By John Gruber

• Archive
• The Talk Show
• Vesper
• Projects
• Contact
• Colophon
• RSS Feed
• Twitter
• Sponsorship

---

Wednesday, 22 June 2016

Joanna Stern Cuts the Cheese ★

Joanna Stern:

It’s why I’ve long felt technology’s thinolympics has been a waste of time. “Our new product is so much thinner than the competition that you can fit one more sheet of paper into your messenger bag! You’ll need to make room for the charger, though, since we cut out some battery. Sorry!”

The equation has long been: Thinner + lighter = poorer performance + shorter battery life. Both the Spectre and the MacBook, updated in April, still require you to make some sacrifices. But the trade-offs no longer outweigh the benefits of owning a laptop that could double as a cheese knife — if that’s what you want.

Pairs well with yesterday’s debate over the purported lack of a headphone jack in the next iPhone.

iOS 10 Kernel Code Is Not Encrypted ★

Tom Simonite, writing for the MIT Technology Review:

Some security experts who inspected that new version of iOS got a big surprise.

They found that Apple had not obscured the workings of the heart of its operating system using encryption as the company has done before. Crucial pieces of the code destined to power millions of iPhones and iPads were laid bare for all to see. That would aid anyone looking for security weaknesses in Apple’s flagship software.

Security experts say the famously secretive company may have adopted a bold new strategy intended to encourage more people to report bugs in its software — or perhaps made an embarrassing mistake. Apple declined to comment on why it didn’t follow its usual procedure.

Rene Ritchie:

My understanding is that the reason was something else entirely: Streamlining the operating system.

Since it contains only the kernel, device drivers, and configuration files — and absolutely no user data — the iOS 10 kernel cache can be left unencrypted without any concerns over security or privacy.

Rene’s understanding of things is usually very well-informed. This strikes me as highly unlikely to be a mistake.

Update: Just got this from an Apple spokesperson:

“The kernel cache doesn’t contain any user info, and by unencrypting it we’re able to optimize the operating system’s performance without compromising security.”

So: definitely not a mistake.

Derek Jeter and Barack Obama in Conversation ★

Derek Jeter:

This isn’t an interview, and it’s not about politics. I simply wanted to share our perspectives on a few things that are meaningful to both of us.

We talked about retirement and our inspirations — and the President even snuck in a few good jokes on me. Most of all, we shared thoughts about the importance of mentors and role models, and the work we both are doing through the Turn 2 Foundation and My Brother’s Keeper.

So great. I really enjoyed this.

---

---

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

Twitter Engage ★

Casey Newton, writing for The Verge:

The app, which is available today on iOS, is designed to help famous people interact with their fans and build a bigger following. The app includes three main tabs. Engage highlights the most important interactions you’ve had on Twitter, and includes mentions from users who are verified, followed by a lot of your followers, or interact with you a lot. An “understand” tab shows you high-level analytics for your posts, showing you how many impressions you’re getting over time. And the “posts” tab shows you detailed performance numbers for individual posts.

One thing Engage doesn’t have: a timeline. Engage is for the celebrity who sees the value in tweeting, but would rather not pay attention to the broader conversation in the global town square. If reading Twitter makes you upset, but you still want to be able to broadcast the details of your latest juice cleanse, Engage may be the app for you.

Even with a verified account and a fair number of followers, I find this app almost totally useless. Anything you want to actually do, like respond to a tweet, it shoots you over to the official Twitter app. I fear for Twitter — they’re just spinning their wheels.

Update: I was wrong, you can send new tweets and replies from within Engage. Perhaps my thumb missed the tiny little “reply” button when I tried earlier. But to view details on a tweet or user profile you get switched to the Twitter app. And when you do tweet from Engage, you get this alert as soon as the tweet is sent, every time. What kind of a narcissist wants that? And how did the glaring grammatical error make it into production? It’s an alert you see after every tweet.

Collect Your Apple E-Books Antitrust Settlement ★

Amazon:

In November 2014, a federal court approved a Settlement of antitrust lawsuits brought against Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of electronic books (“eBooks”). Those settlements resulted in credits for qualifying Kindle books purchased between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. These credits are funded by Apple.

I got $6.28.

Monday, 20 June 2016

Adam Leventhal: ‘APFS in Detail’ ★

DTrace co-creator Adam Leventhal has written a detailed analysis of APFS:

I’m not sure Apple absolutely had to replace HFS+, but likely they had passed an inflection point where continuing to maintain and evolve the 30+ year old software was more expensive than building something new. APFS is a product born of that assessment.

Based on what Apple has shown I’d surmise that its core design goals were:

• satisfying all consumers (laptop, phone, watch, etc.)
• encryption as a first-class citizen
• snapshots for modernized backup.

Those are great goals that will benefit all Apple users, and based on the WWDC demos APFS seems to be on track (though the macOS Sierra beta isn’t quite as far along).

Later on:

It’s a shame that APFS lacks checksums for user data and doesn’t provide for data redundancy. Data integrity should be job one for a file system, and I believe that that’s true for a watch or phone as much as it is for a server.

I hope to see data integrity features added to APFS later, but that’s not the top priority for APFS. The top priorities for APFS are encryption/privacy, and energy efficiency. Redundancy and checksums make perfect sense for a machine plugged into the wall; they create a trade-off for devices that run on batteries. I think we’ll see these features eventually in APFS, but I’m not surprised they didn’t make the first cut.

See also: “Introducing Apple File System”, Session 701 at WWDC 2016.

Thoughts and Prayers: The Game ★

Brilliant. (Careful with your audio, though — starts loud.)

Update: Turns out this is one of a series of satirical games that were rejected by Apple’s App Store.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act ★

From Evan Osnos’s excellent “Making a Killer” feature for The New Yorker, on the business and politics of selling guns in the U.S.:

With the help of Congress, the industry has avoided further lawsuits. In 2005, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act immunized gun manufacturers, distributors, and dealers from civil liability for damages caused by their products. Mike Fifer, the C.E.O. of the U.S. gunmaker Sturm, Ruger, said at an N.R.A. convention in 2011 that the law is “probably the only reason we have a U.S. firearms industry anymore.”

This passage jumped out at me. Rescinding this law should be a top priority for gun control advocates. You don’t have to go state by state. There is no Second Amendment angle. Rescind this law and let the victims of gun violence sue the manufacturers and sellers of guns. Personally, I’m all for mandatory background checks, banning high-capacity military rifles, repealing concealed carry laws, and more. But rescinding this one law shielding gun manufacturers and sellers from civil liability seems like the most politically viable first step. Why do I not hear more about this?

(Any movement on gun control is politically unviable so long as Republicans hold either house of Congress, but Democrats held both houses and the presidency as recently as 2011.)

Typeset in the Future: ‘Blade Runner’ ★

Dave Addey does it again.

Tim Cook to Host Paul Ryan Fundraiser Next Week ★

Tony Romm, reporting for Politico:

Apple CEO Tim Cook will host a fundraiser with House Speaker Paul Ryan next week as the iPhone maker tries to strengthen its relationships with key Republicans — despite its decision to pull support for the GOP convention because of its distaste for Donald Trump. […]

Cook is hosting the fundraiser on his own accord, as Apple does not have a corporate political action committee like Facebook, Google and other tech giants in Silicon Valley. Still, the move reflects Apple’s desire to court Republican and Democratic officeholders alike, even at a time when it has serious reservations about Trump, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee.

Trump isn’t merely “distasteful”. He’s radioactive. This is an interesting way to stay above the partisan fray.

20 Years of Iconfactory ★

Nice retrospective, including the archived websites of each of their major web designs. Man, icon design has changed a lot in 20 years.

See also: Exify, Iconfactory’s new iOS app providing a “collection of tools for people who take their iPhone photography seriously”. I’ve been beta-testing it — it’s great.

Sunday, 19 June 2016

Apple Won’t Aid Republican Convention Over Trump ★

Tony Romm, reporting for Politico:

Apple has told Republican leaders it will not provide funding or other support for the party’s 2016 presidential convention, as it’s done in the past, citing Donald Trump’s controversial comments about women, immigrants and minorities.

Unlike Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which have all said they will provide some support to the GOP event in Cleveland next month, Apple decided against donating technology or cash to the effort, according to two sources familiar with the iPhone maker’s plans.

Apple’s political stand against Trump, communicated privately to Republicans, is a sign of the widening schism between Silicon Valley and the GOP’s bombastic presumptive nominee. Trump has trained his rhetorical fire on the entire tech industry, but he’s singled out Apple for particular criticism — calling for a boycott of the company’s products, and slamming CEO Tim Cook, over Apple’s stance on encryption.

You might say, well, of course Apple isn’t going to support the Republican Party. But in fact, in previous years, Apple has donated equipment equally to both major parties. Bipartisan sponsorship of the political conventions is a civic-minded gesture. But Trump is simply too toxic. Companies can’t afford to be associated with him in any way.

The Republican convention is shaping up to be a disaster. Major companies are (wisely) refusing to sponsor it, Trump’s campaign has little money to spare, and Trump himself can’t foot the bill because he actually has very little in liquid assets. None of the previous Republican candidates — Bush (neither 41 nor 43), McCain, Romney — will even attend the convention, let alone speak. Trump has so little support among prominent Republican figures that there’s even been the suggestion that Trump himself should speak every night.

It’d be funny except that our system of government depends upon both major parties being functional.

Saturday, 18 June 2016

National Pancreatic Cancer Advocacy Day ★

Justin Miller:

My wife Michelle Petruzzi was diagnosed with, and died from, sporadic pancreatic cancer entirely within the past six months. She was thirty-six and probably the healthiest person I knew. She was active in many volunteer efforts in our community, she ran operations for a non-profit encouraging girls in tech, and she was a kind and generous soul. You can read more in the previous post.

If you live in the US, you can help other people affected by pancreatic cancer by making one or two quick phone calls this Tuesday, June 21. Read on, or you can get the summary details and make a difference in just a few minutes.

All cancer sucks, but for those of us in the Apple world, pancreatic cancer really hits home — in a famous way, with Steve Jobs, and now in a very personal way with Michelle. I know Justin, and I was happy to see him this week in San Francisco so I could offer my condolences and warm thoughts in person. But I also told him: if I can ever help you do something in Michelle’s honor, just say the word. And lo, he already has something I can help draw attention to.

It’s so easy:

1. Sign up at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Takes about 15 seconds — all they want is your name and email.
2. Look for their email on Tuesday, which will tell you who to call and what to say. That’s it.

These coordinated phone calls really make a difference in U.S. politics. And increasing efforts at early detection of pancreatic cancer will save lives.

Squarespace ★

My thanks to Squarespace for once again sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed. If you’re a regular reader, then you almost certainly know Squarespace. But in case you don’t, Squarespace is the all-in-one platform for creating beautiful websites. Of course, sometimes a website isn’t what you need. That’s why they also offer Cover Pages and Commerce. Not quite ready for a blog, photo gallery, and all the rest? Create a simple yet striking single page website with Cover Pages. Ready to take your small business to the next level? Create a powerful online store with Commerce.

And even if you are familiar with Squarespace, they’re always adding new stuff — like Apple News integration for Squarespace blogs. Learn which product is right for you. Use the offer code “DARING” to save 10 percent at checkout.

The Talk Show: Live From WWDC 2016, With Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi ★

Sponsored by:

• MailChimp: Send better email.
• Microsoft: Tools and services for any developer, any app, any OS. Really.
• Meh.com: A new deal every day at midnight Eastern.

Thursday, 16 June 2016

Billboard Interview With Apple Music’s Brain Trust: Iovine, Reznor, Cue, and Kondrk ★

Interesting interview:

Billboard: Record labels and publishers are also concerned with the decline in download sales. Will we see a streaming-only future and when?

Cue: There’s no end date, and as a matter of fact, they should all be surprised and thankful to the results that they’re seeing because our music iTunes business is doing very well. Downloads weren’t growing, and certainly are not going to grow again, but it’s not declining anywhere near as fast as any of them predicted or thought it would. There are a lot of people who download music and are happy with it and they’re not moving towards subscriptions. We talked about subscriptions bringing a lot of new customers in, people who have never bought music. And if you look at Apple’s music revenue on a quarterly basis, because of subscriptions and because of sales, it’s now higher; it’s actually growing, which is great for the labels.

Trent Reznor: It feels as though we’ve turned a corner in terms of the adoption of streaming. I think it’s inevitable that downloads will diminish, much like CDs. But I’ve started buying vinyl — probably out of nostalgia, but also there’s something about a physical thing that has meaning to me as an artist. I think coexistence can take place.

Samsung to Buy Joyent ★

Jonathan Cheng, reporting for the WSJ:

Samsung’s acquisition of San Francisco-based Joyent signals the South Korean technology giant’s burgeoning interest in “big data,” part of a broader effort to use powerful remote computers to bolster its data analysis and the computing capabilities of its devices.

Samsung said in a statement it will integrate Joyent into its mobile division, though the 11-year-old company will retain both the Joyent name and its top management, and operate at an arm’s length from its new parent company.

Long-time readers will remember that I was a very early employee at Joyent when it was founded in 2005. I left in 2006 to write Daring Fireball full-time. Kind of funny to think that in some alternate universe I’m now a Samsung employee.

Wednesday, 15 June 2016

What Is Differential Privacy? ★

Matthew Green:

As an academic researcher and a security professional, I have mixed feelings about Apple’s announcement. On the one hand, as a researcher I understand how exciting it is to see research technology actually deployed in the field. And Apple has a very big field.

On the flip side, as security professionals it’s our job to be skeptical — to at a minimum demand people release their security-critical code (as Google did with RAPPOR), or at least to be straightforward about what it is they’re deploying. If Apple is going to collect significant amounts of new data from the devices that we depend on so much, we should really make sure they’re doing it right — rather than cheering them for Using Such Cool Ideas. (I made this mistake already once, and I still feel dumb about it.)

But maybe this is all too “inside baseball”. At the end of the day, it sure looks like Apple is honestly trying to do something to improve user privacy, and given the alternatives, maybe that’s more important than anything else.

The End of ThinkUp ★

Anil Dash:

We have some tough news: We’re going to be shutting down the ThinkUp service on July 18 and issuing a refund then for the balance of all member subscriptions. There have been significant changes from Instagram, Twitter and Facebook that make it too hard for us to keep the service running, especially since we’ve been struggling as a business. We’re sorry, and we’re going to try to handle this shutdown the right way.

A shame — I really liked ThinkUp. Every week it surfaces something interesting from Twitter that I hadn’t noticed on my own.

Safari 10 Will No Longer Load Legacy Plugins By Default ★

Ricky Mondello, on the WebKit blog:

By default, Safari no longer tells websites that common plug-ins are installed. It does this by not including information about Flash, Java, Silverlight, and QuickTime in navigator.plugins and navigator.mimeTypes. This convinces websites with both plug-in and HTML5-based media implementations to use their HTML5 implementation.

Of these plug-ins, the most widely-used is Flash. Most websites that detect that Flash isn’t available, but don’t have an HTML5 fallback, display a “Flash isn’t installed” message with a link to download Flash from Adobe. If a user clicks on one of those links, Safari will inform them that the plug-in is already installed and offer to activate it just one time or every time the website is visited. The default option is to activate it only once. We have similar handling for the other common plug-ins.

The worst is when a site that could serve you HTML5 media content instead sends you the Flash version, just because you have Flash installed. This should fix that problem for Safari users.

‘The End of Apple Man’ ★

Katie Notopoulos, writing for BuzzFeed:

But the effervescent demo of Apple Music by the charismatic Bozoma Saint John — a black woman who looked and acted nothing like the typical Apple Men onstage before her and who in her opening remarks mentioned being a mother — felt like a breath of fresh air signaling that perhaps the winds are changing. There were other signals too. In the video segment cheering on developers using Apple’s Swift programming language, the video ended with a black woman joyfully expounding how awesome coding was — certainly not the stereotype of a coder, and not totally reflective of the crowd there watching the video. At another Apple event in March, another black female Apple executive, Lisa Jackson, took the stage to talk about Apple’s environmental efforts.

Breaking the Apple Man stereotype in the people who appear on stage as the Apple’s evangelists is symbolic. Having a black woman present on stage might just mean the company is more aware of the optics of its events.

Good points about the new “emergency alert” feature on Apple Watch being designed for women, too.

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

The Talk Show: Live From WWDC 2016 Video Stream ★

Doors open for attendees at 6pm PT, but the actual show and live video stream will start around 7pm PT / 10pm ET.

Should be a good show.

Update: The live stream went down about halfway through — sorry — but the show went great. Top people are hard at work on the video and audio as I type.

Stripe: Apple Pay ★

Stripe is already on board — it’s going to be pretty easy for websites to integrate Apple Pay this fall.

---

---