We finished the first season of The Wheel of Time and have started working our way through the second. I really like it, hopefully there’s a third season coming.
GM’s CarPlay replacement software is off to a disastrous start - 9to5Mac
Chance Miller writing for 9to5Mac
Some of the early real-world reviews of the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV have emerged, and it certainly doesn’t sound like GM’s “Ultifi” infotainment software is ready for prime time.
I don’t suspect this will get any better anytime soon.
Beeper is giving up on its iMessage dream
Emma Roth writing for The Verge
What started as a simple app download in Beeper Mini has become an increasingly complex process for Beeper users, and its latest fix seems like its most desperate attempt yet: Beeper wants users to own or rent a jailbroken iPhone, along with having a Mac or Linux computer.
I think it’s safe to say Beeper Mini is no more.
Some things I think Apple’s new Journal app needs:
- macOS and iPadOS support - the iPhone is fine for short, quick entries, but I want to be able to use a keyboard for those longer entries.
- Weather information - I like capturing the weather with my entires, temperature, conditions, they just add a bit to the memory.
- Export capabilities - Some way of getting the entries out of the app. Even something as basic as save to PDF would be enough for me.
2023 Gingerbread House
Annual gingerbread house decorating complete.
Been playing a lot of #Destiny2 since the new season launched. The new coil activity is a lot of fun. Think I’ll play some #BaldursGate3 this weekend though, I want to progress my Dark Urge playthrough.
Netflix In Talks For Gigantic Fantasy Adaptation
Michileen Martin writing for Giant Freaking Robot
We don’t know yet if the Baldur’s Gate project Netflix has in mind is a series and/or movie, though narratively speaking the former would seem to make the most sense. Not counting the early 2010s remakes of the Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II, the series spans nine games and over a century of story.
I’d love to see this happen!
Apple has seemingly found a way to block Android’s new iMessage app
Chris Welch writing for The Verge
It appears that Beeper Mini, an easy iMessage solution for Android, was simply too good to be true — or a short-lived dream, at least. On Friday, less than a week after its launch, the app started experiencing technical issues when users were suddenly unable to send and receive blue bubble messages. The problems grew worse over the course of the day, with reports piling up on the Beeper subreddit. Several people at The Verge were unable to activate their Android phone numbers with Beeper Mini as of Friday afternoon, a clear indication that Apple has plugged up whatever holes allowed the app to operate to begin with.
There’s a new iMessage for Android app — and it actually works
Jacob Kastrenakes writing for The Verge
Messages sent from Beeper Mini on my Pixel 8 appear as blue bubbles on the iPhones of my friends and family members. Group chats I’m on automatically switched over to iMessage as soon as someone fired off a meme. Reactions, threads, photos, and videos (without the messy text message compression) all came through. The best thing I can say about Beeper Mini is that almost no one noticed I was using it: blue bubbles just started appearing — no lost messages to speak of.
Chrome’s next weapon in the War on Ad Blockers: Slower extension updates
Ron Amadeo writing for Ars Technica
Google’s first attack on ad blockers is blowing up the “WebRequest API”—the primary API that ad blockers use—and replacing it with a more limited filtering API that Google has more control over. The new declarativeNetRequest API now has extensions ask Chrome to block a network request on their behalf, features arbitrary limits on the number of filtering rules, and puts limits on how effective individual rules can be.
Competed Warload’s Ruin, the new dungeon in #Destiny2 yesterday, loads of fun.
YouTube punishes ad-blocker users with slower videos on all browsers
Jay Bonggolto writing for Android Central
Some people have speculated that this delay might be a clumsy attempt by YouTube to force ads on users who block them. The code in question might be trying to make sure that an ad plays for at least five seconds before the actual video starts.
The fact that Google is attempting to block adblockers on YouTube tells you who Google considers the real customers to be. Users are blocking ads because the experience sucks, but rather than trying to improve the experience for the users, Google chooses to force the enshittification on them.
All the fuss about opening up iMessage doesn’t make sense to me. Is the messaging situation on android so bad that it needs governments to intervene?
Unauthorized “David Attenborough” AI clone narrates developer’s life, goes viral
From Arstechnica
Demo video of an AI-generated unauthorized David Attenborough voice narrating a developer’s video feed. Charlie Holtz On Wednesday, combined GPT-4 Vision (commonly called GPT-4V) and ElevenLabs voice cloning technology to create an unauthorized AI version of the famous naturalist David Attenborough narrating Holtz’s every move on camera.
I’ve removed #Twitter from my social links above, I’m so done with that site.
Arrived in Mexico
Arrived in Mexico yesterday. Ready for some rest and relaxation 🍺 ☀️ 😎
Humane officially launches the AI Pin, its OpenAI-powered wearable
David Pierce writing for The Verge (Apple News)
The AI Pin is powered by a Snapdragon processor — though it’s not clear which one — and you control it with a combination of voice control, a camera, gestures, and a small built-in projector.
This is a weird product. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone out and about talking to their phone other than when they’re on a phone call. Everyone I see using their phones are holding it in their hand and interacting with the screen. The fact that this thing doesn’t have a screen and it’s primary interaction method is by voice makes me think it won’t last very long. But maybe im wrong, maybe this thing will be a hit and it’ll be commonplace overnight for everyone to be talking to a little device on their shirt. But I think it’s more likely it’ll fizzle out. Maybe some pieces of it will be bought by one of the bigger tech giants, but I’m not even sure about that.
Finished my first play through of #BaldursGate3 and holy shit was that a good game!
Manage iCloud Email Rules on iOS
Is this new? You can actually manage iCloud email rules through iOS now.
Apple “Scary Fast” Mac launch event: the 4 biggest announcements
Emma Roth writing for The Verge (Apple News)
The new lineup includes the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips, which Apple says mark the “first personal computer chips” made using the more efficient 3-nanometer process.
In addition to offering a “faster and more efficient CPU,” the trio of chips comes with an updated GPU that supports ray tracing, mesh shading, and Dynamic Caching — a feature that optimizes the amount of memory the device uses during tasks.
Amazon enables passwordless passkeys on iOS and the web
Umar Shakir writing for The Verge (Apple News)
Amazon is the latest company to add passkey support for customers to securely access their accounts without a password. Just keep in mind that most companies still retain passwords on accounts, so the world won’t be genuinely password-free for a while.
WordPress now offers official support for ActivityPub
Mia Sato writing for The Verge (Apple News)
In the case of a WordPress.com blog, audiences will be able to follow a publisher through other federated platforms like Mastodon. Responses on other platforms will automatically turn into comments on a publisher’s WordPress post, allowing them to interact directly with off-platform audiences. The setting is available across WordPress sites on free, personal, and premium tiers — millions of blogs will now be able to join the fediverse in a few seconds.
The sounds in #BaldursGate3 are amazing. The voice acting, the music, but especially the spells, they feel powerful and substantial ☄️
Google Podcasts is going away — here are some alternatives
Barbara Krasnoff writing for The Verge (Apple News)
According to the YouTube blog, Google will be discontinuing the Podcasts app “later in 2024.”
Add another one to the Google graveyard.