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.
[video]
Do you like black licorice?
The one night out of the year that Frank and I get to wear matching suits. Happy New Year!
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.
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.
(Source: rvanews.com)
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.
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.
[video]
Kim Jong Il Looking at Things:
looking at cucumbers
Man. This might be the best one ever.
Here we go again. There’s a rumor circulating that Apple will introduce an iPhone 4S and an iPhone 5 at the Fall music event this year. The iPhone 4 has only been out for 14 months and it’s selling like mad, so to me, the idea that we’re going to get an iPhone 5 so early seems very, very unlikely. But wait! Along comes a rumor with leaked case designs behind it (squeal!) Could it be? Are we going to get two iPhones in one day?
No, I don’t believe so.
To be clear, I believe these case designs are real. And that the device they’re meant to hold is a 5th generation Apple iOS device. Just not a 5th generation iPhone.
Apple’s music events were about selling music-playing iPods. The iPhone is cannibalizing that business; their whole iPod division is propped up by the Touch, which is really just a phone-less iPhone. I don’t think they’re going to stop selling audio iPods, but everyone knows, including Apple, that neither the news media nor the masses can get it up for “new iPods” any more. New iOS devices are what we can get it up for.
Yes, everyone loves a new iOS device. And what iOS device is in its 4th generation, has gotten a yearly refresh every September and is due for a new model?
iPod touch. Let’s take a look at this artists rendering from Macrumors over a month ago, back when the CAD wireframe leaked.
Image via macrumors.com.
And here’s another render from Case-Mate, who either had some inside info or was so confident in the leaked wireframe that they developed designs around it.
Image via macrumors.com.
Looks impossibly thin, doesn’t it? Thinner than any iPhone has ever been, even without the taper. Sure, it’s grown a mute switch, but it’s not a stretch to think that the iPod touch needs one. It’s a little wider, too. Perfect for long gaming sessions and watching movies on car rides, which is exactly what the touch is marketed toward. It looks exactly like you would expect the next touch to look: like a design evolution that brings it into line with the ‘taper’ design language that Apple has been shipping for the past year.
There is one thing that bothers me though. There seems to be a wider area where the home button lives. It’s rumored that this a a swipeable area that allows for fast app switching without the (terrible) double-click we’re used to. Why would this come to the touch first? Well, who says it’s not coming to both? We haven’t seen any verified 4S front panel leaks (to my knowledge) so it’s entirely possible that both the 4S and the touch will get larger screens and a swipeable home button.
Or, I could be wrong. Hopefully we’ll find out in about two weeks.
“would it have killed you to put the QRcode in this post??” —
Slightly Inconvenienced Tumblr User, 2011
And that was the day that humanity gave up hope. Sweet dreams!
Prepared.