Notices by Steve Troughton-Smith (stroughtonsmith@mastodon.social), page 3

@mikecane @WarnerCrocker yes. It won’t run modern iOS or apps and the battery will need to be replaced at some point

@mikecane @WarnerCrocker iOS 18 is around the corner. Big changes ahead

If all macOS 15 does is remove that stupid emoji-palette-blocking autocomplete popup that Sonoma added, I will be happy. Adding an extra step to something I do a hundred times a day, without giving an option to turn it off? Genius.

It's even better that invoking the keyboard shortcut twice bypasses it… — *except* when it doesn't have an emoji to autocomplete, and then the double-shortcut presents then immediately dismisses the emoji palette instead

⚠️ Looks like Sonoma's new annoying emoji popup interstitial is enabled by feature flag! Which means you can nuke it from orbit (it's the only way to be sure). Reboot after:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/UIKit.plist emoji_enhancements -dict-add Enabled -bool NO

@Gargron that's not what's happening here — this is showing for every post for people who don’t do it intentionally

Anybody know what the ‘phantom boost’ situation is on Mastodon? I’m seeing phantom boosts showing up for any/most posts federated from specific servers — a 1 to the boost counter with no actual boosts listed, and those boosts are not visible on the originating server. Is this a quirk of federation, or some Mastodon fork interop thing or something?

@Gargron

@Gargron *strongly* disagree with that last one, when full disclosure is provided. Cuts off all kinds of interesting use cases and bots (like automated support for apps), and means if you do talk about generative art you can’t post it to a secondary profile to spare your main feed followers. Like it or not, mastodon.social *is* Mastodon to an awful lot of people, and this effectively becomes a blanket ban. I certainly wouldn't be posting here if I had to be on another instance

@mikecane @WarnerCrocker there is no actual evidence any such product exists or is in planning. An analyst suggested Apple might be considering a 'lower-cost MacBook’.

Lower-cost in Apple terms likely isn't $699, even if true 😅 It just means a price point starting somewhere under the MacBook Air's $999 (and since Apple likes $100 increments, $899 is a 'lower cost’)

If such a thing has an M-series CPU, then yes, incredibly powerful laptop.

If it's an A-series, a little more up in the air

“Should [the EC] suspect an infringement of the DMA, it can open proceedings to investigate the potential breach. […] can impose fines of up to 10% of the company's total worldwide turnover, […] 20% in case of repeated infringement. Moreover, in case of systematic infringements, […] additional remedies such as obliging a gatekeeper to sell a business or parts of it or banning the gatekeeper from acquisitions of additional services related to the systemic non-compliance.”

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1342

The path that Apple is currently on, should nothing of consequence change, leads directly to the E.C. forcing Apple to split the App Store (in Europe) off into a separate company, alongside a $80+B fine and heavily regulatory scrutiny. Let's not be surprised if that's where Apple is in 5 years time

"Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). As a result, the Amazon Appstore on Windows and all applications and games dependent on WSA will no longer be supported beginning March 5, 2025. “

Never depend on Microsoft for anything

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/android/wsa/

/via @thomholwerda

Windows Subsystem for Android was Microsoft's knee-jerk reaction to iOS apps coming to Apple Silicon Macs. Turns out, nobody really cares about either. But unlike Apple's effort, which also enables Mac Catalyst and half the native system apps on macOS, Microsoft's was a bolt-on alien experience, with afterthought apps from an afterthought app store. Not quite the embrace, extend, extinguish you hoped for. Nobody will miss it

@mikecane @WarnerCrocker you really need to filter your rumor sources. There's no mini on the docket anytime soon

Apple's encryption may be quantum-computer-proof, but it’s not lawmaker-proof. And that's a weak link that absolutely will be exploited, someday. E2EE is a luxury that can be snatched away in an instant, a false sense of security in an increasingly dangerous world

The whole DMA situation should have been Apple's cue to take stock of the App Store and how it has failed iPad & Mac. That a tablet or desktop should have the same rules and restrictions as a *phone* is bonkers. There’s a reason why most of the Mac apps you care about aren't on the App Store, and why Apple still offers a bunch of temporary entitlement exemptions a decade later — the App Store cannot support the richness of a platform like the Mac. Vision is destined to the same fate as iPad

@Gargron if you want to base them, this vid from GW designer & ex-Eavy Metal painter is my favorite tutorial and the way I do all mine these days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXmvQS50Z8w

@Gargron now I know I'm on the right network 🥹

@mikecane @WarnerCrocker just hotspot to your phone? It's like one click to pair on Apple devices

Marques Brownlee’s Vision Pro usage video is incredible, as always. Lots of detail on the OS and apps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtp6b76pMak

🎙️ Been working on an awesome visionOS app that you'd love to show off now that device preorders are only a week away?

Drop it in the replies here; if you'd like to be boosted, include:

1️⃣ a screenshot or video
2️⃣ a link-out to your site or App Store page
3️⃣ use the hashtag #showcase

Assume the reader knows nothing about you or your projects: what is your app, what does it do?

Remember you can edit posts if you forget something, and mute the hashtag for a period if you don't want to participate