Emily wasn’t sure if it was time for a new can of Old Bay (look closely.)
So agonizingly true.
Stealing Your Address Book
John Gruber in response to Dustin Curtis:
I understand that Apple doesn’t want us to be badgered by too many permission-granting alerts, but address book data is sensitive enough to warrant it, in my opinion. Why not treat it like they do location data?
It may seem like a gaffe on Apple’s part at first glance, but I think it’s because address book upload is an edge case that Apple either never saw coming or never thought would be a wide-spead problem. The original intent for the API was to grant the ability to build custom views to navigate address book contacts in an app. Under normal circumstances, asking for permission to view address book data is along the same lines as asking for the music library in a music app (which is another personal data API that can be accessed without alerting the user.)
Put simply, Apple probably never thought about using the address book API as a way to spam your friends about a new social network.
Arguments Against Using Facebook Connect as Your Primary Log in Mechanism
Buzz Anderson, commenting on Bijan Sabet’s post:
For the (I suspect rapidly growing) portion of us who only grudgingly maintain any sort of Facebook presence, it’s like asking us to reaffirm our commitment to a religion before being allowed to eat in your restaurant.
I wholeheartedly agree with this, but it’s not the thing that bothers me the most about Facebook-based authentication (or Twitter-based authentication for that matter.) The benefits of using other platforms to lower the sign-up barrier don’t outweigh the drawbacks of being tied to the another property for something as pivotal as logging in to your own service. If you think Facebook is too big to fail, think again. Nothing lasts forever. No matter how long the timeline is, there will come a point on it where you’ll have to move away from 3rd party tokens for authentication. Whether it’s the downfall of Facebook/Twitter as a popular platform, their cessation of the authentication program or simply a political disagreement.
And then you’ll be stuck with the task of messaging, inconveniencing and supporting your user base through the log in process, which is, ironically, exactly what you were trying to avoid doing in the first place.
Gridiron League is a beautiful re-imagining of NFL team logos by Wes Kull. Even though I loathe the Patriots, that’s one tight execution.
Help Me Settle a Crucial Argument
Do you like black licorice?
The one night out of the year that Frank and I get to wear matching suits. Happy New Year!
I’ll tell you why movie revenue is dropping…
The theater experience. Moviegoers above 30 are weary of noisy fanboys and girls. The annoyance of talkers has been joined by the plague of cell-phone users, whose bright screens are a distraction. Worse, some texting addicts get mad when told they can’t use their cell phones.
Maybe I am getting old, but I can’t stomach the experience anymore. It’s the number one reason I opt out. The disrespect the average moviegoer has for other people in a theater is simply unacceptable. Since I haven’t enjoyed going to a movie in 5 years, I just stopped going. I wait for everything to become available in the secondary market. I can watch movies closer to how the director intended it to be experienced in my own environment. No distraction. A respectful audience. A dark room with the sound up.
There’s no technical reason that all movies can’t be delivered on their release date to your display device of choice. This is another case of the messenger getting in the way of the message. Movie theaters were invented because there was no other way to show movies. That problem has long been solved. The Megaplex only exists because people keep going there. You can enjoy a blockbuster summer movie just as much (probably more) in the comfort of your own home in just a few short months from its release. If enough of us make that decision the industry will get the message and close the gap, just like they always do.
You shouldn’t have to go to the movies. They should have to come to you.
The Short Order: Richmond
Newest entry in the GQ Short Order series with the Chef/owner of Comfort, Jason Alley. All these places are a great meal if you live in RVA or are just passing through. The few places I haven’t been to in this article are now officially on my short list.
Redemption!
For a little background, Shazam Encore pushed an ad to my iPhone using Apple Push Notification services on October 6th. You can catch up here on my back and forth with them on why they really shouldn’t be doing that (and how it’s very much against the rules put forth by Apple.)
This is what Shazam Encore’s notification settings looked like on October 6th, when the offending ad was pushed:
Here’s what that same view looks like today after the latest update that just shipped:
Doesn’t it look so much nicer now? While it didn’t even make it into the release notes, I’m very happy that Shazam did the right thing and removed push ads from their paid product.
Shazam'd!
Last night, Shazam Encore pushed an ad to my iPhone using Apple Push Notification services. Here’s a little more on why I believe what they did was an abject abuse of iOS development rules and a few interesting things I dug up in the iOS Developer Program License Agreement that backs up my position.
On a side note, this is the first time I’ve ever used Storify to compose a timeline of events and I have to say, I’m very impressed with their product.
“You do not play a sonata in order to reach the final chord, and if the meanings of things were simply in ends, composers would write nothing but finales.”
– Alan Watts
Thanks for everything, Steve.
Intro to the weirdest 80’s cartoon ever, Turbo Teen. This tweet reminded me that it was real and not actually just a nightmare that I had when I was a kid. Also, if I got fused with my first car I would be so fucking pissed. I’d need a new alternator, like, every weekend.
