Sponsor: Unread, an RSS Reader

Thank you to Golden Hill Software and Unread for this week’s sponsorship. Unread is an RSS reader for iPhone and iPad with beautiful typography, comfortable gesture-based navigation, and a variety of color themes. While great websites like Pixel Envy provide RSS feeds with full a … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

WaPo: Twitter Plans Mass Layoffs Regardless of Ownership

Elizabeth Dwoskin, Faiz Siddiqui, Gerrit De Vynck, and Jeremy B. Merrill, Washington Post: Elon Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy the company that he planned to get rid of nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s 7,500 workers, whittling the company down to a skeleton staf … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Google Ads’ Dark Money

Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, in the Check My Ads Branded newsletter: Without seller crucial information, advertisers can’t meet the standards they’ve set for themselves, putting them at near constant business and legal risk. […] The only tool Google gives advertisers today to … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Leica Reissues the M6

Speaking of costly film photography, Leica is once again making the M6 — and not as a limited edition. That should give you plenty of time to save up. ⌥ Permalink⌥ Permalink | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Apple’s Parts Bin Mix-And-Match iPad Lineup

In addition to the aforementioned Apple TV, Apple today announced new versions of the iPad and iPad Pro. Alex Guyot of MacStories rightly describes the resulting product selection as “strange”: As you’ve probably noticed from the many caveats throughout this article, this iPad li … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

⌥ Semafor Who?

It seems too poetic for a major journalism scandal to unfold in one corner while a high-profile effort to save the future of media — and, if you believe its marketing, the democratic world itself — is launching in another. This new effort is called Semafor, and its co-founder Ben … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Kodak Is Hiring for Film Manufacturing in Rochester

Randy Gorbman, WXXI News of Rochester, New York: Film is obviously a legacy product in a digital world, but Nagraj Bokinkere, Vice President of Industrial Films and Chemicals at Kodak, said it has seen a resurgence in the last few years. […] “A few short years ago in the film fin … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

New Apple TV 4K With USB-C Remote

I am tempted to pick one of these up to replace my 2015 HD model which — you will be surprised to learn, reader — is feeling a little old. Apple dropped the price by about $50, too, while doubling the storage in the base model. Sounds pretty good, right? Alas, it is a little […]⌥ … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

The Wire Intends to Review Its Reporting on Meta

L’affaire the Wire sure has taken a turn since yesterday. First, Kanishk Karan, one of the security researchers ostensibly contacted by reporters, has denied ever doing so: It has come to my attention that I’ve been listed as one of the “independent security researchers” who supp … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Mixed Results for Spotify Exclusive Podcasts

Simon Owens: The rise of the podcast streaming wars threatened to upend all that. As large tech and media conglomerates — companies like Spotify, SiriusXM, iHeart, and Amazon — invested in podcasting, many assumed they’d take a page out of Netflix’s playbook and pull all their sh … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Sponsor: Unread, an RSS Reader

Unread is an RSS reader for iPhone and iPad with beautiful typography, comfortable gesture-based navigation, and a variety of color themes. While great websites like Pixel Envy provide RSS feeds with full article content, some websites have feeds that contain only article summari … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Meta Is Ending Support for Instant Articles

Sara Fischer, of Axios, is reporting today that Meta’s proprietary Instant Articles format will go away in April. This should not be a surprise — Instant Articles does nothing for Meta’s virtual reality efforts, Meta is cutting costs, and Google has been phasing out its commitmen … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

⌥ Lipstick on a Pig

Parmy Olson of Bloomberg was not impressed with Meta’s announcements at Connect 2022: While Zuckerberg spent most of the hour-and-a-half long presentation as his regular self on camera, the Facebook co-founder had one brief moment walking around a virtual stage as an avatar that … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

‘Microsoft 365’ Is the New Name for the Company’s Subscription-Based Productivity Suite

Microsoft: Over the last couple years, Microsoft 365 has evolved into our flagship productivity suite, so we are creating an experience to help you get the most out of Microsoft 365. In the coming months, Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows will beco … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Meta Is Borrowing From Google’s ‘Open’ Playbook

Adi Robertson, the Verge: So far, huge parts of Meta’s “openness” happen on its terms and can evaporate the moment they become inconvenient. If you’re Satya Nadella, then sure, you’re in a strong bargaining position. But if you’re a small developer pushing the Quest’s technical l … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Police Are Using DNA to Predict What Suspects May Look Like

Chloe Xiang, Vice: On Tuesday, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) shared a computer generated image of a suspect they created with DNA phenotyping, which it used for the first time in hopes of identifying a suspect from a 2019 sexual assault case. Using DNA evidence from the case, … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Car Crash Detection

Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal: During the ride, Apple’s new car-crash detection triggered and automatically dialed 911. The call to the Warren County Communications Center, which you can listen to here, featured an automated voice message from Ms. White’s iPhone: “The owner o … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

E.U. Standardizes USB-C Smartphone Charging for 2024, Laptops by 2026

The European Parliament: By the end of 2024, all mobile phones, tablets and cameras sold in the EU will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port. From spring 2026, the obligation will extend to laptops. The new law, adopted by plenary on Tuesday with 602 votes in favou … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Exploring Alternative Social Media Platforms

Pew Research Center: Although fewer than one-in-ten Americans say they use any of these sites for news, most who do say they have found a community of like-minded people there. And news consumers on the four sites with large enough numbers to be analyzed individually – Parler, Ru … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Even the People Building Meta’s Augmented Reality Projects Do Not Find Them Compelling

Alex Heath, of the Verge, obtained internal memos written by Vishal Shah, Meta’s “VP, Metaverse”:1 A key issue with Horizon’s development to date, according to Shah’s internal memos, is that the people building it inside Meta appear to not be using it that much. “For many of us, … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Most People on Twitter Are in Echo Chambers of Celebrity, Not Ideology

Joshua Benton, Nieman Lab: In other words: Most people don’t follow a bunch of political “elites” on Twitter — a group that, for these authors’ purposes, also includes news organizations. But those who do typically follow many more people they agree with politically than people w … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

It Is Getting Harder to Preserve the Internet

Dave Lee, Financial Times: Today, the archive’s founder Brewster Kahle tells me, the project is on the brink of surpassing 100 petabytes – approximately 50,000 times larger than in 1997. It contains more than 700bn web pages. The work isn’t getting any easier. Websites today are … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Tim Cook Seems as Confused as the Rest of Us Are About Meta’s Plans

Frank Landymore, Futurism: Basically, Zuckerberg and his vanity project have been taking hits left and right online, getting relentlessly roasted and memed while failing to produce a convincing product. And lately, the metaverse has been catching strays from big names in the spac … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Elon Musk Will Buy Twitter if Litigation Is Dropped

Jef Feely and Ed Hammond, Bloomberg: Elon Musk is proposing to buy Twitter Inc. for the original offer price of $54.20 a share, potentially avoiding a courtroom fight over one of the most contentious acquisitions in recent history. Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, a … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

The iPad’s Middle Child Syndrome

Dan Moren, Macworld: The iPad shouldn’t be a big iPhone and it shouldn’t just become a Mac. So what’s left? The trickiest needle to thread of them all: making the iPad truly its own device. A good start would be to question the assumptions that the tablet inherited from iOS. For … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Would You Like to Buy an Ad?

Earlier this year, the fine people at Rogue Amoeba asked if it would be possible to pay for some sponsored posts on Pixel Envy. How does one say no to Rogue Amoeba? Anyway, you probably saw the results of that ask for the company’s twentieth anniversary. I want to publicly thank … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Advertising to Bots

Morgan Meaker, Wired: Advertising didn’t always used to be like this. Augustine Fou, who has been a digital marketer for 25 years, says that in the past decade there’s been an explosion in fake traffic. Fou believes the industry was corrupted around a decade ago, when a series of … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

The Climate Impact of ‘Freight Sprawl’

Ximena González, the Sprawl: Last year, Vanessa Acevedo worked part time as a driver for Amazon. Using her personal vehicle, a 2014 Ford Fiesta, five times per week she drove the 26 km of Stoney Trail (a.k.a. the ring road) between her home in Redstone, in Calgary’s far northeast … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Fatal Flaws in a Defunct CIA Covert Communications System

Citizen Lab: Using only a single website, as well as publicly available material such as historical internet scanning results and the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, we identified a network of 885 websites and have high confidence that the United States (US) Central Intellige … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Sponsor: Rogue Amoeba’s 20th Anniversary Sale Ends Soon

Rogue Amoeba’s 20th anniversary sale ends very soon! Their next sale probably won’t be for another 5 years, so buy now to save 20%. Since 2002, Rogue Amoeba has been making amazing audio apps for the Mac. Whether you’re a podcaster, musician, or just someone who listens to audio … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Recently-Launched Instagram Clone Removed From the App Store

Ivan Mehta, TechCrunch: Last week, a startup called Un1feed launched an Instagram client called The OG App, which promised an ad-free and suggestion-free home feed along with features like creating custom feeds like Twitter lists. The app raked up almost 10,000 downloads in a few … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Google Is Giving Up on Stadia, Permitting Games to Be Played Until January 18

Phil Harrison, Google’s vice president in charge of Stadia: A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia. And while Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Forty Years of the CD

Daryl Worthington, the Quietus: Just as much as cassettes or LPs, CD’s have qualities and quirks. And they also have affordances that make them ideal for certain kinds of music. But, despite being 40 years old, and gradually being replaced by downloads and streaming, they don’t s … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Tech YouTubers Are Finding Expanded Batteries in Their Libraries of Samsung Smartphones

Arun Maini, known on YouTube as “Mrwhosetheboss”, has a library of dozens of devices he has tested, from all manufacturers. But he noticed the batteries in his Samsung phones — and only his Samsung phones — were dangerously expanding, sometimes in phones he received less than two … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Alberta Government Caves to Lyft

In August, CBC News reported that Lyft was lobbying the Alberta government to remove commercial license requirements for ride hailing drivers. In comments made today about forthcoming changes to the province’s licensing system, it appears the government partly caved to its demand … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Ad Tech Revenue Statements Indicate Unclear Effects of App Tracking Transparency

App Tracking Transparency (hereafter, “ATT”) is in the news again because many advertising-supported companies have reported a particularly bad earnings quarter attributable, many of them have said, to several factors, perhaps best summarized by Mobile Dev Memo’s Eric Seufert: It … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Products’ Useful Lifespans Should Be Longer Than Their Batteries – Pixel Envy

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@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Unplugged Phone Mysteries

Seth Hettena, of Rolling Stone, on Twitter: Erik Prince’s latest venture is the Unplugged phone, an $850 standalone mobile device with its own app suite that’s being developed in Israel and will allow “patriots to communicate securely.” Unplugged says it is based in Cyprus. Princ … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

Meta Will Be ‘Operating with Increased Intensity’

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@pxlnv.com | 2 years ago

A Priest Was Outed by His Phone’s Location Data, Likely Through Ad Tech Middle P

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@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

The Infinite Ugly Scroll

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@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

Safari 15 and Chickenshit Minimalism

Stephen Hackett, Six Colors: Apple seems to be unhappy with the traditional browser design that includes navigation tools at the top, with websites being forced to live in their own view down below, and with Safari 15, it has blurred the line between browser and web content. This … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

Annotated Photo Edits

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@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

Google ‘Experiments’ with Bringing RSS Capabilities Back to Chrome

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@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

All developers are equal, but some developers are more equal than others

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@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

The California Exception

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@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

Sidebar: Translucency

I do not know that I have made it clear how much I appreciate many aspects of MacOS Big Sur’s visual design update, which is something even I did not fully understand until I was compelled to use Catalina full-time for a week. Last year, my iMac developed some shadowing in the co … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 3 years ago

SolarWinds’ Poor Security Can Be Traced to Its Private Equity Financialization

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@pxlnv.com | 4 years ago