendations.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Aside from the aforementioned heatbed malfunction, the main issue I’ve had to troubleshoot is related to filament getting stuck in my AMS Lite unit. One time this was due to a tangle in the filament (which was my fault for accidentally letting go of the filament and not checking for tangles when loading the filament), and at other times it had been due to an overly sensitive filament tangle detection feature which simply required me to resume printing (I’ve since deactivated filament tangle detection because of the high rate of false positives).

I’ve recently started following the Bambu Lab subreddit, and there are some common problems that people report. By far the most commonly reported issue is a sloppy or non-adherent first layer, and community contributors are always quick to point out that users have gotten the oils from their fingers onto the build plate. While some people use isopropyl alcohol to clean their build plates, Bambu Lab offers a Textured PEI Plate Cleaning Guide and specifically recommends detergent because alcohol might only spread the oils on the print bed rather than removing it. While some commenters swear by a particular brand of dish detergent, I find that any dish detergent or liquid soap does the job well, as long as I remain vigilant about not touching the build plate with my fingers after washing.

One time I introduced a jam in my hotend because I attempted to feed a new roll of filament into the hotend in the middle of a print job as I reached the end of another roll. I simply needed to understand how to remove the hotend so I could clear the jam, and sure enough there is a wiki on how to replace the A1 toolhead.

Perhaps less common but certainly very dramatic is when users experience hotend clumps. If left unattended for many hours, the clumping can turn into a huge blob. Although it may appear quite disastrous, Bambu Lab provides blob/clump cleaning instructions which should restore printers to fully functional status.

CONCLUSION

As with any hobby, there may be ups and downs. For 3D printing, maintenance and troubleshooting are inevitable, but I think Bambu Lab does a very good job of making it as understandable as possible. I hope your ups far outweigh the downs so that you can unleash your creativity.

Deprecation of 4K Video Downloader

I watch a lot of videos on YouTube, and I often prefer to download them so that I can watch them using my favorite media player, VLC. I’ve previously written about how you can use 4K Video Downloader to download and convert YouTube videos.

Much to my dismay, 4K Video Downloader has reached end of life, as support has been discontinued as of February 1, 2025. The developers encourage 4K Video Downloader users to transition to 4K Video Downloader Plus which is a similar application by the same developer. The downside for me is that my license for 4K Video Downloader will not work on 4K Video Downloader Plus. Fortunately the free version appears to be full-featured, albeit with a daily download limit.

Sometimes developers release new versions of software that require new licenses, and they may do it so often that the licensure model starts to look more like a subscription model (cough cough, Parallels, cough). This is not one of those scenarios, but given that 4K Video Downloader Plus is pretty much the same application as 4K Video Downloader (plus a browser that I don’t plan to use), it doesn’t add any value for me. That being said, I can understand how the developer needs to invest resources to ensure compatibility with YouTube and other video repositories. For now, I’ll migrate to the free version of 4K Video Downloader Plus, and perhaps I will share more in-depth thoughts later on.