n.s.

somehow this post is way longer than i expected. but it's rather interesting.

Snell Talk

as much as inviting Tim Cook to a game of american football is funny, i do appreciate the consideration of not asking hot questions to CEOs. or to just any people. i wouldn't like to discuss work either when i'm at a sports game. also the lack of reaction to Myke's sudden "what's on his homescreen?" is unappreciated.

Follow Up

the new iOS 17 photo picker with privacy option is really good. but i do blame telegram, my most used app on my phone, for making their own photo picker and not using the system one. sad!

apparently the new keyboard now suggest emojis based on region and it discriminates brits by using different emojis for "LOL" between the US and UK keyboards. though i have to say, i get way more emoji suggestions now (which is good).

i also was holding off posting about passkeys (because it's an extremely good idea, fuck passwords), but the fact that a lot of implementations require you to have your Smart Phone for it kinda suck. it'll be better over time anyway. more things should implement passkeys.

This Is Not Fun -- The Online Safety Bill

data encryption Shall Not Be Infringed. under any circumstances. a lot of governments do evil things in the name of "protecting the children" and "fighting terrorism". see: past year of new laws here in Russia.

the government people should just understand - The Children Are Alright. if you're gonna make something safer for children - it should not be less safer for adults too, and breaking encryption is one of the worst things you could do.

also the "oh the tech wizards will figure it out" is so relatable. a lot of non-tech-aligned people just think everything works like magic if you throw enough cs graduates into it. it's not.

bold move by apple (and many others) to just say "mate, we're pulling out of here if you do this", and i kinda do support it. privacy is one of the most important human rights, and there shouldn't be compromises on human rights.

also the fact that they put exceptions for themselves and... checks notes zoom and email? is kinda an asshole move. privacy for me but not for thee. if this passes - a lot of countries will go "hey we can also try that" and do it. pretty sure we have half this shit already implemented, like something about storing data here in the country and something about user identification via phone numbers. not cool.

also why do so much people still use whatsapp? i do not like it. it's generally Behind The Curve and i do not trust facebook corp with anything. except with Zuck beating the shit out of Musk if the cage fight happens. do it, lizard man.

Apple and AI

sigh, look. siri fucking sucks right now for different reasons and i doubt text transformer models could solve this.

first, she can only control so much things. i wish siri could control more settings on my phone, because 50% of the system requests i try to ask siri, an assistant who should be ingrained close with the hardware, she says "sorry i cannot do that". i see why, but she should just do more. it's up to the software teams to give siri more access to internals.

second, i do not want my assistant to Lie. a problem with transformer models is that they lie about things, and it's in their design. sure, she could fetch things from sources like wikipedia and then transform that text or just take it. (un)fortunately, siri has to run most things she can on-device. and that Does Not Scale Well with natural language processing. have you ever tried running a text transformer plus natural language processing model on a mobile device? and then be able to launch it near-instantly on user request? and still have the speedy responses? and have it cheap too? and private?

it's just fucked. i doubt siri is gonna do natural language processing and transforming text in close time. but if we give it enough time - i'm sure she'll be able to do good things. as always, apple's late to the party, but they rock it. so it's a waiting game.

Vision Pro Developer Kits

the vision pro is indeed a "rich people toy" product right now. the $3500 price means that very few developers could afford to just make things for it, and the consumers... well, there's not gonna be a lot of apps, but i feel like people who can spend $3500 on a headset can afford to spend, like 4x the price for vision pro apps.

also i feel like "3D film content" is gonna be the same "new format for viewing movies!" niche thing. remember Quibi?

also, shoutout to this bit from the devkit agreement:

click to expand

You agree that all access to, usage of, and storage use of the DK will be in a private, secure workspace accessible only by You and Your Authorized Developers (e.g., fully enclosed with solid doors, floors, walls and ceiling, and locks that can be engaged when the DK is in use). You must ensure that unauthorized persons (including any family, friends, roommates or household employees) do not access, view, handle, or use the DK. When in use, the DK should be in your positive control (on your person or within Your direct line of sight) at all times. You must ensure the DK is passcode protected. Never leave the DK unattended. When not in use, turn off the DK and store it in its locked Pelican case in a locked space that only You have access to (e.g., a locked room or closet, a safe or locked drawer). The DK may not be moved from or taken away from its ship-to address by You or Your Authorized Developers without Apple's prior written consent. If You will be away from Your workspace for more than 10 days, consult with Your Apple point of contact about how to keep the DK safe while You are away. You agree to restrict access to the DK to You and Your Authorized Developers, and to take all reasonable precautions to safeguard the DK from loss or theft.

it's probably gonna just explode if you break this agreement. you accidentally call it "the vision pro" instead of "apple vision pro" and fucking gman appears and takes your devkit.

Ask Upgrade

on displays: i do feel like apple's displays are Just Good Enough on default settings. except truetone on macs. i don't have any complaints about truetone on phones.

on the vision pro outside: i don't think this is an outside device as of now. it's built to have the user stationary in one place using it. in front of a table or in a seat. maybe later, when the Vision Product Lineup will evolve into something better.

on algorithms: the comparison of the algorithmic timelines to junkfood is pretty good. it's quick, it's cheap and short-time tasty, like on a conveyor belt. but you know you're gonna feel bad after it. it's something that is just optimized for profit, not for users. it's directly bad for users.

also here's a proposal: algorithms are rather good at discovery of people, but i do not trust them to conveyor-feed content. so like, on mainstream platforms there should be a algorithm-based "discovery" tab that just suggest profiles and their topics, based on what you already read; and the main timeline should be "follows only, chronological". fuck algorithms though.

maybe i should recommend cohost via the feedback website, because cohost does not have the most issues that they outlined. that would also be additional public exposure to This Website, since upgrade is a relatively known podcast too.

---

anyway yes i did just listen to the podcast a second time on 2x speed to write this. i should do more notes like this. thank you for reading all this i guess?