Linked List: July 19, 2018

Thursday, 19 July 2018

Bloomberg on Project ‘Fuchsia’, Google’s Possible Successor to Android ★

Mark Bergen and Mark Gurman co-bylined a story on Fuchsia for Bloomberg. There’s not really much meat to it, and there’s a strange technical error which claims Linux “is distributed by Oracle Corp.” and “is at the center of a lengthy, bitter lawsuit between the two companies”. Oracle has no ownership over Linux whatsoever. The lawsuit is entirely about Google’s use of Java in Android — Oracle did take ownership of Java when they bought the remains of Sun.

Anyway, this was the most interesting tidbit to me:

The company must also settle some internal feuds. Some of the principles that Fuchsia creators are pursuing have already run up against Google’s business model. Google’s ads business relies on an ability to target users based on their location and activity, and Fuchsia’s nascent privacy features would, if implemented, hamstring this important business. There’s already been at least one clash between advertising and engineering over security and privacy features of the fledgling operating system, according to a person familiar with the matter. The ad team prevailed, this person said.

Not a problem engineers working on OSes at Apple or Microsoft have to worry about.

Disney Is Bringing Back ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ ★

Andrew Liptak, reporting for The Verge:

During the 10th Anniversary Clone Wars panel at San Diego Comic-Con, creator and producer Dave Filoni announced that the show would return on Disney’s streaming service, finishing off the story that was widely considered to be left hanging after the show’s abrupt cancellation in 2013.

Great news I was not expecting. I think The Clone Wars was a far better show than Rebels, and it was kind of disgraceful how Disney let it end so abruptly. The Clone Wars deserves a proper final season.

‘The Bigs Are Starting to Accept the Unimaginable’ ★

Josh Marshall, writing at TPM:

Sometimes it’s specific, some kind of corrupt alliance; other times it’s amorphous, some kind of inexplicable hold Putin has over Trump by force of personality. But the kind of people who never said this kind of thing are saying it now. Somehow the President is compromised. Putin has something on him; or he has tempted his avarice with something. But there’s simply no innocent explanation for what we’re seeing.

That’s the shift. The Monday press conference made cautious, prominent people start to come to grips with the reality that Donald Trump, as crazy as it sounds and as difficult as it may be to believe, is under some kind of influence or control by a foreign adversary power, whether by fear or avarice or some other factor.

As yet, there’s little difference of behavior from elected Republicans. And I don’t expect any. What veteran foreign policy or diplomatic hands say on CNN is not the most important thing. But I think they are indicators of a change, a change of perception I expect is occurring among many who can’t yet speak.

I think Marshall is right. I don’t know what will come of it, but something changed this week.

‘Fortnite: Battle Royale’ Has Made Over $1 Billion in 10 Months ★

Erik Kain, writing for Forbes:

Epic Games continues to dazzle the world of video games with the runaway success of the company’s free-to-play game Fortnite: Battle Royale. According to a new report from research firm SuperData, the game has now made over $1 billion since its release in October, 2017.

That’s roughly on par with a blockbuster movie like The Last Jedi. And remember, Fortnite is free-to-win: you can download and play completely free of charge and be at no disadvantage. Epic makes money only from selling cosmetic features like player skins and (I swear) dance moves. It’s fun and fair to play for free, and they charge money to make it a little more fun while keeping it fair for all.

Service Documents Suggest Silicone Membrane in New MacBook Pro Keyboards Is Indeed Designed to Keep Out Debris ★

Interesting find by French site MacGeneration. Here’s the article in English, via Google Translate. (Side note: holy shit is Google Translate getting good — this still isn’t quite natural, but there are entire sentences with complex structure and punctuation that read perfectly.)

Here’s the relevant passage from the Apple service document MacGeneration obtained, which was in English:

Keyboard and Keycaps

The keyboard has a membrane under the keycaps to prevent debris from entering the butterfly mechanism. The procedure for the replacement has also changed from the previous model. Repair documentation and service videos will be available when keycaps parts begin shipping.

This is what I thought all along: the new third-generation keyboard was designed to be quieter and more durable, but Apple, for legal and/or marketing reasons, has decided only to tout that the new design is quieter.

For what it’s worth, I’ve heard from a little birdie or two that my take is correct. Whether this design does make the keyboards more durable and reliable, only time and real-world use will tell. But they were designed to be.

Serenity Caldwell Leaves iMore for Apple ★

What a great hire for Apple. Serenity is one of the best writers on the Apple beat, with such a distinctive style, and she has gone from good to great as a podcaster. Lucky for me, she was on my show just a few weeks ago. Will be a while before she is again (probably?).