My Subaru’s software updated this morning (lol) and they did a great job with it. More stuff can be done with just one tap on the screen (seat warmers and other climate controls), and they unburied the Auto Vehicle Hold from the car settings. Total win.
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What’s odd about this story is that you have two sides completely at odds, both saying entirely correct things. Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky has been telling anyone who will listen that SMS is insecure, that Apple is doing its users a disservice by requiring them to use such old and crummy tech to communicate with the vast majority of the world’s smartphone users, and that Beeper’s solution is both a better user experience and a better privacy solution. […]
But here’s another way to look at it […]: Who the hell is Beeper? This tiny company has effectively hacked a closed protocol, and now millions of iPhone users are potentially having their messages handled by a company they’ve never heard of. What’s worse, since they’re sending blue-bubble messages, those users will assume they’re sending encrypted messages through a trusted source — Apple — and they’ll never know about this intermediary that promises it’s trustworthy, but who really knows?
David’s piece here is a nuanced look at what’s happening with Beeper, and echos my thoughts on why it’s difficult to choose a side here.
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It still costs the same $15.99 per month that you’d pay anywhere else, but the key benefit is that you can stream Max shows and movies right from YouTube itself after subscribing — no need to open the Max app anymore.
I wonder if they’ll go back to being an Apple TV Channels partner too. That was the best HBO/Max experience so far with it all in the TV app.
Spent most of the day with the power out, but luckily our wood-burning stove was up to the task of keeping us warm enough. Even got out to play in the snow a bit, making a snow penguin and tossing snowballs for the pup! ❄️
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In late May, Wedel became the first ovarian cancer survivor to summit Everest. Her team raised more than half a million dollars for research, but she says hearing from other cancer survivors might have been the best part of the experience. For instance, one woman said she followed Jess’ journey while in the hospital completing her own treatment; watching Jess gave her strength and hope to keep going. For Jess, having that impact is an honor.
Jess was my guide up Rainier, and she was an inspiration there too!
Things feel a little better in the world after a long-overdue airing of the grievances about the Apple TV interface from @hotdogsladies@mastodon.social and @siracusa@mastodon.social on RecDiffs. It’d sure been feeling off-kilter over here. 🎙️
IKEA's blue *FRAKTA* shopping bags are one of life's low-key power tools. They fold ridiculously small, so they can live unobtrusively in places like automobiles or even other bags, like suitcases. Because, some day you may suddenly wish you had *freaking nineteen gallons* of extra bag with you.
Slipping one into a suitcase is next-level genius.
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We wanted [the] guidelines [to serve as] temporary scaffold to support your writing without causing distraction. The design had to reflect the core spirit of iA Writer: simple, clean, uncluttered. The use of ink had to be exclusively reserved for the owner’s handwritten text. After exploring different approaches, the decision to adopt delicate watermark guidelines became clear, even though its implementation demands high technical expertise and attention to detail.
Is this a bit much? Yes. But does it reflect a software company’s core principle made physical? Also yes.
🆕📝 Crashing Clockwise #532: ‘Oh, My Poor Nose!’
In which I shamelessly bum off the Clockwise podcast (one of my favs) for blogging ideas.
🆕📝 Letters with Austin #1, December 2023
It’s a new month, which means a new pen pal to chat with!
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Imagine having to use not one, but two or three extensions just to make any other app work the way it’s supposed to. Imagine having to click on cookie banners every time you open a new Finder window. Imagine the Instagram app becoming slow or behaving differently on some account pages. Imagine your email client obstructing your view with a banner when you write back to someone. Imagine your text editor looking like this.
I don’t necessarily agree that all web browsers are shit. But he paints an evocative scene.
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Project Ellmann […] will take users’ search results and photos to […] present a “bird’s-eye” approach to a person’s life. […] For example, the “college” chapter or the “becomes a parent” chapter. People could use Ellmann to ask questions like “did I have a pet,” or “when did my sibling last visit.”
Personally, […] I have a good enough memory of my life that I wish I could forget certain moments.
My memory is terrible so I could use this but the method makes me supremely uncomfortable.
🔗 The Imperfectionist: You can’t hoard life
Sure, you can have a hundred tea ceremonies. You can eve[n] have them all with the same people. But you can only have that ceremony, that cup of tea, once. Then the moment evaporates forever.
On the days I let myself move through life in this unclenched way, things tend to feel much more naturally enjoyable. Not because I’m trying to make myself appreciate them, or self-consciously “feel grateful” for them – but simply because I’ve (temporarily) suspended the other agenda that was getting in the way.
TIL that if you don’t release from a long press to bring up a context menu in iOS, you can move your finger up and down to a menu item and it will select it on release. In use, it feels pretty close to 3D Touch, which makes me happy.
🔗 My Words When I Am Gone // Greg Morris
I love writing, publishing, and interacting with people about my thoughts and ideas. Many of them are formed, flexed and even broken through online discourse and I value all the time and effort it takes. Writing changes you, it helps form ideas, and I find so much about myself just by typing out my internal monologue. So much so that when the time does come to cross the rainbow bridge I think I would miss it most of all.
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theunderground.blog is an experimental blog that is only available to read through a feed reader.
If you would like to read the latest posts, you can subscribe to the feed at https://theunderground.blog/feed.xml, using the feed reader of your choice.
Consider me intrigued. 👀
🔗 Reverse-Engineered iMessage Comes to Android With Beeper Mini – Pixel Envy // Nick Heer
I am not defending Apple’s revenue or its likely stance; I do not much care either way. For what it is worth, I do not think Beeper Mini will actually make much of an impact because iMessage interoperability concerns are localized to the United States and a handful of other countries. But I do think Apple is protective of its network and will treat this reverse engineering exercise as a security problem. If it wants to launch iMessage on Android, it will do so on its own terms.
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If you stare at it long enough, you realize that it kind of looks like Apple’s discontinued MagSafe Duo charger if you cut away all the ugly floppy bits.
This thing looks great, can be a stand, won’t be thwarted by a large camera bump, and might just make it into my travel bag (rather than swiping my MagSafe Duo from the bedside table for trips). Interestingly, while it’s only available as a pre-order directly from Twelve South, you can buy it right now from Apple.
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When the Lux guys said on The Talk Show last month that Halide would “never, ever, ever” support capturing video, I had a funny feeling that they had something up their sleeve. Well, they did. It’s a video app called Kino and they’re building it in public over the next few months.
🆕📝 Crashing Clockwise #531: ‘I, Too, Like You’
Books, health data, household chores tech, nostalgia for old software, holiday traditions, and accessibility features are all covered this installment!