Linked List: October 2, 2014

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Here’s the Gamasutra piece by Leigh Alexander that has self-identified “gamers” so upset they convinced Intel to pull its ads from the site:

Developers and writers alike want games about more things, and games by more people. We want — and we are getting, and will keep getting — tragicomedy, vignette, musicals, dream worlds, family tales, ethnographies, abstract art. We will get this, because we’re creating culture now. We are refusing to let anyone feel prohibited from participating.

“Gamer” isn’t just a dated demographic label that most people increasingly prefer not to use. Gamers are over. That’s why they’re so mad.

She really nailed that.

Intel Buckles to Anti-Feminist Campaign by Pulling Ads From Gaming Site ★

Rich McCormick, reporting for The Verge:

Intel has pulled an advertising campaign from video gaming website Gamasutra after it reportedly received a number of complaints from self-identified gamers upset that the site was championing fair gender representation in video games. The decision by the world’s largest chipmaker to remove its advertising from the site comes as a result of a coordinated campaign called Operation Disrespectful Nod, apparently orchestrated by supporters of the #GamerGate hashtag, who rail against so-called “social justice warrior” writers, journalists, and developers.

Organizers of the campaign exhorted people to contact companies that advertise on video game-focused websites such as Gamasutra and Kotaku in order to complain about five specific articles that suggested the concept of the “gamer” as an identity was fading away. In this case, their efforts were successful. “Intel has pulled its advertising from website Gamasutra,” an Intel spokesperson said to Recode. “We take feedback from our customers very seriously especially as it relates to contextually relevant content and placements.”

Embarrassing. Intel could have spent 15 minutes googling how stupid this GamerGate thing is. Now they seem completely gutless.

Google Drops Membership From Conservative ALEC ★

Dustin Volz, writing for National Journal:

Last week, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said in an interview with NPR’s Diane Rehm that the company was dropping its membership with ALEC, a coalition of corporations and state legislators that works to create and share model legislation in statehouses around the country.

Responding to a question from a listener, Schmidt attacked ALEC for helping to sponsor legislation that opposes environmental regulations and “just literally lying” about climate change.

“Everyone understands climate change is occurring, and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place,” Schmidt said. “And so we should not be aligned with such people.”

Great to see Google and Schmidt speaking out on this.

But Nelson, who was installed as ALEC’s chief executive just two weeks ago, said that Google’s departure, while disappointing, hasn’t hurt the group’s standing with other members, despite a wave of other companies announcing they, too, were leaving.

“Quite the contrary — I’ve had calls from companies that want to join,” Nelson said. “I am totally focused on growing the organization, and I am convinced we are poised for growth. We certainly are very optimistic about the future.”

In the wake of Google’s decision, several major tech companies — Facebook, Yahoo, and Yelp — announced they either already had or soon intended to leave ALEC as well. Microsoft also announced earlier this summer it was cutting ties with ALEC. The exodus was followed by a decision by Occidental Petroleum, the fourth-largest oil and natural-gas company in the U.S., to also divorce itself from ALEC.

You know you’re pretty far out on the right wing when you lose Occidental Petroleum as a member.

Eric Schmidt on Tim Cook’s Criticism on Google and Privacy ★

CNNMoney:

“But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy,” Cook said on Apple’s newly updated privacy website.

Schmidt fired back against Cook, saying Google works extremely hard to protect its users’ information from other companies, the government, and hackers. He also noted customers have the option to change their settings and share less.

“Someone didn’t brief him correctly on Google’s policies,” Schmidt said. “It’s unfortunate for him.”

Not sure if Schmidt misunderstood what Cook was talking about, or if he’s being willfully obtuse. It was very obvious that Cook was talking about Google’s business model, not their security policies. It’s not about Google protecting its users from governments and criminals; it’s about protecting our privacy from Google itself and its advertisers.

KeySonic ★

Speaking of third-party iOS keyboards, this one is really something. I can’t see how anyone could actually bear to use any of these, but it’s kind of funny. Hard to believe this is iOS.

Emoji++ ★

David Smith:

Rather than the incredibly awkward paging interface the Emoji are listed out in a single, smoothly scrolling window. So you can easily browse through from top to bottom in only a few swipes. Along the right side is a jump bar letting you quickly skim to a particular category (organized in a way that actually puts similar things together). Long press on any Emoji to add it to your favorites list or view all your recently used Emoji in the Recents list. Simple. Fast.

First third-party keyboard I’ve tried that I actually kept installed.

(Via Casey Liss, who gives it a 👍.)

Tweetbot 3.5: iPhone 6 Support, Interactive Notifications, and iOS 8 Extensions ★

Federico Viticci, MacStories:

From a visual perspective, Tweetbot 3.5 looks and works the same, keeping the foundation that Tapbots introduced with Tweetbot 3 last year. The app hasn’t changed considerably — it has evolved in expected ways and within the limitations imposed by Twitter’s API for third-party apps.

What’s changing today in Tweetbot is the action menu for tweets and links. With iOS 8, Tapbots has decided to fully embrace extensions (abandoning the custom contextual menu they had built for Tweetbot 3) by switching to Apple’s share sheet for action and share extensions. Every time you tap & hold a tweet/link or hit the share icon in your timeline or a web view, Tweetbot 3.5 will open the iOS 8 share sheet.

Great update to my most-used iPhone app.

Library of Congress Discovers Lost Footage of Washington Senators Beating the New York Giants in the 1924 World Series ★

Dan Steinberg, writing for The Washington Post:

And when archivists from the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation watched the reel, they found nearly four minutes of footage from that 1924 World Series, footage that somehow had remained in nearly perfect condition for 90 years. Bucky Harris hitting a home run, Walter Johnson pitching four innings of scoreless relief, Muddy Ruel scoring the winning run, fans storming Griffith Stadium’s field: It was all there, and it was all glorious.

Amazing. Love those old-time pitching windups.

Apple’s Roller Coaster Month ★

Good rundown by Mark Rogowsky of Apple’s tumultuous September. The next few weeks should be interesting too: Yosemite, Apple Pay, and iCloud Drive are all imminent. And if they stick to the schedule of the past few years, they’ll hold an event to announce new iPads and maybe new Macs.

Faster Horses ★

Álvaro Serrano:

People don’t like what they don’t understand and so far, nobody understands the Apple Watch. I’m not even sure anybody can; we just don’t know enough about it at this point. In the absence of a valid reference, many are sure to dismiss it as either irrelevant or flawed, simply because it doesn’t conform to their own existing preconceptions. Because, like the iPhone, the Apple Watch is not a horse either.

Paczkowski: Tim Cook Names Steve Dowling ‘Interim’ Head of PR ★

John Paczkowski:

Sources close to Apple tell Code/red that Dowling was tapped as interim head of public relations last week by CEO Tim Cook, who has been looking to put a friendlier, more approachable face on Apple’s public relations efforts. Evidently, Apple’s search outside of the company has so far proven fruitless. Dowling’s appointment has been framed to employees as an interim one and I’m told Apple will continue to evaluate worthy outside candidates if one should pop up. That said, the fact that Cook has officially put Dowling at the top of Apple’s PR organization suggests he could remain there.

Sounds strange to me that after six months, this decision is still labeled “interim”. Looks indecisive.

Terms of Service; Didn’t Read ★

Instant bookmark:

“I have read and agree to the Terms” is the biggest lie on the web. We aim to fix that.

We are a user rights initiative to rate and label website terms & privacy policies, from very good Class A to very bad Class E.

Update: Instantly fireballed, alas — site went down before even Fireballed.org could cache it. Here’s a snapshot from last month at Archive.org.