Michael Tsai:

Tommy Mysk (Hacker News):

It seems that the #AppStore app on iOS 14.6 sends every tap you make in the app to Apple.

[…]

It’s unclear if Apple still collects analytics data in iOS 16, even when sharing analytics and personalized recommendations are switched off. Regardless, the App Store already knows a lot about our behavior and how we explore apps.

I have always preferred to share usage information with Apple because I believe in providing the engineers with as much information as they would need to keep improving the products, not just for me but for all users.

However, as Apple shifts to providing ads, I’m not sure if I would still be so ready to share my usage data. I’m not comfortable with giving my information to Apple so that Apple can try to get me people to spend more money.

Of course, Apple defines things so that it’s not “tracking” if the data isn’t linked to you personally and isn’t shared with other companies.

Apple’s point is valid, but not comforting for me as a user.

Nick Heer on Pixel Envy:

This is not limited to operating systems, either. Users are disrespected by increasing and surprising bloat in applications. For work, I need to run the Microsoft OneDrive client on one of my Macs, and I was surprised to see that it recently crossed the 1 GB threshold. This is a file syncing utility. For comparison — and you can check this for yourself — it was 70 MB just four years ago.

The only apps I have that are larger than 1 GB are video editing apps, DAWs, Adobe apps, and Microsoft apps.

I’m so glad I ditched OneDrive due to the problems it had with M1 Macs. I just wished we moved away from it earlier. There had been several occasions when we lost data due to OneDrive issues.

Besides taking up so much storage space, it also seems to be doing weird things in the file system. And it brings my internet to a crawl at times when it suddenly decides to sync certain large files.

I recall Matt having issues where his files were perpetually stuck in downloading status. That worsened into constant kernel panic, a problem that has been well-documented. Try searching “OneDrive kernel panic”.

I’m fully committed to iCloud Drive and only use OneDrive via web when absolutely necessary.

Roger González Gutiérrez (via Michael Tsai):

Microsoft is phoning home the content of your PowerPoint slides.

[…]

Make a new slide with a title of your choice. Choose “Designer.” Look at your network traffic as you do.

It makes sense: the tool is reading your text and suggesting designs/delivering stock photography. But this means that any data that you might want to keep private is being sent to Microsoft.

Yes, it makes sense that Microsoft needs your data to understand the content you are creating to suggest design and edits, and provide data insights.

However, this should be made clear to users so they get to make inform decisions on whether they are comfortable with this. I might be willing to allow PowerPoint to have the data, but how do I know what is being sent to the cloud? And why does it need to be sent to the cloud?

Stephen Hackett:

“To access the complete set of Pantone Color Books, Pantone now requires customers to purchase a premium license through Pantone Connect and install a plug-in using Adobe Exchange.”

As a creative that uses Pantone regularly, it is a slap on the face. Companies that use Pantone colours in the design, print, and production processes pay for the Pantone colour charts.

It is understandable that Pantone wants to shift its business model, and it makes sense to roll it out after the announcement has been made, even if I don’t agree with the move.

It is not acceptable for Pantone to pull support in old files and force users to pay for that.

Jess Weatherbed on The Verge:

PSD files that contained Pantone spot colors now display unwanted black in their place, forcing creatives who need access to the industry-standard color books to pay for a plugin subscription.

This is actually an excellent opportunity for a competing standard to replace Pantone, ideally one that is open sourced and community-driven, not controlled by a corporate.

Time for Color Index International to stand up?

John Gruber:

It’s Twitter that benefits from millions of users being able to feel certain that the “Stephen King” with 7 million followers on Twitter is really theStephen King. It’s Twitter that benefits from Nate Silver engaging with users and tweeting analysis. Popular tweeters aren’t getting paid to tweet. And now Elon Musk thinks they should pay to tweet?

They are not really paying to tweet, they can still tweet without paying the subscription.

Gruber hit the nail on the head on Twitter’s relationship with popular tweeters.

Creators get paid on YouTube for creating content. Popular tweeters are not paid for creating content on Twitter. They benefit from being visible and able to connect and engage with people. Anyone who uses Twitter enjoys this benefit. It is why people use Twitter.

Verifying accounts helps Twitter to create a trusted community and prevent people from impersonating well-known figures. It also protects these figures from imposters tarnishing their reputation. It is a win-win that should have no value attached to it.

If paying means getting the priority for the verification process instead of waiting for a long queue, it makes sense only if it is a one-time charge. Paying to get the badge without a verification process would break the existing understanding of what being verified means.

Peter Steinberger:

The new Dropbox version for macOS Ventura is absolute garbage. fileproviderd is eating my CPU alive, files are no longer really on disk so QuickLook and some apps fail, etc. How did this ship, even as beta?

I ditched Dropbox sometime back after having too many problems with it. I used OneDrive alongside iCloud Drive for a while due to work needs. However, OneDrive also has also had issues with Apple Silicon machines. That has made me remove OneDrive and only use the web version when I really need to.

Michael Tsai:

I’ve mostly switched to iCloud Drive, and when I do need to access Dropbox I do so via Transmit

I totally forgot about the option of using Transmit to access Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive. Something worth a try.

Despite my earlier reservations about iCloud Drive, it has served me well so far. When I upgraded Monterey, I moved to setup where most of my files and folders were on iCloud Drive so they stay synced across machines.