Longtime indie developer of StopTheMadness and other software for Mac and iOS. You may remember me from the Mac OCSP appocalypse. I block condescending repliers.
Public Key
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Profile Code
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Author Public Key
npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Show more details
Published at
2023-10-01T18:34:00+02:00 Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson This is insane! Mac mini is already small enough. What in the world is gained by making it smaller? https://mastodon.social/@macrumors/112927115667010777 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Where do people get this bullshit? Nothing worse than an ignoramus posing as an expert. https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/922/292/338/113/154/original/6f0a3f36f3417f17.png npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson "The following feedback was submitted against an older version of Xcode. We have made numerous improvements to Xcode since then, and this issue was likely resolved in the latest software release." Was *likely* resolved? You don't fucking know if was resolved??? This is why I'm boycotting Feedback Assistant. https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/713/499/982/259/446/original/ee0548c2587d22c1.png npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I love when ducks use the building’s pool. It’s a cement pond. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I use and develop apps for iOS, which is repulsively paternalistic, only because I was already using and developing apps for Mac, which is much less paternalistic (although unfortunately becoming more so over the years). I despise tech company paternalism. That’s not a selling point for me. I also despise duopolies: iOS and Android, Mac and Windows, Democrats and Republicans, etc. I may choose the lesser of evils, but they all suck. I liked Apple a lot better as the underdog in the early 2000s. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson New blog post: Amazon Web Services dark patterns https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/6/7.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson "In prior regulatory situations, Apple has done the absolute bare minimum and arguably engaged in malicious compliance, seemingly without asking the EU in advance. Caution has not been their MO." Their MO has been bluster, complaints, and whining. https://mastodon.social/@mjtsai/112656962191466389 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Japan regulating Apple and Google is just anti-American nationalist protectionism. Europe regulating Apple and Google is just anti-American nationalist protectionism. The United States Department of Justice suing Apple and Google is just… well, that’s where this narrative becomes ridiculous. https://mastodon.social/@mjtsai/112633731291110299 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Apple got rid of Jony Ive but still doesn’t have any new hardware design ideas except THINNER. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson WWDC 2024 demonstrates more clearly and sharply than ever that the annual OS release schedule should be abolished. Apple was NOT READY. Indeed, not ready for betas! Most of the announced features are vaporware, coming “later”, probably not in September, possibly not in 2024. Even the new features that exist in the betas, such as the Passwords app, are half-baked at best. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson This is the System Settings “redesign” LOL https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/597/986/003/060/268/original/e18062ee42099efb.jpeg npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson “on device code completion” Aren’t we supposed to have that ALREADY?!?!?!? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Siri is 13 years old? Wow, it has sucked for the longest time. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson What happened to Kevin Lynch? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I never stop learning. I want to stop learning, but reality has this way of making me learn. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Missed opportunity to call it iAI https://mastodon.social/@macrumors/112575051803106245 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Um… why is everyone pretending that Keychain Access app doesn’t already exist? https://mastodon.social/@macrumors/112571607157015633 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson The greatest danger of so-called AI isn’t that it will become some kind of science fiction super-intelligence that takes over the planet from humans. The danger is that this technology will continue to be as stupid as it is now, but humans will, out of laziness and greed, allow the stupid technology to make important decisions automatically. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I am doing fine, hope to be an indie dev forever, have no plans to sell StopTheMadness, and indeed never had an acquisition offer, but if someone totally mad offered me $millions for it, I absolutely would owe my customers an announcement. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s a sacred responsibility to run my native code on other people’s computers, and I take that responsibility seriously. Your customers trusted you, and any developer who violates that trust harms all other developers. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Bartender app has been acquired. It’s not clear by whom, though. https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1d7zjv8/comment/l73h9gv/ npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson macOS Sonoma Mail bug: spam bypasses Block All Remote Content https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/6/2.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Apple silicon MacBook Pro batteries can't be replaced under warranty by third parties Apple requires customers to mail in the Mac to Apple for repair! https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/5/7.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson New blog post: macOS Sonoma silently enabled iCloud Keychain despite my precautions https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/5/4.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson It looks like Apple redesigned the Developer Forums once again, and instead of the previous Stack Overflow design, it’s now Twitter/Mastodon? https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/491/601/284/436/663/original/0ab70a3bb9dd4b93.png https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/491/601/349/768/398/original/7364f487a96abb31.png npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Good news, everyone! I just received a phone call from an Apple representative. They confirmed that there was indeed a software bug in the bundle pricing calculation, which was fixed yesterday. They also said that affected developers, such as myself, would be compensated for our lost revenue. That’s all I know for now. I was told that I would also be receiving a follow-up email later. The conversation was pleasant, and the Apple representative was very nice about it. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson New blog post “Apple started cheating me out of App Store bundle purchases” TL;DR I've discovered that starting in February, Apple mistakenly subtracts the price of the previously purchased app twice from the proceeds of a "Complete My Bundle" purchase, thereby causing me to take a loss on each such bundle purchase. This accounting change has cost me thousands of dollars over the past few months. https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/5/2.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson App Store developers: If you have an app bundle, check your financial reports from the February period and later. It appears there was an accounting change, and you may be losing money on Complete My Bundle purchases! With a Complete My Bundle purchase, the original app price is listed as a refund. The problem is that now, starting in Feburary, the bundle price is no longer listed at the full price but rather at the discounted price. So the original app price is getting subtracted twice!!!!!!! npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Holy shit, I think Apple has fucked up the payments on the upgrade bundles?!? I’m actually LOSING MONEY on them now, because Apple is subtracting the full price of StopTheMadness but only adding the difference with the bundle price. Apple wasn’t doing that on my statements from 2 months ago. This discrepancy is costing me thousands of dollars per month! It’s insane. https://mastodon.social/@lapcatsoftware/112414247200497613 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1svs…p66u Ok, reinstalled and rebooted, if you could reply again to test. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson The next Apple CEO should be an outsider. None of the above. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson “he’s very mild-mannered, never puts anything into an email that is controversial and is a very reticent decision-maker,” says one person close to Apple’s executive team. “He has a lot of managerial characteristics like Tim.” Wow, almost the exact opposite of Steve Jobs https://mastodon.online/@9to5Mac/112407570979124804 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub14cj…gy5e John Ternus into the outside world npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I just updated to Mona app 6.2.4 on Mac and stopped getting push notifications. I had to revert to 6.2.2. There was a Dock badge, but no notification. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Everyone who talks about macOS running on iPad is deluding themselves about Apple’s willingness to permit more sideloading. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the current half-measures in the EU that still require Apple review. If Apple were to invent a new desktop platform from scratch today, it would not allow sideloading. It would not be open. Mac openness is “legacy”. As proof, just look at the new VisionOS platform, as closed as iOS. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Apple CFO: “In healthcare, Epic Systems, the world’s largest electronic medical record provider, recently launched its native app for the Mac” Epic’s so-called “native” app for the Mac: https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/373/636/075/247/177/original/f1c2524397980a44.png npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Lay off thousands of employees and then deliver dividends to stockholders. Fuck corporations. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson 7am Pacific? That’s… unprecedented? https://mastodon.macstories.net/@viticci/112320898739247987 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Mac Music app once again disabled shuffle for no damn reason. I discovered this because it played the 1st track from AC/DC Back in Black twice in a row. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I really dislike how Mastodon handles direct messages, as if there were just any other post with replies. Twitter does this much better. Direct messages are grouped by person, as they should be. On Mastodon, though, it’s difficult to see your message history with a person, and it’s always unclear whether you should reply to an old, possibly unrelated direct message or start a new “thread”, which is more difficult than it should be. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson "If the world’s tech giants have gotten so big and so powerful that nobody else can even afford the table stakes, we all lose." Three companies control all of the consumer OS market share on both mobile and desktop. Microsoft was founded in 1975, Apple in 1976, Google in 1998. We're in a period of terrible tech stagnation. Also, Apple acquired NeXT and Google acquired Android. Those weren’t home-grown technologies. https://zeppelin.flights/@jsnell/112275837967842932 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1hvd…9sq9 Agnostics are just atheists pretending to be cool. https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/270/726/012/034/777/original/13f0f01f63137e14.mp4 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson If Apple is already going to update their OS versions every year, I wish they would just give them year names so that we don’t have to keep track of the arbitrary numbers. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1hvd…9sq9 I take full credit. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I was getting very excited until I read “iMac” rather than “MacBook Pro”. https://mastodon.social/@appleinsider/112162820410480912 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson If you think the Apple-Google duopoly is fine and demonstrates real competition, what do you think about the Mastercard-Visa duopoly npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I hadn’t noticed this before: “must be redeemed on an iOS device.” Whyyyyyyy? https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/147/483/156/722/783/original/23901ef9c43e7dac.png npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson “In the release of macOS 14.4, Apple has deprecated support for several commands, including launchctl kickstart.” WTF? Why? And what’s the fucking deal with all this shit in 14.4? https://mastodon.social/@mjtsai/112129770810875179 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Dear developers, I just went through the Digital Services Act trader contact information compliance in App Store Connect. It was more complicated than I thought. They ask for an address, phone number, and email. They send a text message to the phone number with a confirmation code and also an email with a confirmation code. For my phone, I was able to use a Google Voice number, which I disassociated from my cell phone # so that all calls go straight to voicemail. 1/ npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I’m now the proud owner of a PO Box and Google Voice number so that Europeans can never contact me. Don’t call me. I won’t call you. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1hvd…9sq9 You should tell the world, in some kind of writey thingy. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson StopTheMadness Pro 5.1 managed to introduce three different bugs. It may be the worst minor release since… well, macOS 14.4. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson iCloud Drive data loss bug with macOS 14.4 and Optimize Mac Storage (I haven’t tested this myself.) https://eclecticlight.co/2024/03/18/serious-bug-in-sonoma-14-4-will-destroy-saved-versions-in-icloud-drive/ npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson 99% of the consumer computer operating system market on desktop and mobile is controlled by a company founded in 1975, a company founded in 1976, and a company founded in 1998 that was already a web search monopoly before it entered the market. What does that say about the state of competition in our industry? It's very bleak. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1eee…e209 @npub1fq5…p8du I think you're totally wrong about the percentages. In my experience, Mac users are more likely to pay for software, and indeed to pay more for each piece of software. Half my revenue is from Mac, despite iOS having 10x as many users. Frankly, iPhone users tend to be cheapskates, despite App Store lockdown (or arguably, because of it). iPhone users are more likely to download apps, but those apps are almost always free. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1p9k…865w Inspector Bootstrap Script https://webkit.org/web-inspector/inspector-bootstrap-script/ npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson The good news: Apple has never retaliated against me for my harsh criticism of Apple. The bad news: I’m irrelevant. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Safari 17.4 fixes this nasty data loss bug that I discovered. This required sheer dogged persistence by me in diagnosing the issue. https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=266559 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I’ve come up with the term “software rebranding” to describe software changes for change’s sake that nobody asked for and are forced upon us for no apparent reason, much like corporate name and logo rebranding, which is almost universally a failure but continues nonetheless. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson How many people are buying Vision Pro so that they can write a Vision Pro review? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 I was talking about desktops. There’s currently no malware or goodware outside the iOS crApp Store. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 Desktops are a vastly juicier target for hackers, because the majority of malware is actually bitcoin mining, which is a lot more effective on desktops. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 You think only tech people have credit card statements, tax forms, etc., on their desktop computers? That’s fucking nuts. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 You disagree about what? Are you saying that I’m lying about my own Mac, or what? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson “To me, the answer is obvious: Because the iPhone holds so much more sensitive data about a user than a Mac ever will." This is such a FUCKING BULLSHIT claim. My Mac has *everything*. Credit card statements, tax forms, legal documents, emails, ad infinitum. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson If Vision Pro has to fit your face exactly, what’s that going to do to the resale value? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson The Lisa was $10000, and the Macintosh was $2500. But the Macintosh didn’t get any cheaper until the Macintosh Classic in 1990! If Vision Pro remains at $3500, then it’s likely to meet the same fate as the Lisa. Everyone is expecting the price to drop significantly, but that means the proper analogy is with the Lisa rather than with the Macintosh, and the next gen device will be analogous with the Macintosh. https://mastodon.social/@lapcatsoftware/111847399791870314 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson iOS lockdown was based on two lies, both told by Steve Jobs: 1) “You don’t want your phone to be an open platform. You need it to work when you need it to work. Cingular doesn’t want to see their West Coast network go down because some application messed up.” 2) “We don’t intend to make any money off the App Store. We’re basically giving all the money to the developers and the 30 percent that pays for running the store, that’ll be great.” Any other justification is revisionist history. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1u3f…nne2 I don’t think there’s an “stable” point anymore. They’re just constantly broken all the time, and we get all new bugs in .3 and .4 releases. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Remember now, I don’t want to hear anyone say, “We need another Snow Leopard release”. I’ve already busted that myth. What we need is a year off. Or two. Or three… https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2023/11/5.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson “Apple is the first major operating system vendor who had abandoned a four-decades-long tradition. Their new visionOS — for the first time in the history of Apple — will have round checkboxes.” https://mastodon.online/@nikitonsky/111833383204721231 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson “If nothing changes, all remaining instances will go down eventually: Instances rely on guest accounts, which are valid for a certain time and of which you need a ton to run a public instance. The API for this got taken down and it doesn't look like a fluke this time.” https://nitter.d420.de npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson "Nitter is dead" https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/issues/1155#issuecomment-1913361757 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson crApp Store reviewer lowers rating for feature request that I don’t even understand because of their non-native English and may be impossible to implement because of Safari extension limitations Crowdsourcing is so great. https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/816/459/658/968/011/original/c4c3852c5a77e058.png npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 @npub1wnr…0szh Don’t tell me to leave unless you’re really fucking serious about it. https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/sideloading.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 1) Apple would make iOS and the developer tools regardless of whether 3rd parties were on the platform, because Apple uses them itself. Indeed, iPhone shipped in 2007 without 3rd party apps. 2) It was an arbitrary decision to take a cut of software revenue for access to the platform. This did not occur with Mac or Apple II. Or Windows or MS-DOS or other computing platforms in the past. 3) Apple uses 3rd party apps to sell hardware. “There’s an app for that.” Where’s our cut? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 @npub1wnr…0szh This response is absurd. The *only* reason I write apps for iOS is I’m a longtime Mac d, ev there’s a lot of overlap between iOS dev and Mac d. ev no overlap between Mac and other OSes. There are no other “marketplaces”. Unlike most physical products that can be sold in retail stores, native software is not interchangeable between stores. What most people would tout as the advantage of iPhone, the API, is exactly what precludes software from being interchangeable. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 That’s a platitude. The question is how much the crApp Store adds to the value, and the answer is not much more than a payment processor. https://mastodon.social/@lapcatsoftware/111811113874430678 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1src…fms4 Apple’s developer “services”, such as App Store Connect, are absolute trash, and Apple does literally nothing to bring me customers in the iOS App Store. Every single customer is coming from outside links. I’ve never been featured or listed anywhere. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson The ultimate in Orwellian doublespeak is to celebrate the Macintosh 1984 introductory video while simultaneously defending iOS lockdown. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson “That was not Apple’s view with its previous platforms. It was not the way Steve Jobs explained things when announcing the App Store. It was not Phil Schiller’s view when he suggested reducing the commissions so as to keep App Store profits at $1 billion. It seems more like a backward justification to keep all the profits after the App Store exceeded expectations.” I hear so much revisionist history and ex post facto apologia nowadays, but we old Mac devs are not fooled. https://mastodon.social/@mjtsai/111778402472118375 npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson If it’s not a strict reverse chronology of what your friends say, it can’t be called a social network, just a sparkling news feed. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Introducing StopTheMadness Pro The next generation of my Safari extension StopTheMadness is now available! Universal Purchase for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Discounted upgrade via app bundles in the iOS and Mac App Store. Finally, automatic iCloud sync of all of your settings between all of your devices. Many other new features and improvements! https://underpassapp.com/news/2023-12-14.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson I think I understand now why Hollywood produces endless sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, spinoffs: The same reason YouTube recommends 100 videos of the same thing you just watched. The same reason Amazon recommends buying the same thing you just bought, despite the fact that you no longer need it. This is what you get from analytics and algorithms, from being “data driven”: mindless repetition. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson iCloud Private Relay is giving Safari a bad name. Every time I see someone having a problem connecting to a website, and they can connect in another web browser, the problem is iCloud Private Relay. Every. Fucking. Time. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson The Feedback Assistant Boycott doesn’t preclude us from submitting crash reports to Apple via the crash reporter window. I don’t mind submitting crash reports, because that’s one-way communication, and Apple can’t send me annoying replies to my crash reports. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1eee…e209 You’ve probably heard and absorbed too much bad grammar. By the way, you said, "The M3 Pro models are geared toward what I think is the sweet spot for MacBook Pro buyers", but as far as I can tell, *none* of the reviewers got the M3 Pro model? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1z9l…4trf @npub1eee…e209 Nitpick: “The general consensus is that these machines were late”. All consensus is general, by definition. ;-) npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1svs…p66u I think the settings needs to be documented somewhere. Even I don’t understand half of them. “paste the URL into the search field” completely misses the point. I use a native client for convenience, and that’s not convenient. The Open in Browser button itself is for convenience. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1svs…p66u What about a setting to disable the query? Also, it would be nice to have a setting to open the URL in your own instance rather than the original instance. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1svs…p66u I don’t use that extension. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson @npub1svs…p66u When I use the open in browser post action, Mona always adds the query ?kjy=spring to the end. I assume that this is some kind of leftover from Spring for Twitter. Is there any way to stop it? I don’t see the purpose. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Of course I have no idea why people are getting App Store refunds, because they’re all granted by Apple. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson If the giant monopolistic tech corporations are not in your threat model, then you need to remodel. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Security has been redefined to mean paternalism. It’s not the criminals that the BigCos distrust the most: it’s you! Their “security” solutions always involve taking away control from the user. The inevitable outcome is technocratic feudalism. npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson On Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention: “first-party tracking cookies are shared with a large number of other domains immediately after being set. This sharing of identifiers among different trackers is meant to enhance their ability to track users across different sites. Limiting the amount of time that a cookie is set for will not be able to stop this sharing of information, thus proving ineffective in protecting user privacy.” https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.12370.pdf https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/188/022/135/640/577/original/0637c6320f002c02.png https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/188/022/272/746/706/original/adc549215fd47715.png npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson One particular road always triggers my car’s lane departure warning, for some reason. I’ve got a reproducible test case. Where is Honda’s bug reporter? npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Mastodon instance admin deleted all of our DMs after 15 days This is why I migrated instances, again. https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2023/10/1.html npub1kn5hsftj9v39560zcht66ttm8rufx34uq7s8q24auq4rd0fgpqjst4r4k0 Jeff Johnson Eddy Cue just testified under oath in the Google antitrust trial that Apple is not working on a competitor, so there’s the little matter of perjury and Cue going to jail. Regardless, it took Apple many many years make a decent Google Maps competitor, so don’t hold your breath. https://mastodon.social/@markgurman/111160444661750763