coperob @coperob@qoto.org

Bunch of new followers so I guess I should do one of those #introduction things.

👋🏼 I’m Tim, an iOS Engineer who works on the Music App at Apple.

I’m currently located in Barcelona. I mostly post about tech things, films, and books. And maybe some other stuff in between.

Over on the other site, people keep telling me that a decentralized social media platform "could never" work. And yet... it is working?

"Too many tradeoffs" they tell me. There are tradeoffs, but when I add them up, they seem to favor the decentralized platform over the centralized one. So strange.

Do yourself a favor and reserve 10 minutes today to read this eye opening Oatmeal comic on the psychological "backfire effect”.

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe

HomePod 2 review: A great smart speaker that struggles to stand out
https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/02/08/homepod-2-review-a-great-smart-speaker-that-struggles-to-stand-out?utm_medium=rss

Ice Cubes iOS 1.4.0 is out. This is a big milestone update because it finally offer solid timeline position save / restore whenever the app is launched or you're switching between account, etc...

Other new things include much faster loading time, swipe actions in the timeline, a bunch of new icons and a lot of new settings for even more customisations!

Check it out & download it on the App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ice-cubes-for-mastodon/id6444915884

Seeing a lot of discussion about making iPad a Mac replacement and moving on from that idea. It’s an interesting shift in discourse.

I believe the iPad is still a viable computer replacement. But, the bloggers, podcasters, and tech nerds who tried to do it and ended up back at a Mac, asking for macOS on iPad, never were going to do it in the first place.

It feels like we should. The iPad is 99% of the way there. But that 1% is a huge hurdle. We all have our pet features we could name that would make the iPad a perfect Mac alternative, for us.

It is a shame that the conversation had to shift to such a defeatist attitude after so many years of optimism. I’m going to continue hoping Apple sees the negativity towards iPad and fixes more of the low hanging fruit.

This comes at a time when the Mac is interesting again. Stage manager hasn’t found it’s legs on iPad yet. And everything feels a little awkward.

iPad is still an amazing computer alternative, for some, maybe not for you.

We will have to remove Twitter integration from NetNewsWire.

The iOS and Android UX divide is cultural.

Part of it are the folks that have historically cared about it, but also that Apple devoted significant resources to replenish the stocks of UX knowledge.

Their developer conference devotes an unusual amount of time to design, guidance and polish - something you barely see elsewhere. And I tried at Microsoft, but it is just not seen as having a worthy ROI.

They are oceans apart: https://mastodon.social/@gruber/109790664915941861

https://mastodon.social/@gruber/109790664915941861

BTW, mastodon has thoroughly eclipsed Twitter as the meeting place for developers and clear-thinking users. I don't imagine you'll see too many more Twitter links from me.

When is someone gonna make a robot vacuum that can do stairs?!

And then walls.

And windows.

And ceilings.

And inside the fridge.

And the toilet.

And...

You want to know how I really feel?

https://furbo.org/2023/01/15/the-shit-show/

P.S. That's the tame version.

Let's pour one out for third-party Twitter clients:

Apps that shaped UI conventions, pioneered a market, and in many ways reinvented how we communicate online – unceremoniously killed off by a clown who thinks he's the smartest guy around because he has money.

These apps didn't deserve to end up like this.

https://www.macstories.net/stories/twitter-intentionally-ends-third-party-app-developer-access-to-its-apis/

MacStories and the whole MacStories team are on Mastodon with our own server. Details here: https://www.macstories.net/news/macstories-is-on-mastodon-with-its-own-server/

And here's the official announcement:

The entire @macstories team and media properties are now on Mastodon. We did it on our own server, which we fully control, and which anyone can follow thanks to federation.

I'm excited to own our social media presence. Long live the open web. Let's go 🚀

https://www.macstories.net/news/macstories-is-on-mastodon-with-its-own-server/

My suggestion if you want the Fediverse to work, follow and favorite and boost the absolute hell out of people. It’s not about dopamine or clout chasing, it’s about letting people know they’re not just typing into a void.