Month: September 2021

Marcin Wichary:

And so I asked the friendly nerds of Twitter. I showed the original typewriter car scan, added my blurred-then-sharpened photo as a pathetic comparison, and asked: what is the latest in demoireing? Is there some new tech that could help me?

I didn’t get any obvious machine learning hints. Many people responded with downright resignation: what you did is still the best out there. But a friend of mine – a neuroscientist from Utah – had an answer I didn’t expect.

“You don’t need ML,” Bryan said. “What you need is inverse FFT.”

This is such a wonderful story about learning how to work with old technologies. I appreciated every word of this.

I know that Apple announced some stuff about storing your driving license in the Wallet app today. But that has only been announced for two American states so far, and the chances of it being immediately relevant to me for the foreseeable future are slim.

Here is something that will apply to most users. Apple:

Apple today announced an update coming to the App Store that closes an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC). The update will allow developers of “reader” apps to include an in-app link to their website for users to set up or manage an account. While the agreement was made with the JFTC, Apple will apply this change globally to all reader apps on the store. Reader apps provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video.

Anyone who says that public pressure on government officials does not produce results must have really crappy officials or does not know how to apply pressure.

On its face, this is excellent news, though it is still limited. Apple’s definition of “reader” apps is media-centric, so it seems like this would preclude an app like Hey from offering a link to create a paid account on the web. It also does not apply to in-app purchases generally, so this would not resolve Apple’s dispute with Epic Games over Fortnite. But it should mean that Netflix and Spotify will be able to remove the error messages Apple has required to be vague. I see progress.

There is something else about this press release that I find fascinating. Last week, Apple settled a lawsuit in the U.S., which it referenced in today’s press release:

This update follows a number of changes to the App Store announced last week, which give developers more flexibility and resources to reach their customers, tailor their price points, and grow their businesses. Last week, Apple also launched the News Partner Program to support local journalism and help news organizations on the App Store.

There were, in fact, very few changes made last week. Apple said it would add more pricing tiers, it clarified some language — and that is about all. But Apple’s press release struck a triumphant tone that was smug even by the standards of a company that has just prevailed in a lawsuit, and completely disproportionate to the conditions of the settlement.

Today’s announcement is, as far as I can tell, a much bigger deal. But the press release is more sober — almost understated.

Zac Hall, writing at 9to5Mac in June:

Something else unique about the Weather app for iPad is a neat tidbit about UPS. According to the Weather app for iPad, you can save 50% on global shipping with code REACH from now through July 19. I couldn’t find this curious but helpful data point on the Weather app for iPhone. Now I’m worried folks who check the weather on their iPhone are overpaying for shipping.

[…]

Some of Apple’s Weather app for iPad is particularly not very Apple-y, but this is definitely Apple’s Weather app for iPad. It launches every time you tap the Weather widget, and that’s just how widgets work. It also mentions data vendors and controlling your data. Apple is all about empowering you to own your data and preventing companies from profiting from your information.

M.G. Siegler:

Yes, I know there is no shortage of third party weather apps. Some of them are great. But the devil is always in the defaults. And that default Weather widget is about to land on tens of millions of iPad screens with the launch of iPad OS 15 this fall. And with that, Apple will be sending tens of millions of dollars (maybe more?) indirectly to weather.com — which, incidentally is now owned by IBM. *Insert the Steve Jobs giving the finger image here.*

A native Apple weather app on the iPad is long overdue, but that also goes for MacOS. The weather widget in Big Sur is, as far as I know, the only widget that opens a webpage instead of an app when you click on it.