jxdxbx

19 ms·

211.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I have a soft spot for System 6, because it is the epitome of the classic, classic version of Mac OS--black and white, minimal, but with all the essential elements of a modern GUI, before all sorts of new complexities started to be added in
212.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I think much of the value can be gained by collecting the data with some kind of differential privacy noise added to keep it from being traced back to any given user. But obviously data collected in this way is less useful--it may not matt
213.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
> Why did Apple do this, though? If you recall, Apple's stance on privacy is quite recent. The tech world has a short memory, but I remember Apple being caught red-handed slurping data from user's iPhones not so long ago. Also,
214.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
But this data can be collected with differential privacy, some learning can be done on-device, etc etc. There are ways to get the best of both worlds, but they require more careful engineering.
215.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
Fantastic service does not require giving up your privacy. There are privacy-protecting ways to do personalization, gather data for machine learning, and so on. Even advertising business models do not require that people give up their pri
216.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
Firefox is a much better designed app than Chrome, which never looks or acts like normal apps. It has even intercepted cmd-q now which is super annoying. Which browser works better or is faster, I have no idea, though I've never run
217.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
The lack of a Touch Bar on desktop Macs is ridiculous, but I generally like it. Especially when I realized that you don't for example, touch volume, wait, and slide, but just start sliding from the little button in the quick menu.
218.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
This is one of the many reasons why I don't use web apps. Google Calendar is just a dumb pipe connecting various instances of Fantastical for me.
219.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
This is a great point, but * The best platform that unites "all your digital stuff" is the desktop or mobile operating system and its APIs. This is not an answer for collaboration and such necessarily--but I mean the whole point
220.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
It's a brand-new version of the app that uses Microsoft's new APIs, and it probably part of a deal to get OneDrive to better use Apple's own file APIs on the Mac and iOS. Maybe the rest of it is old and sucks but the file sy
221.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
The modern way to write Windows apps is Win32 again.
222.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
Chrome is garbage UI-wise, is not faster than Firefox or Safari as far as I can tell, and everything I use works fine in both those browsers. I do plan to have the Chromium version of Edge installed for the odd site that might be buggy wit
223.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I tried deleting a few thousand files from Google Drive and they just got stuck in the trash...had to manually select them all a screen at a time and delete them from the trash, since "empty trash" didn't work. I also ended
224.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I'm pretty sure Drive photos are still added to Photos though, which still is an annoying behavior.
225.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I'd be interested in something like Syncthing, but it would have to have an iOS client that worked correctly as a file provider. Both Dropbox and Google Drive have half-implemented Files support (Dropbox doesn't work offline via
226.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
What a disaster. The entire initial premise of Dropbox was to sync files reliably. Then I can use real, native apps to edit them. The new Dropbox approach on the other hand inherently requires everything to be in the cloud--I already hat
227.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I tend to think that Apple should keep IAPs for actual in-app features but things like ebooks and video subscriptions should be treated like physical goods, where app makers can offer their own payment (and fulfillment). Amazon doesn'
228.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
yeah, HN commenters just was an expandable mid-sized tower. a gaming PC, but a Mac. But the best use case for a gaming PC is to play games...which the Mac will never be the right platform for. Even if Apple supported Nvidia with Nvidia d
229.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
supporting the highest of the high end is beneficial for the platform overall. almost no one who needs this machine will sweat spending $15,000 on a configuration.
230.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
it would rule if we moved away from javascript. it’s turned the web, the world’s best publishing platform, into the world’s crappiest app platform. good riddance.
231.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
You shouldn’t need a stylus to use a device. Styluses are great for things you can’t do with your finger, like precision drawing.
232.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
You can also mount iXpands in the Files app via FileBrowser, making them accessible to any modern iOS app just like any other file provider.
233.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
Oh, and the Canopy specifically is what allows me to write in portrait without needing a separate stand.
234.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I use the Studio Neat Canopy case for the Apple Magic Keyboard with my iPad, mostly because 1) I use my iPad as pure tablet a lot of the time, and doing this with the keyboard attached, or removing the keyboard each time, is a pain in the a
235.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
According to fairly reliable sources, iPad Safari on the next version of iOS will pretend to be Mac Safari for certain sites. The only things that don't work perfectly on mobile Safari that I know of involve hoverovers, naturally. Th
236.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
Yeah the usual argument is that package managers make worrying about the tidiness of the file system unnecessary. But on Linux at least it just never really works out.
237.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
My favorite somewhat-rethought OS is GoboLinux, which is not as different as Plan9 since it's basically just Linux, but it totally throws out the traditional Unix folder hierarchy of /bin, /etc, /var and so on. I also l
238.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
I think there is plenty of room for innovation in desktop operating systems but the standard paradigm doesn't really need to be rethought. But where I differ from a lot of my fellow nerds is that I think desktop operating systems with
239.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
Well, ad-tracking is a little different than "targeting," but a lot of data collection exists theoretically so that ads can be targeted more effectively, which then theoretically supports free services. But, there's little ev
240.
by jxdxbx 7y ago
Right, it's a new business model, but it's odd to lump it in with Stadia etc.

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