Keyboard Maestro Macro to Change Theme in Tweetbot 3.0 for Mac

May 16, 2018 · 12:19

I quickly created this Keyboard Maestro macro, which switches the theme in the new Tweetbot 3.0 [App Store] from Light to Dark and vice versa.

The default shortcut is ⌥⌘L, which I adopted from Ulysses. Feel free to use anything you feel comfortable with. You will also need to make sure that the TweetbotTheme variable is set to either Light or Dark before running it for the first time — I didn’t (yet) bother with a pop-up asking for a correct input if that variable is empty.

★ Tweetbot 3.0 – Switch Theme.kmmacros →

The Silicon Valley TV Show Is Horrible

May 16, 2018 · 10:01

Silicon Valley, the TV show from HBO, is probably the most horrific portrayal of the programmers/coders/tech crowd living and working in that area of the world. I realise that its supposed to be satire, but it simply isn’t. Thomas Middleditch’s character — Richard Hendricks — is particularly dreadful. He’s not only stupid, despite being a genius, he’s a criminal and displays many qualities that I despise, which are unfortunately so commonplace in the world. And Erlich? He’s even worse.

I can’t believe the show’s into its fifth season…

Tweetbot 3.0 for Mac is here!

May 15, 2018 · 20:27

Tweetbot 3.0 for Mac dropped today! I’ve only had a few minutes to play with it so far, but it’s looking like a solid release — I’ve taken to some of the new functionality immediately.

The new 3.0 isn’t a free upgrade this time, which isn’t surprising, since we haven’t paid for the Mac version since 2012 and it’s 1.0 release. Since I practically live on Twitter, I had no qualms about the price, but your mileage may vary.

No complaints or regrets so far — I’m very happy with the new version.

★ Tweetbot 3.0 for Mac — $9.99 / €10.99 / 47.99 PLN →

Say Hello to Google One →

May 15, 2018 · 10:55

Frederic Lardinois, for TechCrunch:

Google is revamping its consumer storage plans today by adding a new $2.99/month tier for 200 GB of storage and dropping the price of its 2 TB plan from $19.99/month to $9.99/month (and dropping the $9.99/month 1 TB plan). It’s also rebranding these storage plans (but not Google Drive itself) as “Google One.”

Since they’re not only consolidating their storage plans under the “Google One” slogan, will this be updated in the future to include subscription services such as YouTube Red? If yes, then will users be able to select which services they want, to customise the plan (and price) to their needs or will Google go down the Amazon Prime route, where many services will just sit unused but will still be paid for?

Paweł Pawlikowski Claims To Be Blacklisted by Poland’s Populist Government →

May 14, 2018 · 15:53

AFP:

Oscar-winning director Pawel Pawlikowski claimed Friday that he had been blacklisted by Poland’s populist rightwing government and compared censorship in the country now to the dark days of communism.

The 60-year-old, who won the best foreign language movie for “Ida” in 2015, told AFP that the film had been banned from being shown on television or in Polish cultural institutes abroad.

“The film is on a blacklist… There is now a blacklist of books, theatre directors and filmmakers who must not be supported,” he said.

“I have the honour to be on this list,” Pawlikowski said as his new film, “Cold War” was premiered at the Cannes film festival.

“With the new government, which has taken total control of public television, it is just like under the communism. The propaganda on TV is incredible,” he said.

His last film “Ida” became the target of attacks and a petition by the country’s Culture Minister Piotr Glinski, then in opposition, when it was nominated for an Academy Award.

He accused Pawlikowski of blackening the country’s reputation.

PGP and S/MIME Vulnerable to Hacks That Can Reveal the Plaintext of Encrypted Messages →

May 14, 2018 · 15:29

Dan Goodin, writing for Ars Technica:

The Internet’s two most widely used methods for encrypting email—PGP and S/MIME—are vulnerable to hacks that can reveal the plaintext of encrypted messages, a researcher warned late Sunday night. He went on to say there are no reliable fixes and to advise anyone who uses either encryption standard for sensitive communications to remove them immediately from email clients.

The flaws “might reveal the plaintext of encrypted emails, including encrypted emails you sent in the past,” Sebastian Schinzel, a professor of computer security at Münster University of Applied Sciences, wrote on Twitter. “There are currently no reliable fixes for the vulnerability. If you use PGP/GPG or S/MIME for very sensitive communication, you should disable it in your email client for now.”

You can find an “EFAIL” paper discussing the vulnerabilities here.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Memovox →

May 12, 2018 · 13:18

A contemporary design of a Grande Maison classic created in 1968, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Memovox watch in steel punctuates the important moments of the active man’s life. It is available in a limited series of 1,000 editions.

I have a hard time finding watches that I really like and the new limited edition Polaris Memovox is one of the few which I find simply stunning. They do offer a much cheaper Polaris Automatic but despite the differences between the two being very subtle, I don’t care for it at all.

macOS Screen Savers by Johansson Design →

May 11, 2018 · 10:29

Johansson Design is probably the only company currently creating new screen savers for macOS, and my goal is to create (post)modern, pop-culture inspired screen savers that can be both practical and used as a form of self-expression.

They are all free and there are at least two in there that piqued my interest. You can get them for free and can donate to the author if you want to.

The Belgian Cowboy E-Bike →

May 11, 2018 · 10:17

Hydraulic brakes, a belt instead of a chain, a weight of 16 kilograms, a SIM card slot, integrated GPS and tracking, a 252 Wh detachable battery, pedal assist, and integrated lights. All this for €1790.

Unfortunately this e-bike is only available in Belgium and Luxembourg. For now…

Jony Ive — How Bad Can He Be? →

May 10, 2018 · 01:15

Benjamin Clymer, for Hodinkee Magazine:

Sir Jonathan Ive, Chief Design Officer of Apple, Inc., is sitting across from me at a seamless white oak table. We’ve met a few times before, and I know he cares about watches. He must, right? But I’ve never actually asked him. So I do. And thank God, he does – he recounts a tale of buying an Omega Speedmaster Professional in the early ’90s. I exhale, because the hypothesis of this interview, at least in my mind (likely not in Apple’s), is that the watch industry and its all-too-vocal supporters have got it all wrong. Jony, the creator of what is, by at least one definition, the number one watch on Earth, is a friend, not a foe. But, like any great question of power and influence, it’s not so simple.

This is one interview worth reading, especially for those of you into horology or Apple Watch. Or both! And that ending — it’s perfect.

iMac Pro & Hasselblad H6D Photo Review: Antarctica →

May 9, 2018 · 13:48

Austin Mann, on his blog:

Twenty years ago today (May 6, 1998), my dad walked into my classroom on the last day of school holding an inkjet print. He handed it me and said, “You’re going to want one of these!” On this piece of paper was the just-announced Bondi Blue iMac […]

Today, after a few months with the iMac Pro, I can say in many ways it stays true to its original ancestor. It packs a powerful punch and continues to deliver on its promise to be a simple yet powerful tool that unlocks creative potential in people.

Screw the iMac Pro review (just kidding, don’t) and look at his shots from Antarctica!

Pocket Casts Addressing Our Concerns →

May 8, 2018 · 10:44

From Shifty Jelly’s blog:

That’s an easy question to answer for those that know a bit about the podcasting industry. The industry is amazing because it’s open. Anyone can publish a podcast and distribute it everywhere. No podcast is treated differently than another. However, “open” is not the default state of markets as they mature, as we’ve seen in other content businesses. When power is consolidated into the hands of just a few closed platforms, creators rarely win. And we care deeply about the fate of podcast producers everywhere.

It’s our mission to ensure that this doesn’t happen. If we succeed, we all benefit. If we lose, well, we feel it was a thing worth attempting. In the meantime there are some steps we need to take to get where we want to go, and we’ll talk about those when we’re ready. It’s early days, but we’re really excited for the future. Hope you all are too!

That’s what the guys at Shifty Jelly were doing before they were bought — building an open community around an open medium. I hope I’m wrong, but historically when a private company buys a product, it isn’t to further an “open” agenda, but to benefit their own product(s) at the cost of those who care that podcasts remain the way they are. Perhaps it’s the cynic in me, but while I believe everything they are saying now (I’m sure they believe it too), I’m willing to bet this will slowly change over time, as it has so frequently in the past.

Why a Massive Sinkhole Tore Open in New Zealand →

May 8, 2018 · 10:27

Sarah Gibbens, for National Geographic:

New Zealand’s newest sinkhole may be one of its largest. It extends down more than six stories. From end-to-end, it measures just about the length of two football fields. The sinkhole is so large it even exposed 60,000-year-old volcanic soil.

One Space Between Each Sentence, They Said →

May 6, 2018 · 09:58

Avi Selk, writing for The Washington Post:

Ob viously, thereneed to be standards. Unless    you’re doing avant – garde po e try, or    something , you  can’tjustspacew ords ho w e v   e    r   y      o        u            want.     That would be insanity. Or at least,

obnoxious.

Enter three psychology researchers from Skidmore College, who decided it’s time for modern science to sort this out once and for all.

I’m still not convinced, especially since the test was conducted using a fixed-width font. The article is perfect though — go read it, spacing and all. It also has the perfect correction:

Note: An earlier version of this story published incorrectly because, seriously, putting two spaces in the headline broke the web code.

via @ania13

Apple Took 8 Days to Give Jefferson the Data It Had Collected on Him →

May 5, 2018 · 11:53

Jefferson Graham:

The zip file I eventually received from Apple was tiny, only 9 megabytes, compared to 243 MB from Google and 881 MB from Facebook. And there’s not much there, because Apple says the information is primarily kept on your device, not its servers. The one sentence highlight: a list of my downloads, purchases and repairs, but not my search histories through the Siri personal assistant or the Safari browser.

This approach by Apple makes me trust them more with my data than any other company.

Pocket Casts Acquired by NPR, etc. →

May 4, 2018 · 00:17

Chris Welch, on The Verge:

Pocket Casts, widely considered to be one of the best mobile apps for podcast listening, has been acquired by a collective group that includes NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life. “This unprecedented collaboration furthers public radio’s leading role as an innovator in audio discovery and distribution, while ensuring the continued support and growth of one of the most popular listening platforms on the market,” the companies said in a press release announcing the news. That team of stations and podcast producers are responsible for some of the format’s biggest hits like This American Life (duh), Serial, Radiolab, and Planet Money.

Moving forward, Pocket Casts will operate as a joint venture between the new owners. Philip Simpson and Russell Ivanovic, who formed Shifty Jelly (Pocket Cast’s developer) in 2008, will have unspecified “leadership roles.” The existing staff and development team is staying put. Owen Grover, a veteran of iHeartRadio / Clear Channel, has been named as Pocket Cast’s CEO. NPR’s apps including NPR One will remain in development.

Rest In Peace Pocket Casts, good luck Russell and Philip.

Everyone on iOS go get Overcast [App Store]. I have no clue what you should do if you’re on Android.

The 2017 Panic Report →

May 4, 2018 · 00:04

Cabel Sasser, on Panic’s blog:

Hello, my friends. It’s (Q2) of a (not-so) new year. That means it’s time to talk about Panic!

I look forward to these every year and having recently switched to Transmit Mac, I was saddened to see Transmit iOS retired. Transmit has become my go-to software to not only interface with various servers, but to access my Dropbox, GDrive, etc. I don’t have to rely on their respective apps anymore, which is worth getting Transmit in itself.

Unsecured IP Video Cameras Directory →

May 3, 2018 · 23:20

Welcome to Insecam project. The world biggest directory of online surveillance security cameras. Select a country to watch live street, traffic, parking, office, road, beach, earth online webcams. Now you can search live web cams around the world. You can find here Axis, Panasonic, Linksys, Sony, TPLink, Foscam and a lot of other network video cams available online without a password. Mozilla Firefox browser is recommended to watch network cameras.

These cameras have no passwords set. Some on purpose, others not so much.

I Wouldn’t Expect a Cheaper iPhone X After What Tim Cook Said Last Night

May 2, 2018 · 12:47

Tim Cook on Apple’s earning’s call:

We were surprised, somewhat, that through all of this period of time that the iPhone X winds up at the most popular for every week of the time since the launch and so that’s, I think, a powerful point. And it’s number one in China, which is another powerful point. And so obviously at some point if those technologies move to lower price points and that [inaudible] probably more unit demand. But the way we think about is trying to price a reasonable price for the value that we deliver and I feel that we did that.

There were plenty of recent rumours suggesting the iPhone X’s price would go down by $100 to $899, perhaps also to make way for an iPhone X Plus at the $999 price point. After hearing Tim’s remarks on the X last night, I wouldn’t expect the price to go down anytime soon — the iPhone X is selling extremely well, and people are voting with their wallets by buying them. You just don’t walk away from that as Apple.

I hope I’m wrong.

(You can find a full transcript of the call on iMore.)

Apple Financial Results — FY Q2 2018 →

May 2, 2018 · 12:39

Apple PR:

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2018 second quarter ended March 31, 2018. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $61.1 billion, an increase of 16 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.73, up 30 percent. International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold:

  • 52.217 million iPhones (50.763 million in FY Q2 2017)
  • 9.113 million iPads (8.922 million in FY Q2 2017)
  • 4.078 million Macs (4.199 million in FY Q2 2017)

John Gruber Has Further Details On Project “Marzipan” →

May 1, 2018 · 09:25

John Gruber, for Daring Fireball:

This “Marzipan” rumor got a lot of people excited. But Gurman’s report is so light on technical details that the excitement is based mostly on what developers hope it could mean, not what’s actually been reported. The less specific the rumor, the easier it is to project your own wishes upon it. And, oddly perhaps, we haven’t seen any additional rumors or details about this project in the four months since Gurman’s original report.

I’ve heard a few things, from first- and second-hand sources. Mostly second-hand, to be honest, but they’re all consistent with each other.

Firstly, the details John posted shed more light on iOS and macOS in the coming years.

Secondly, since this is in regard to Gurman’s “Marzipan” leak, Mark isn’t as credible as he once was:

Gurman doesn’t mention that the meeting was leaked to Gurman himself — the person who leaked this story was caught and fired.

WhatsApp and Facebook — A Massive Culture Clash Over Encryption →

May 1, 2018 · 09:08

Elizabeth Dwoskin, writing for The Washington Post:

The WhatsApp co-founders were also big believers in privacy. They took pains to collect as little data as possible from their users, requiring only phone numbers and putting them at odds with data-hungry Facebook. At the time of the acquisition, Koum and Acton said Facebook had assured them that WhatsApp could remain an independent service and would not share its data with Facebook […]

Another point of disagreement was over WhatsApp’s encryption. In 2016, WhatsApp added end-to-end encryption, a security feature that scrambles people’s messages so that outsiders, including WhatsApp’s owners, can’t read them. Facebook executives wanted to make it easier for businesses to use its tools, and WhatsApp executives believed that doing so would require some weakening of its encryption.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg don’t know when to stop.

2016 MacBook Pro Butterfly Keyboards Failing Twice as Frequently as Older Models →

April 30, 2018 · 23:20

Mike Wuerthele, writing for AppleInsider:

Following anecdotal reports of a keyboard more prone to failure than in previous years, AppleInsider has collected service data for the first year of release of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 MacBook Pros, with an additional slightly shorter data set for the 2017 model year given that it hasn’t been available for a year yet.

Not including any Touch Bar failures, the 2016 MacBook Pro keyboard is failing twice as often in the first year of use as the 2014 or 2015 MacBook Pro models, and the 2017 is better, but not by a lot.

I have had an issue with my 2016 13” MacBook Pro, which is described by Apple as a “popping sound”. I contacted Apple Support and sent them a video, and they immediately set up an appointment with my closest AASP to fix the issue. They fixed it in 24 hours by replacing the whole top case, which includes the keyboard, battery, and speakers. The “popping sound” happens when the keyboard gets too warm and some keys start making a different sound. They also feel marginally stickier when pressed.

The new keyboard feels and sounds different — it’s quieter and a bit stiffer. I’m not sure if this is the same one as in the 2017 model, but I hope it stays fixed. Since this is a problem with the design and the fix is very expensive, I expect Apple to support their users indefinitely (or at least 5-6 years) — we already paid a lot for the MacBook Pro and we should not pay more for design mistakes.

Despite this being a frustrating issue, Apple Support and my AASP were stellar in helping me out.

Rama Works M60-A Keyboard →

April 30, 2018 · 10:25

The M60-A represents the benchmark and equilibrium between function and design for us at Rama Works. The gently exaggerated design of the frame is not understated, but rather provocative. Inspiration and evolution from previous models are evident in the beautifully articulated design and the well defined aesthetic, the fingerprint of our ‘Industrial Modern’ designs. The M60-A offers a unique contender in the traditional 60% form factor.

The attention to detail in this design is quite amazing. If not for its considerable height and lack of arrow keys, I would be ordering it right now.

Marco Arment’s Stellar Privacy Update →

April 28, 2018 · 08:46

Marco Arment, on his blog:

One of the ways publishers try to get around the limitations of the current model is by embedding remote images or invisible “tracking pixels” in each episode’s HTML show notes. When displayed in most apps, the images are automatically loaded from an analytics server, which can then record and track more information about you.

In Overcast 4.2, much like Mail (and for the same reason), remote images don’t load by default. A tappable placeholder shows you where each image will load from, and you can decide whether to load it or not.

This is one developer I would trust with my data without hesitation. I’m keeping my email-based login for Overcast, even though he’ll probably hate me for burdening him with it.