Linked List: August 21, 2024

Wednesday, 21 August 2024

Windows Recall Feature for Copilot+ PCs Will Return, in Beta, in October ★

Microsoft:

With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers, we’re sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October. As previously shared on June 13, we have adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community prior to making Recall available for all Copilot+ PCs. Security continues to be our top priority and when Recall is available for Windows Insiders in October we will publish a blog with more details.

For years I stubbornly held onto the full word weblog, but eventually blog won out. But that’s talking about a blog as a publication, a site. It will never sound anything but idiotic to me to call a blog post a “blog”. It makes no sense. You write blogs on a blog?

Anyway, would be scary to consider what this Recall feature would have been like if security were not, as Microsoft repeats ad nauseam, the company’s top priority. The initial version was such privacy Swiss cheese that it’s enough to make you think Microsoft is full of shit that security is their top priority.

‘Monument Valley 3’ Will Be a Netflix Game – Perhaps a Dead Canary in the Apple Arcade Coal Mine ★

Jason Snell:

Netflix has been slowly rolling out a big catalog of games, tied to a Netflix login. There are loads out now, including the excellent Lucky Luna and Laya’s Horizon (both from Snowman, developer of the excellent Alto’s series of iOS games).

Maybe, a year (or years) from now, there will be a GamesIndustry story like this one about Apple Arcade, about Netflix: “Mobile Developers Describe Working With Apple Arcade as a ‘Very Difficult and Long Process’”.

But in the meantime, I think Netflix is doing what Apple claimed they were doing with Apple Arcade — except Netflix didn’t lose focus five minutes into the initiative. I know for a fact, knowing them personally, that there are game developers who are repulsed by casino-style pay-to-win monetization, who are basically desperate for a monetization path that is up-front and completely healthy to all players. And they realize that such paths go through mainstream subscription services.

Apple Arcade, on the surface, sounds like exactly what they’re asking for. And it would give Apple device exclusivity. But Apple has botched this. It’s hard to believe, but they have. The general gist among game developers is that Apple is a hard-driving partner with whom, most likely, you’ll break even at best. The hard-driving part is to be expected. That’s Apple. It would be really weird and alarming if they weren’t demanding. But the “break even at best” part is not.

Joe Biden Defines ‘Patriot’ ★

Peter Baker, supposedly “reporting” from the DNC in Chicago:

When the crowd members in the United Center first chanted, “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!” on Monday night, President Biden looked down, fought back tears and soaked in the admiration.

But he knew. He might not have wanted to admit it. But he knew. They were thanking him, yes, for what he accomplished during a lifetime in public service. But they were also thanking him, let’s be honest, for not running again.

It is hard to think of a more bittersweet moment for a president who spent more than a half-century on the stage only now to be involuntarily shown the exit. The warm bath of affection in Chicago, real as it may have been, could go just so far to salve the wounds of the past few weeks.

Fuck Peter Baker. What utter bullshit the word “involuntary” plays in that lede. Of course it was voluntary. Joe Biden is the President of the United States and is comfortable with the power that title affords. He was, even after his disastrous debate performance, only a few points behind in the polls. It was his call and his call alone to step aside — for the sake of his party, and more importantly, for the sake of the country he so obviously loves. And it’s now obvious he made the right call.

Very few presidents have ever been faced with such a clear decision between the good of the nation and the drive of their personal ambition. Biden’s ambition is legendary. Biden’s response to this moment was heroic.

The Times can give Peter Baker as much ink as they want as a columnist. But they should stop calling him a “reporter”. He’s nothing of the sort, and hasn’t been for a long time.