No, I don’t want to rate the app, or the Skype call, or the mechanic, or the quality of a support email, or a song, or my doctor’s appointment, or whether the web page answered my question… I don’t really want to rate anything ever again! If I actually have feedback, I know how to send it.
Still votes to count in the Michigan primary, but seems like the protest vote against Biden will settle out around 15%. Which sounds significant except that the protest vote against Trump is 30%. 🇺🇸
The Verge’s early look at Humane’s AI Pin sounds about right:
"It’s a darn cool gadget. It’s just buried under a layer of marketing so thick that it’s hard to appreciate what it actually could be if Humane wasn’t so self-serious."
As I’ve said before, there’s a good idea here somewhere but it needs time to bake. I think Humane should regroup with a simpler, streamlined device.
I never want to see layoffs, but it’s the right move for Apple to officially cancel the car project. It always seemed like a bad fit. I’d love to see a book or web site with all the designs and tech they came up with along the way, though! Must’ve been interesting.
Tracks across Navasota Street, before having lunch with an old friend at Cosmic. 🚂
I’ve seen a couple links to this post on 404 Media that Automattic may sell user data to AI companies. We’ll see how it shakes out, but just in case anyone is worried about Micro.blog: our terms of service make it clear that users own their data, not us. We put this in to avoid any conflicts.
https://www.404media.co/tumblr-and-wordpress-to-sell-users-data-to-train-ai-tools/
An update on the pricing update https://www.manton.org/2024/02/27/an-update-on.html
Netflix is turning off the existing paid subscriptions for people who signed up years ago using iOS in-app purchase. I’d love to know how much money this represents. On the sort of eve of the DMA, just highlights that there’s no chance Netflix ever adopts in-app purchase again.
https://www.theverge.com/24084173/netflix-refusing-apple-itunes-subscriptions
February has been busy. Pausing to reflect on everything that has happened in one month: new notes feature, new app Strata, new extensions for Firefox and Chrome, new pricing structure with multiple blogs, app updates to Micro.blog for macOS and Epilogue for iOS, keyword muting. Thanks everyone! 🎉
Congrats @cheesemaker on shipping a new iOS app Calamity! It pulls in potential disasters near you — earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, near-miss asteroids, and other bad news.
https://micro.blog/cheesemaker https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calamity/id6477748950
Digging underway at Mueller.
Sometimes I get carried away using Redis. Made another change a couple days ago that shaved over 12 GB off our memory usage. Probably more we can do.
Good summary blog post on some of the IndieWeb-related improvements @paulrobertlloyd has made recently. The updated design of the IndieWeb wiki pages is a nice improvement. Paul and others will be gathering in Brighton for IndieWebCamp… I’ll try to join remotely too if the time zones work out.
https://paulrobertlloyd.com/2024/056/a1/indieweb_dents/ https://micro.blog/paulrobertlloyd
On a bit of a roll with iOS app updates this week. Some minor improvements to both Strata and Epilogue in the queue for Apple to review. Love how the new icons look in my iPhone dock.
Just posted the latest episode of Core Intuition. We talked a lot about the Micro.blog notes rollout, and the new iOS app Strata, plus the pricing of Black Ink’s subscription.
https://coreint.org/2024/02/episode-588-its-better-than-last-year/
Posted a new beta of Epilogue on TestFlight. Having mixed feelings about the Open Library integration, so I’ve removed the tab that was in previous betas. Might bring it back later.
Bluesky opening up federation https://www.manton.org/2024/02/23/bluesky-opening-up.html
I didn’t think Apple needed to make a sports app, but now that they have, it’ll be my default. I agree with John Gruber’s post that being fast matters:
"…the truth is ad tech, combined with poor programming, has made most sports apps slow to load. Most apps, period, really. Just being very fast to load ought not be a hugely differentiating factor in 2024, but it is."
Over the years I’ve used Yahoo Sports, ESPN, the NBA app, even just the Spurs app, and others. They’re fine, but Apple Sports is simpler and faster.
Really happy with the feedback on our pricing change. I think it’s resonating well with folks because there’s essentially no downside! It’s either the same price, or cheaper, or you get more features. It’s also simpler for us because everyone gets it, no need to manage “legacy” subscriptions.
https://www.manton.org/2024/02/21/simplified-pricing-in.html
Tired of running out of disk space, finally decided to move Xcode and the DerivedData folder to a little external SSD. Might’ve bought myself another year with this older MacBook Pro.