Linked List: January 24, 2020

Friday, 24 January 2020

How Jeff Bezos’s iPhone X Was Hacked ★

Good summary from The New York Times. Until this week’s news, I don’t believe we knew what type of phone Bezos was using when he was hacked. Now we know: an iPhone X.

‘An Embarrassment From Start to Finish’ ★

Ron Amadeo, reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Fold for Ars Technica:

And that brings us to today — the Ars review. This one is going to be a little different, since I don’t think the Galaxy Fold has any viability as a serious device anyone should consider purchasing. Should you buy a Galaxy Fold? NO! God no. Are you crazy? The sky-high price, durability issues, nascent form factor, and new screen technology should rule the phone out for just about everyone.

Worth reading and looking at the screenshots comparing it to normal top-tier Android phones. The Fold’s front screen is nearly worthless and the interior “big” screen displays significantly less content in most apps.

Jiminy.

You Might Like Front and Center Even If You Don’t Like Classic Switching ★

Dr. Drang, regarding my enthusiasm for John Siracusa’s new Front and Center utility for the Mac:

I would argue that just because Gruber misses the old behavior doesn’t make it right. When you switch to an app via the Dock, all its windows come forward because you have clicked on a icon for the app. Similarly, when you switch to an app via ⌘-Tab, all its windows come forward because you have selected the icon for that app. But when you click on a background window, you are not selecting an app, you’re selecting a window. So it’s the window that should come forward, not the app as a whole.

I completely agree with Drang. I’d never endorse changing today’s MacOS to use the classic-style “click a window to bring all that app’s windows to the front” behavior. Both for Drang’s reasons above, and simply because Mac OS X has been around too long for it to change. (The Mac was 17 years old when Mac OS X 10.0 shipped in March 2001; Mac OS X/OS X/MacOS will have been around for 19 years soon. Classic remained essential until at least 2004, though — Steve Jobs’s 2002 “funeral” for Mac OS 9 be damned, Mac OS X was way too slow and too incomplete until 10.4 Tiger or so for most serious Mac users. So let’s just call it 20 years of classic MacOS and 20 years and counting of Mac OS X.)

But I think classic-style window activation is worthwhile as an option. And more important is Front and Center’s Shift-click override. When using Front and Center in “Classic” mode, you can Shift-click a background window to bring just that window forward. And, if you prefer the “Modern” mode, where just-plain-clicking a window brings just that window forward, you can Shift-click a window to bring all of that app’s windows forward. That’s the killer feature, no matter which mode you prefer by default, and why I suggest trying it even if you don’t want Classic behavior by default.

Gorgeous Maps of the Streets of Any City in the World ★

Enter the name of any city, and Andrei Kashcha’s City Roads website will use OpenStreetMap data to draw all of its streets. Simple and beautiful monochromatic design. (Via Jason Kottke, travel photographer.)

Fast Company: ‘Apple and Google’s Location Privacy Controls Are Working’ ★

Jared Newman, writing for Fast Company:

Some recent data points to consider:

Since the launch of iOS 13 last fall, the amount of background location data that marketers collect has dropped by 68% according to Location Sciences, a firm that helps marketers analyze location data.

Location Sciences also found that foreground data sharing, which occurs only while an app is open, dropped by 24%.

A Google spokesman tells Fast Company that when Android users have the option to only share location data when they’re actively using an app, they choose that option about half the time.

As Digiday reported last week, apps are now seeing opt-in rates under 50% for collecting location data when they’re not in use, according to Benoit Grouchko, CEO of the ad tech business Teemo.

Good news for everyone except dirtbags.

‘If Right Doesn’t Matter, We’re Lost. If the Truth Doesn’t Matter, We’re Lost.’ ★

Adam Schiff’s summary argument in the Senate trial of Donald Trump’s impeachment. “If truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost” sums up more than the abject corruption of Trump’s presidency — it sums up the state of the world today.