Linked List: March 15, 2020

Sunday, 15 March 2020

Yes Plz 

My thanks to Yes Plz for sponsoring last week at DF. Yes Plz sends outstanding coffee beans right to your door, along with a delightfully eclectic print zine — that’s right, a printed zine — covering topics like food, culture, and music. Yes Plz is from the same crazy coffee geniuses who brought you Tonx Coffee back in the day — Tonx was a long-time DF sponsor, so I’m sure many of you recall them.

Sponsorship aside: I love Yes Plz coffee. I am literally drinking a cup right now. I made a second pot of coffee on this lazy stay-at-home Sunday simply because it tastes so good.

One thing I believe — and that the Yes Plz folks preach — is that it’s easy to make genuinely great coffee at home. Simple methods work best (I’m a pour-over man myself), and the only ingredients you need are clean water and great beans.

Try it now — no hassle, no commitment, and you can pause or cancel anytime. They even have a special deal for DF readers: $5 off your first bag using promo code FIREBALL5 at checkout.

Major Vegas Resorts Are Closing 

Bailey Schulz, reporting for The Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Wynn Resorts Ltd. is set to close its two Las Vegas properties beginning 6 p.m. Tuesday to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. The closure is expected to last two weeks, after which Wynn “will evaluate the situation,” according to a Sunday statement from the company.

Lucas Wright, reporting for KLAS Las Vegas:

MGM Resorts has announced it will shut down all Las Vegas properties until further notice, starting on Tuesday, March 17. Casino operations will close on Monday, followed by hotel operations. […]

MGM Resorts will not be taking reservations for arrivals prior to May 1.

MGM’s properties dominate The Strip: Aria, Bellagio, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Mirage, New York New York, Park MGM, Vdara.

If you didn’t think shit was getting serious when major theme parks shut down, you know it’s getting real when Vegas shuts down.

Vidit Bhargava’s iPad Multitasking Concept 

Vidit Bhargava:

  1. Provides a clear path to launch any app in split screen.

  2. Clearly shows which app is in focus.

  3. Simplifies the multi-tasking screen (spaces to the left of the app appear to left and not the bottom in a grid).

It’s a short video demo that packs a bunch of good ideas. I’d go further on point 3 — it’s more than just simplified, it’s more coherent. iPadOS 13 multitasking lacks any spatial coherence whatsoever right now. When you swipe on the multitasking indicator at the bottom of the screen, spaces are arranged left-to-right. (Same goes for using a 4-finger swipe anywhere on the screen, including on home-button iPads.) But when you go into the full multitasking switcher mode (with a swipe up on Face ID iPads or a double-tap of the old-school home button), apps are arranged in a grid. That is madness. It breaks spatiality.

Also, although Bhargava’s concept doesn’t mention it, ⌘-Tab switching on iPadOS should show spaces, not apps. It’s bananas that it doesn’t.

Anyway, nice work here from Bhargava, whose English dictionary app LookUp (iOS and Mac) is well worth a look. LookUp for Mac is a great example of a well-done Catalyst app. And he documents the design thinking behind LookUp delightfully on his blog.