I just spent close to a half hour of life in what must be an alternate reality. This is literally the strangest, weirdest web page that I know of. Pretty cool though.
You need to see this.
(via Daring Fireball)
Collin Donnell:
If you read this blog, you know that I do a weekly interview podcast called The Run Loop. The show (generally) has remote guests with different audio setups and level of comfort in front of a microphone, so I wanted to write a short tutorial I could send to future guests to prepare them to be on the show and get the best audio quality. I then realized it made a lot more sense to make that a blog post so that other people could use it as a resource as well. So, here it is. Following this should help anyone sound good on a podcast regardless of previous experience.
This is worth reading even if you know what you’re doing (or think you do) — lots of small details, which can make a difference.
Diane Greene:
G Suite’s Gmail is already not used as input for ads personalization, and Google has decided to follow suit later this year in our free consumer Gmail service. Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change. This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalize ads for other Google products. Ads shown are based on users’ settings. Users can change those settings at any time, including disabling ads personalization. G Suite will continue to be ad free.
This is a great decision. Surprising, but great. It still doesn’t change the fact, that Gmail’s proprietary implementation makes it terrible to use with third-party email clients, but hopefully this is the beginning of a more privacy-focused Google. I doubt this, but I can be hopeful, right?
Gabe Weatherhead:
Most of what I’ve read or heard about the new iPad Pro is close to reality but I think the effect of the new 120 Hz refresh rate of the screen is being over stated. It’s nice but it is not dramatically better. It’s not even that noticeable. Scrolling looks better, but it’s minor. From the early reviews you might expect more but I think there was a lot of pent up excitement for the iPad Pro revision.
I cannot stress how much I don’t agree with this. The new ProMotion screen is jaw-dropping. The smoothness of the animations and scrolling are fantastic, and in a few short minutes, have ruined my iPhone’s screen. If you use an iPad a lot and can afford to get one, do so.
I just finished watching the full, close to two-hour, interview. It’s completely worth it — just the iPhone related, often funny, anecdotes are great, but I did have a slightly teary moment when Scott told the story of how Steve Jobs saved his life.
Exactly three years have passed since I left Gmail and started using FastMail for all my needs. I chose a plan which included a custom domain, so this allowed me to get a bit more creative, but the service itself is most important after all. So how was it?
I cannot recall having a single problem or the service not working, which is a first for me. Google would always act up from time to time, requiring my time. So did iCloud for that matter. FastMail has been exemplary, performing all my requests perfectly over these past three years, pushing emails to all my devices. Not once did it falter or even slow down.
I just renewed my account for another three years, without hesitation.
Dean Takahashi:
Last week, Atari began teasing a new product called the Ataribox. The video released on a non-Atari web site showed a picture of some kind of hardware product, but many people wondered if the teaser was fake. Others had no idea what the video was showing about a “brand new Atari product years in the making.”
After all, nobody makes a game console with wood-grain siding. But at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Chesnais told me that the rumors are true.
“We’re back in the hardware business,” he said.
Chesnais declined to describe a lot of details about the console. But he said it is based on PC technology. He said Atari is still working on the design and will reveal it at a later date.
My first console was an Atari Amigo. I still remember my Pac-Man and River Raid sessions with my friends. I’ll probably get one, purely for nostalgic reasons.
A Hyper Key simulates the pressing of four modifier keys at the same time — Shift + Control + Option/Alt + Command. Brett Terpstra explained this back in 2012:
I’ve had my Caps Lock key remapped to an escape key for some time now. I’ve become quite used to it — to the point where using other people’s keyboards is inconvenient. Given that I’ve already ruined my muscle memory, I figured I’d take it a step further. The end result is that hitting my Caps Lock key once still gives me “Escape,” but holding it triggers a “Hyper” modifier key (simultaneous Control, Shift, Option and Command). I can map the Hyper key using any of an assortment of utilities to do all kinds of fun things.
Due to changes in macOS Sierra and Karabiner being rewritten as Karabiner Elements, we lost the Hyper Key, until the latest update:
Yesterday I posted excitedly about full Hyper key functionality being available in macOS 10.12+. I included a snippet of a config file that has apparently led to some confusion, so I’m elaborating here on the full configuration.
My current MacBook Pro config file, after adding Brett’s suggested changes, looks like this:
{
"global": {
"check_for_updates_on_startup": true,
"show_in_menu_bar": false,
"show_profile_name_in_menu_bar": false
},
"profiles": [
{
"complex_modifications": {
"rules": [
{
"manipulators": [
{
"description": "Caps Lock to Hyper. Escape key on single tap.",
"from": {
"key_code": "caps_lock",
"modifiers": {
"optional": [
"any"
]
}
},
"to": [
{
"key_code": "left_shift",
"modifiers": [
"left_command",
"left_control",
"left_option"
]
}
],
"to_if_alone": [
{
"key_code": "escape",
"modifiers": {
"optional": [
"any"
]
}
}
],
"type": "basic"
}
]
}
]
},
"devices": [],
"fn_function_keys": {
"f1": "display_brightness_decrement",
"f10": "mute",
"f11": "volume_decrement",
"f12": "volume_increment",
"f2": "display_brightness_increment",
"f3": "mission_control",
"f4": "launchpad",
"f5": "illumination_decrement",
"f6": "illumination_increment",
"f7": "rewind",
"f8": "play_or_pause",
"f9": "fastforward"
},
"name": "Default profile",
"selected": true,
"simple_modifications": {
"right_command": "right_option",
"right_option": "right_command"
},
"virtual_hid_keyboard": {
"caps_lock_delay_milliseconds": 0,
"keyboard_type": "ansi"
}
}
]
}
Everything works perfectly, but please do remember to set Caps Lock to No Action in Sierra’s System Preferences → Keyboard → Modifier Keys.
Thanks Brett!
Federico on MacStories:
I’m not even a week into my tests with the 10.5” iPad Pro, and I think scrolling on my first-gen 12.9” iPad Pro looks choppy now. I’d be surprised if 120Hz displays with ProMotion don’t expand to the iPhone later this year and other Apple computers in the future. The combination of hardware and software really is that good.
At first I just wanted the 12.9″ UI in a 10.5″ form-factor, at 326 ppi. We didn’t get that. I am however extremely curious about ProMotion — I spend 4-6 hours a day on my iPad, scrolling a lot, and this could change everything.
I was curious to see if the larger screen could make the 10.5” iPad Pro a viable alternative to multitasking on the 12.9” model, but, as I imagined, working with Split View on this iPad is the same as the 9.7” version, showing enlarged iPhone interfaces instead of two full-size iPad apps at once. If you were expecting the same Split View experience from the 12.9” iPad Pro, the 10.5” doesn’t allow it.
I admit that I had hoped for the same experience as on my 12.9″ iPad but I think I’ll be able to accept the trade-off.
Unfortunately, Federico does not directly compare the 10.5″ Smart Keyboard with the 12.9″ model, but you can find a comparison to the 9.7″ version in his review.
Dieter Bohn:
I was all set to complain that increasing the size from 9.7 to 10.5 was not a big enough jump to justify requiring people to buy new keyboards and accessories. Then I started typing on the on-screen keyboard and on the new hardware Smart Keyboard. Even though I’m dubious about Apple’s claim that the software keyboard is “full size,” I find the slight size increase makes touch typing much easier. It’s still a little cramped, but it’s much easier to bounce between this and a real keyboard now.
I currently switch between a Magic Keyboard, a MacBook Pro (late 2016), and the 12.9″ iPad Pro’s Smart Keyboard. I don’t have any major issues doing so. The curious thing is that since getting the MacBook Pro, I now find the Magic Keyboard’s key travel to be too long — I actually prefer the shorter throw now.
I have the new 10.5″ iPad Pro on order — it will replace my 12.9″ — but I’m still hesitating about getting the Smart Keyboard for it. I just don’t like cramped ones…
Brian Heater, writing for TechCrunch:
The company has added the same butterfly switches you’ll find on the new MacBook Pro, so it no longer feels like typing on a flat piece surface. As much as I tried, I just couldn’t make it work.This time out, the difference is clear almost immediately.
But have they fixed the sticky key issues?
Brent Simmons:
Evergreen is an open source, productivity-style feed reader for Macs.
It’s at a very early stage — we use it, but we don’t expect other people to use it yet.
Not for me unfortunately, since I do almost all of my RSS reading on my iPad, but I’m so interested to see the release build. Oh, and Evergreen will be free!
Jason Snell:
In general, I found the HomePod to sound quite good, with a powerful bass and great clarity in the treble. However, in a few cases—Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” was the one that really struck me—I felt that the Sonos Play:3 more accurately reproduced the feel of the track, while the (extremely early, pre-release version of the) HomePod’s clever audio processing technology spread the bass and vocals out so much that it didn’t sound right anymore.
Of course, with the HomePod half a year away from shipping, there’s probably a lot of software tweaking yet to be done in terms of audio processing.
This sounds very promising! I’m definitely looking to get at least one. The HomePod is missing one feature that I would love to see — the ability to use two, three or five of them, to set up a 2.0, 3.0 or 5.0 surround sound system for my Apple TV. I realise that this wouldn’t be cheap, but… no wires!
Manton Reece:
Brent Simmons and I were guests on The Talk Show this week. We talk about JSON Feed, Userland Frontier, Micro.blog, and much more.
Brent also announced Evergreen for the first time on the show. Evergreen is a new open source feed reader for the Mac. I’m really looking forward to where this app could go.
Finished listening to it last night — lots of great details and tidbits I wasn’t aware of. Well worth a listen.
Ina Fried:
Bozoma Saint John, the Apple executive who garnered significant attention for her demo at last year’s worldwide developer conference, plans to leave the company, Axios has learned. Saint John was head of Global Consumer Marketing for Apple Music (and predecessor Beats Music).
“Plans to leave” but “was head of”? She either left or she didn’t.
Jeff Atwood:
But that was 4 years ago. Exactly how secure are our password hashes in the database today? Or 4 years from now, or 10 years from now? We’re building open source software for the long haul, and we need to be sure we are making reasonable decisions that protect everyone. So in the spirit of designing for evil, it’s time to put on our Darth Helmet and play the bad guy – let’s crack our own hashes!
We’re gonna use the biggest, baddest single GPU out there at the moment, the GTX 1080 Ti. As a point of reference, for PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 the 1080 achieves 1180 kH/s, whereas the 1080 Ti achieves 1640 kH/s. In a single video card generation the attack hash rate has increased nearly 40 percent. Ponder that.
In the meantime, despite it being 2017, some websites and services still limit users to short passwords. Microsoft’s Outlook is limited to 16 characters as far as I remember and I know of even lower limits.
Fixed the title. Jeff pastes some examples later, using alphanumeric examples, hence my mistake.
John Gruber:
The Internet Archive is our only good defense against broken links. Blocking them from indexing Facebook content is a huge “fuck you” to anyone who cares about the longevity of the stuff they link to.
Treat Facebook as the private walled garden that it is. If you want something to be publicly accessible, post it to a real blog on any platform that embraces the real web, the open one.
Even though I have a Facebook account1, I hate what the company is doing and what it stands for. They are however so successful, that many people don’t even realise that they’re “on the internet” when “they’re on Facebook”, as noted by Leo Mirani for QZ:
[…] a closer look at the data […] shows that 11% of Indonesians who said they used Facebook also said they did not use the internet. In Nigeria, 9% of Facebook users said they do not use the internet […]
Considering the substantial percentages—about 10% of Facebook users in our surveys—the data suggest at the very least that a few million of Facebook’s 1.4 billion users suffer from the same misconceptions.
The web would actually be a better place without Facebook, even if it meant Instagram had to die in the process.
Vlad Savov:
In both cases, I find it an absolutely gorgeous yet subtle enhancement to the laptop’s look, whether the main color is silver or navy blue — and I’d welcome more companies embracing this idea.
No.
Google update on the Nik Collection:
The Nik Collection is free and compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 through 10.10; Windows Vista, 7, 8; and Adobe Photoshop through CC 2015. We have no plans to update the Collection or add new features over time.
I knew this would happen. This is fucking unacceptable. There’s also a petition going, if you want to try to save it.
John Siracusa on ATP.fm (episode 223):
I do not like thinking about these keyboards. Almost makes me long for a non-moving iPhone 7 home button style keyboard where nothing actually moves.
Looking at the iPhone, Apple steadily worked over the years to eliminate the physical Home button, waiting until all the pieces were in place (Taptic Engine) to finally do it. I’m a fan. But a whole physical keyboard?
I have been using the MacBook Pro Escape since it premiered and while the keyboard is mostly fine, I do share Marco Arment’s thoughts in regard to its reliability — heat (using it in the sun) is definitely an issue. While the keyboards in the previous models were perhaps more flimsy and mushy, they didn’t have any reliability issues (that I know of). Nothing widespread at least…
This is what Apple has to say about the butterfly mechanism on their MacBook page:
Traditional keyboards use a scissor mechanism, which tends to wobble around the edges. This creates a lack of precision when you strike anywhere except the center of the key. We needed to reduce key wobbling for a keyboard this thin; otherwise, striking a key off-center could result in the keycap hitting bottom before a keystroke registers. So we designed a unique butterfly mechanism, which is wider than the scissor mechanism and has a single assembly made from a stiffer material — allowing for a more stable, responsive key that takes up less vertical space. This innovative design improves stability, uniformity, and control — no matter where you press on the key.
They say less on the late 2016 MacBook Pro page:
The keyboard has been redesigned to include our new, second-generation butterfly mechanism — meticulously refined for greater comfort and responsiveness.
While I do like the feel of the new keyboard, it does have a design flaw — heat causes the keys to stick or clack even louder than normal when pressed. The following steps are what I imagine Apple’s thought process for eliminating the problem could be.
The next step will surely be just a glass surface with keys displayed on it, right?
P.S. I truly hope none of the above comes about in my lifetime — I’m worried that it will, sooner than we expect it too though. Keep your eyes peeled when watching The Fate of the Furious / Fast & Furious 8 and you’ll know what I mean.
Roger Moore:
The sad fact is that I know exactly how to make a dry martini but I can’t drink them because, two years ago, I discovered I was diabetic. I prefer one with gin, but James Bond liked a vodka martini, “shaken not stirred” – which I never said, by the way. That was Sean Connery, remember him?
The worst martini I’ve ever had was in a club in New Zealand, where the barman poured juice from a bottle of olives into the vodka. That’s called a dirty martini and it is a dirty, filthy, rotten martini, and should not be drunk by anybody except condemned prisoners.
My dry martinis taste amazing and the day they tell me I’ve got 24 hours to live I am going to have six. Here’s how I make them […]
?
Don Melton:
Then again, what the hell do I know? I’m just an old Web browser guy. So I’ll leave you with this quote, sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein, that I kept in my .plan file back when that was a normal thing to have around:
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
I’m just trying to get people to think a little bit more before they deploy. I certainly wish I had here.
I’m in the same boat as Don — I really should overhaul this site to make it simpler, so it would hopefully load faster.
Nick Heer:
Consider this: Google owns the most popular search engine and the biggest video hosting platform in most countries, operates one of the most-used email services on Earth,1 has the greatest market share of any mobile operating system, makes the most popular web browser in many countries, serves the majority of the targeted advertising on the web, provides the most popular analytics software for websites, and is attempting to become a major internet service provider. And, to cap it all off, they’re subtly replacing HTML with their own version, and it requires a Google-hosted JavaScript file to correctly display.
Andrew Griffin, reporting for The Independant:
Theresa May is planning to introduce huge regulations on the way the internet works, allowing the government to decide what is said online.
Particular focus has been drawn to the end of the manifesto, which makes clear that the Tories want to introduce huge changes to the way the internet works.
“Some people say that it is not for government to regulate when it comes to technology and the internet,” it states. “We disagree.”
The direction taken by the UK in recent years is nothing short of horrifying and perhaps the worst thing that will happen to the internet in its history. At the same time I cannot fathom why the people don’t protest this more. This quote, from V for Vendetta springs to mind immediately:
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
Brent Simmons & Manton Reece:
The JSON Feed format is a pragmatic syndication format, like RSS and Atom, but with one big difference: it’s JSON instead of XML.
For most developers, JSON is far easier to read and write than XML. Developers may groan at picking up an XML parser, but decoding JSON is often just a single line of code.
Our hope is that, because of the lightness of JSON and simplicity of the JSON Feed format, developers will be more attracted to developing for the open web.
Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer:
Tonight we received notice that Moom is in violation of US patent number 8434019, Apparatus and method for positioning windows on a display. Yes, someone has patented positioning windows on a screen via a grid. Given we’ve been notified of a patent violation, we have no choice but to remove Moom from sale, effective immediately.
Sometime patents make sense. Most of the time however, they don’t. This is as absurd as you can imagine anything can be.
Kunal Dua, interviewing Phil Schiller:
Phill Schiller: The reason we haven’t done it is that it’s much more complex than people know, and that’s okay, it’s our job to think about complex problems, but the App Store has reached so many successful milestones without it because the business model makes sense to customers. And the upgrade model, which I know very well from my days of running many large software programmes, is a model from the shrink-wrapped software days that for some developers is still very important, for most, it’s not really a part of the future we are going.
I think for many developers, subscription model is a better way to, go than try to come up with a list of features, and different pricing for upgrade, versus for new customers. I am not saying it doesn’t have value for some developers but for most it doesn’t, so that’s the challenge. And if you look at the App Store it would take a lot of engineering to do that and so would be at the expense of other features we can deliver.
Subscription models are fine for a very limited number of apps. If every app had subscription pricing, I’d probably be using five applications at most. I would however endorse in-app purchases to unlock new functions, added by developers. This isn’t always possible unfortunately, especially in scenarios where most of the apps code changes from version to version.
Matt Gemmell:
No company has done as much damage to the perceived value of software, and the sustainability of being an independent developer, as Apple.
Not that other companies wouldn’t have done the same thing — they would have. It’s just that Apple was the successful one.
It’s resolutely the fault of us as consumers, and it’s actively encouraged by the App Store.
Matt raises a few good points, however, I also tend to feel that developers themselves are partly to blame. For example, many years ago App A launched at $9.99. A few months or years later, competing App B comes along, but it starts out at $4.99. After a while, App A starts a 50% sale (and often doesn’t raise the price again). App C comes along at $0.99, followed by App D, which is free with in-app purchases. That’s the trend that I have seen for many of my favourite apps. Some developers stay strong, however — The Soulmen with their Ulysses [iOS/Mac] for example. The Mac version costs $44.99, while the iOS version is only $24.99, and both versions have nearly identical functionality. They can be used as standalone software too — there is no need to use them both. We’re not even getting into developer sustainability here — cost of living in some countries is much higher than in others. Some do this is as their full-time job, others as a hobby.
The one thing that I still expect Apple to do, is to add an upgrade pricing mechanism, which would greatly benefit developers. I’ll gladly pay for upgrades, but I am probably in the minority. Unfortunately.
At this rate, we might not have a lot of quality software to choose from in the future…
Jason Snell:
Every now and then when I complain about Skype, which most of my podcast peers and I use for our conversations, someone suggests an alternative voice-over-IP service and asks why we don’t switch.
I get asked about why I use Skype for podcasting from time to time, including questions about why I don’t switch to other platforms. My answer is that it just works and I have yet to find something visibly better. Jason has much more experience in this field, so I invite you to read about his thoughts and findings.