Notices by Simon B. Støvring (simonbs@mastodon.social)

@Gargron Fair. For some reason, I find it equally awkward to use a dark website in a lit-up room as I do using a light website in a dark room.

Dear tech websites: “dark mode only” isn’t sleek, it’s broken. Fix it.

Are we at the peak of generative AI, pouring resources into something that may never deliver the killer use case everyone’s chasing?

I share many of Zitron’s concerns. Even the parts I don’t agree with have given me plenty to think about.

https://www.wheresyoured.at/godot-isnt-making-it/

Festivitas has been updated just in time to celebrate — whether it’s ringing in 2025 or the Lunar New Year! ✨🎉

🎆 The new “2025” design spells “2025,” with each light bulb representing its own digit.
🪩 The “2025 (Stacked)” design displays “2025” on each light bulb.
🏮 Celebrate Lunar New Year in style with the new "Lantern" string lights!
⚙️ Settings will open automatically when the app is launched.
🙈 The dock icon and the menu bar icon can be hidden at the same time.

👉 https://festivitas.app

Sharing a screenshot of my post here for those without a LinkedIn account.

I had more thoughts and feelings about this than could fit within the constraints of Mastodon, so I’ve shared it here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/simonbs_im-increasingly-frustrated-by-how-companies-activity-7279091662713163776-tmBg

Apple is knowingly spreading misinformation. Period.

There's enough historical data to test Apple Intelligence and conclude that it generates absurdly incorrect summaries before launching it. Apple shipped it to millions of people with this knowledge.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/13/24320689/apple-intelligence-summary-bbc-news-unitedhealthcare-luigi-mangione

I wanted to get Festivitas out of the door as soon as possible, so I didn’t take the time to reach out to any media prior to the launch. I wonder if 1) any media will care about he app at all and 2) if they’ll care now that it’s already launched 🤔

@WarnerCrocker Thank you! 🫶

@WarnerCrocker Looks great! Thanks for sharing this! 🙏

If you’re decorating your dock and menu bar with festive lights using Festivitas, please share a screenshot! 🎄😄

I’ve only seen it on my own Mac so far, and I’d love to see how it looks on yours 👀

✨ Introducing Festivitas for macOS! 🎄

Deck your dock and menu bar with endlessly customizable festive lights. Add a touch of holiday magic to your Mac ✨💻

It's the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit!

Get Festivitas here 👇

https://festivitas.app

I'M NOT MESSING AROUND ANYMORE. The light string moves away as I hover over the icons now.

Every company is racing to build AI chatbots for support, but I hate interacting with them as a customer. I need an AI agent that fights fire with fire and deals with customer support for me.

With the release of iOS 17.3, Stolen Device Protection is now generally available. This is one of my favorite new iOS features. You will want to turn on Stolen Device Protection as it provides a great additional security layer for everyone, but particularly for those of us who use iCloud Keychain.

Turn on Stolen Device Protection by opening Settings, selecting Face ID & Passcode, and then choosing Turn On Protection under Stolen Device Protection.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212510

No, Apple, a well thought-out minimalistic pomodoro app from an indie developer is not spam. It provides users with a choice. Stop insulting developers, Apple.

https://breaks.app by @zachwaugh was rejected by Apple as spam because the App Store already contains pomdoro apps with similar concepts. The App Store also contained quite a few journaling apps before you launched your Journal app yesterday, Apple.

https://mastodon.social/@zachwaugh/111568177893170335

A reminder that you can encrypt the content of a push notification before it’s passed to Apple and then use a notification service app extension to decrypt the content before the notification is displayed to the user.

While this doesn’t prevent the government from tracking users through the metadata linked to a push notification, it does, at least, hinder their ability to access the content of the notification. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/modifying_content_in_newly_delivered_notifications/

Build apps like this.