Monthly Archives: August 2016

WTFUK →

August 20, 2016 · 21:38

Rachel Nabors, after being deported from the UK:

I didn’t volunteer for this. I didn’t have a choice. I was told what to do, where to go, and had my belongings and ability to communicate taken from me.

This made the top two worst experiences of my life, and you don’t want to know what the other one was.

My husband and I were planning a 2017 trip to Scotland to see his mother’s birthplace. It is canceled. I will not go back to the United Kingdom. People from the UK can come see me when I speak in continental Europe, where I’m wanted.

I will not risk a third worst experience of my life.

This is so surreal, that it could as well be fiction. I can not imagine myself in her shoes — it must have been horrible beyond comprehension.

Mark Gurman on the iPhone 7: ‘Brighter Photos’ →

August 20, 2016 · 13:13

Mark Gurman:

The dual cameras on the larger new iPhone will produce brighter photos with more detail, according to a person who has used a prototype version of the upcoming device. Both sensors, which each capture color differently, simultaneously take a picture, and the device produces a single, merged photograph, said the person.

I keep on wondering what Mark means by ‘brighter photos’. A photo by definition is either exposed currently or not, hence it cannot be brighter or else the highlights will be blown. I assume he meant something else, perhaps that the lens itself will have a larger aperture and let in more light, or perhaps the sensor will have a higher dynamic range, which will make it possible to bring out more details in the highlights and shadows.

The dual system sharpens photos taken in low-light environments, the person said. The combination of the merged photos from the two camera sensors also allows users to zoom while retaining more clarity, the person added. The smaller version of the new phones will not include dual lenses, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this year.

Whatever technology Apple is adding to this years model, I’m most curious about the camera itself. So far, having dual lenses hasn’t markedly improved image quality — the Huawei P9 has already demonstrated this. It will be really interesting to see what they come up with.

Twitter Adds New Features to Help Control Notifications and Reduce Abuse →

August 18, 2016 · 23:51

Emil Leong on Twitter’s blog:

Last year we began testing a quality filter setting and we’re now rolling out a feature for everyone. When turned on, the filter can improve the quality of Tweets you see by using a variety of signals, such as account origin and behavior. Turning it on filters lower-quality content, like duplicate Tweets or content that appears to be automated, from your notifications and other parts of your Twitter experience. It does not filter content from people you follow or accounts you’ve recently interacted with – and depending on your preferences, you can turn it on or off in your notifications settings.

This is a feature of verified accounts. It shouldn’t have been. Twitter should have given everyone access years ago, but hopefully this will help at least a few with abuse issues. Users will also get an option to only get notifications from people they follow.

‘Apple Watch 2’ to Get GPS, Barometer, and Better Waterproofing in 2016 →

August 8, 2016 · 07:08

Mikey Campbell:

Kuo believes Apple is planning to launch two new Apple Watch versions in the second half of 2016, both of which offer moderate improvements over their predecessor. The first unit will be an iterative upgrade on the original Apple Watch and is expected to sport the same aesthetics, but with improved intervals like a TSMC processor built on the 16nm process. Waterproofing should also be slightly improved.

I wonder how they will differentiate the two. They could upgrade the Sport model slightly, while offering the bigger upgrades for the steel Apple Watch, or decide to run two different lines with a total of twelve models (assuming the gold Watch will stick around), or stick to only one size.

Whatever happens, this first upgrade cycle will be interesting to watch (pun not intended).

Instagram Stories is Missing One Feature, Which I Would Love to See

August 6, 2016 · 15:17

While I can understand being inspired by something and putting your own spin on it, I hate blatant copying. It’s hard to judge the new Instagram Stories any other way — they took what Snapchat created and integrated it into Instagram. While it’s true that some things are a bit different, it’s still theft. The surprising part is that I haven’t started hating Instagram, which has always been the preferred way to share my photography with the world. There is one feature that I would like to see added to Instagram Stories (or Snapchat for that matter), which would make it a better storytelling tool than it currently is…

Continue reading →

The War for Autonomous Driving: Mercedes-Benz E-Class vs. Tesla Model S →

August 3, 2016 · 20:22

Alex Roy:

The only good thing about Drive Pilot is that your Mercedes will protect you from it. Did I trust it? Only at a crawl. Did I understand it? I don’t understand how Mercedes-Benz could release this to the public. I hated literally everything about it. It drove like a drunk ten year old, fighting for the wheel with a drunk fourteen year old. It was, in most conditions, dangerous.

This is one very important area where Tesla seems to have a huge advantage over the competition.