⌥ Apple Confirms Delayed Launch of Personalized Siri Features

Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy, in a statement provided seemingly first to both Stephen Nellis, of Reuters, and John Gruber: […] We’ve also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for yo … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 27 days ago

Brazilian Court Requires Apple to Permit Sideloading Within Ninety Days

Guilherme Pimenta, Valor Econômico: The Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) has overturned a trial ruling and reinstated an injunction imposed by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) on Apple, as part of an investigation into alleged abuse of domina … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 28 days ago

Canadians’ Health Data Needs Safeguarding Against Our Increasingly Hostile Neighbour

Michael Geist and Kumanan Wilson, the Globe and Mail: Given recent turbulent events and the diminishing trust between Canada and the U.S., it is entirely possible that Washington would seek enhanced access to sensitive Canadian data, notably including financial and health data. T … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 28 days ago

Digg Reboots Again

Samantha Subin, CNBC: Content aggregator Digg is making a comeback with the help of an unlikely partner: Reddit co-founder and rival Alexis Ohanian. Ohanian and Digg founder Kevin Rose acquired the platform for an undisclosed sum. The deal is backed by venture capital firms True … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 28 days ago

The Web Was Always About Redistribution of Power

Ben Werdmuller: The original web was inherently about redistribution of power from a small number of gatekeepers to a large number of individuals, even if it never quite lived up to that promise. But the next iteration of the web was about concentrating power in a small set of ga … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 29 days ago

Wine Prices Raised by Alberta Government

Colleen Underwood, CBC News: The province says the flat rate for wine is going up another 15 cents per 750 ml bottle. And it’s creating a new ad valorem, or “value added” fee, that will go up as the price of wine goes up, on top of the flat fee. For example, according to the […]⌥ … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 29 days ago

Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton Honoured With 2024 Turing Award

The Association for Computing Machinery which — and this is not, strictly speaking, important — ought to have a way cooler logo than it actually does: ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today named Andrew G. Barto and Richard S. Sutton as the recipients of the 2024 ACM … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 29 days ago

Tapbots Reveals ‘Phoenix’ Bluesky Client for Summer Release

John Voorhees, MacStories: Tapbots, the makers of Mastodon client Ivory, announced today that they are working on a Bluesky client. The app, which will be called Phoenix, is planned for release this summer. I have been begging for a decent Bluesky client for MacOS. This looks pro … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 29 days ago

Apple Says Not Every Generation Will See an ‘Ultra’ Chip

Apple: Apple today announced the new Mac Studio, the most powerful Mac ever made, featuring M4 Max and the new M3 Ultra chip. The ultimate pro desktop delivers groundbreaking pro performance, extensive connectivity now with Thunderbolt 5, and new capabilities in its compact and q … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 29 days ago

Cloudflare Blocking Privacy Focused Users From Accessing Third-Party Websites

Liam Proven, the Register: According to some in the Hacker News discussion of the problem, something else that can count as suspicious – other than using niche browsers or OSes – is something as simple as asking for a URL unaccompanied by any referrer IDs. To us, that sounds like … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Apple Appeals U.K. Backdoor Demand to Investigatory Powers Tribunal

Zoe Kleinman, BBC News: Apple is taking legal action to try to overturn a demand made by the UK government to view its customers’ private data if required. The BBC understands that the US technology giant has appealed to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, an independent court wit … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Did the Trump Administration Minimize Russian Cyber Threats?

Stephanie Kirchgaessner, the Guardian: A recent memo at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) set out new priorities for the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and monitors cyber threats against US critical infrastructure. The new d … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Potions and Spells

Sean Monahan: People love to quote the third of Arthur C. Clark’s laws — “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” And almost always with a positive spin. The Disneyfied language makes it sound wondrous. But let’s reconsider the quote with a differen … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

The U.S. Government Is Apparently Upset About the U.K. iCloud Backdoor Demand

Joseph Menn, Washington Post: The U.S. Justice Department told Congress in November that there were no major disputes with the United Kingdom over how the two allies seek data from each other’s communication companies. But at that time, officials knew British authorities were pre … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

The Digital Packrat Manifesto

Janus Rose, 404 Media: While streaming platforms flatten music-listening into a homogenous assortment of vibes, listening to an album you’ve downloaded on Bandcamp or receiving a mix from a friend feels more like forging a connection with artists and people. As a musician, I’d mu … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Inclusive Typefaces

Harry Bennett, It’s Nice That: Inclusive Sans is a new typeface from Olivia King that puts accessibility at the forefront. It’s arisen from the type designer’s research into typographic accessibility and readability – from highly regarded traditional guides and papers to more mod … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Microsoft and Google Jack Up Prices to Pay for A.I.

Luke Goldstein, the Lever: If you’re in one of the 9 million organizations that use Google Workspace, your company likely just received notice that it’ll have to fork over a lot more cash to use its ubiquitous office applications.The monthly price for business plans is jumping 16 … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Adam Engst Does Not Understand Quantum Computing Either

Adam Engst, riffing for TidBits on my confused reaction to recent breakthroughs from Google and Microsoft: Perhaps it was inevitable. Companies like Microsoft and Google invest billions of dollars in fundamental research (which is good!), but their marketing departments (whom I s … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Sponsor: Magic Lasso Adblock: 2.0× Faster Web Browsing in Safari

Want to experience twice as fast load times in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock — the ad blocker designed for you. As an efficient, high performance, and native Safari ad blocker, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers, and annoyances … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Safari Cleanup

Tim Bray: Also, Safari is technically competent. It’s fast enough, and (unlike even a very few years ago) compatible with wherever I go. The number of Chome-only sites, thank goodness, seems to be declining rapidly. So, a tip o’ the hat to the Safari team, they’re mostly giving m … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Apple News Remains a Bad Citizen of the Open Web

Michael Tsai, commenting in relation to the “tyranny of apps” article: I think Apple News would have a better user experience with a Web site and an RSS feed than as an app. I agree, but I think it is a worse situation than that suggests. Apple News is not only a mediocre app exp … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

‘The Tyranny of Apps’

Marc Fisher, in the Washington Post in December: Too often now, in matters meaningful and meaningless, the good stuff is reserved for people who have smartphones or other digital tools. From parking garages to airplane movie offerings, it pays to be digitally equipped. More to th … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

An Age Range API Is Coming to iOS Later This Year

Apple today announced a series of child safety enhancements in the form of a PDF document which, so far as I can tell, is not listed anywhere on its website. The company is developing a habit of sending PDF links directly to media outlets to circulate. Among the forthcoming featu … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Amazon Debuts Alexa Plus

Ina Fried, Axios: Amazon on Wednesday showed off Alexa+, a generative AI version of its digital voice assistant that draws on a variety of models and works with many of the company’s older Echo devices. […] Alexa+ will work with a number of service partners, including GrubHub, Op … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

The Match Group Knows About Serial Sexual Abusers on Its Platform

Emily Elena Dugdale and Hanisha Harjani, the Markup (please note this story contains several descriptions of sexual assault): “It is shocking that for years after receiving reports of sexual assault, Hinge continued to allow Stephen Matthews access to its platforms and actively f … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Jeff Bezos Demands the WaPo Opinion Pages Focus on a ‘Defense of … Personal Liberties and Free Markets’

Jeff Bezos published an email he sent to Washington Post staff on, of all places, X, and covered by the Post itself without a byline: I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages. We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Cheesy, Gooey, Melt-in-Your-Mouth A.I. Slop

“Conspirador Norteño”: The latest craze in Facebook generative AI spam: cooking pages with tons of vaguely surreal artificially generated images of food. I am not sure about “latest”, but this genre of A.I. slop seems to be increasing in volume to the extent even I have noticed o … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Hyperspace

New app from John Siracusa: Hyperspace searches for files with identical contents within one or more folders. If it finds any, it can then reclaim the disk space taken by all but one of the identical files — without removing any of the files! You can learn more about how this is … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Andrew Ferguson, Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Pledges to Keep Aggressive Merger Enforcement

Leah Nylen, Bloomberg: President Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Commission will “vigorously” sue to block illegal mergers, the agency’s new chairman said Monday, highlighting support for the repeated deal challenges during the Biden era. “We are going to enforce these laws vigorous … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Apple Issues its Quadrennial Politicking Press Release

Apple in 2017: Apple has committed to investing at least $1 billion with US-based companies as part of the [Advanced Manufacturing Fund], which is designed to foster innovative production and highly skilled jobs that will help lay the foundation for a new era of technology-driven … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Sponsor: Magic Lasso Adblock: YouTube Ad Blocker for Safari

Do you want to block all YouTube ads in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock – the ad blocker designed for you. As an efficient, high performance, and native Safari ad blocker, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers, and annoyances – deli … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

⌥ I Do Not Understand Quantum Computers or the Apparent Breakthroughs From Google and Microsoft

Remember when new technology felt stagnant? All the stuff we use — laptops, smartphones, watches, headphones — coalesced around a similar design language. Everything became iterative or, in more euphemistic terms, mature. Attempts to find a new thing to excite people mostly faile … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Sponsor: How Comics Were Made by Glenn Fleishman

Priced originally at $65, it’s currently on sale for $39 (plus shipping) — no coupon is required. Several years ago, I came across the word flong, and my life was changed. It led me to pose the question: Before photographic reproduction, how did newspaper comics syndicates in the … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Apple Pulls Advanced Data Protection in the U.K.

Zoe Kleinman, BBC News: Apple is taking the unprecedented step of removing its highest level data security tool from customers in the UK, after the government demanded access to user data. […] The ADP service started to be pulled for new users at 1500GMT on Friday. Existing users … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

HP Adds, Then Retracts, Fifteen Minute Minimum Wait Time for Phone Support

Paul Kunert, the Register: To reaffirm the changes, HP says in the staff memo: “The wait time for each customer is set to 15 minutes – notice the expected wait time is mentioned only in the beginning of the call.” The message will be read out three times during the wait time, aft … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Real-Time Bidding Is a Surveillance Dream

Dell Cameron and Dhruv Mehrotra, of Wired, published a look at how third-party lists uploaded to Google DV360 allow targeting based on factors Google says its policies prohibit. It is more-or-less a story of Google’s failure to adequately moderate its platform, but it is vile to … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

U.S. Federal Trade Commission Launches Inquiry Into Tech ‘Censorship’

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission: Censorship by technology platforms is not just un-American, it is potentially illegal. Tech firms can employ confusing or unpredictable internal procedures that cut users off, sometimes with no ability appeal the decision. Such actions taken by … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Clearview A.I.’s CEO Resigns, New Leadership Likes Its Chances Under Trump

David Jeans, Forbes: Clearview co-founder Hoan Ton-That stepped back as CEO in December and took on the role of president. Then, on Friday, following a Forbes inquiry, he told the company he was resigning, noting he was leaving to start the “next chapter of my life.” In a stateme … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Google Puts Profits Over Privacy by Permitting User Fingerprinting

Imran Rahman-Jones, BBC News: However the company [Google] had previously come out strongly against this kind of data collection, saying in a 2019 blog that fingerprinting “subverts user choice and is wrong.” But in a post announcing the new rule changes, Google said the way peop … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

The New York Times’ Absurd Strategic Forecasting of the U.S. Annexing Canada

Parker Molloy: Let’s be clear about what’s happening: The President of the United States is openly fantasizing about forcibly annexing a sovereign nation of 40 million people. He’s been repeatedly referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau” and threatening ou … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

HP Acquihires Humane for $116 Million

Humane: HP Inc. announced a definitive agreement to acquire key AI capabilities from Humane, including their AI-powered platform Cosmos, highly skilled technical talent, and intellectual property with more than 300 patents and patent applications. The acquisition advances HP’s tr … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

The Rise and Fall of Canadian Tire Money

Mark Colley, Toronto Star: For more than 60 years, Canadian Tire money staked a legitimate claim as Canada’s unofficial second currency. At one point, a study showed half the country collected it. The coupons even made the Canadian Oxford dictionary. […] Ultimately, experts specu … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Is YouTube Infrastructure?

Thomas Germain, for BBC News, looked at the efforts of Ethan Zuckerman and others to study YouTube. Their findings are sometimes expected — most videos have been viewed fewer than 500 times — but often notable. Most videos are not edited, have no monetization, and have no request … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Sponsor: How Comics Were Made by Glenn Fleishman

Priced originally at $65, it’s currently on sale for $39 (plus shipping) — no coupon is required. How Comics Were Made follows the intensive, magical, and industrial journey a newspaper comic takes from a cartoonist’s hand through the transformative production process to make it … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

The Murky Ad-Tech World Powering Surveillance of U.S. Military Personnel

Joseph Cox and Dhruv Mehrotra, in an article jointly published by 404 Media and Wired: Last year, a media investigation revealed that a Florida-based data broker, Datastream Group, was selling highly sensitive location data that tracked United States military and intelligence per … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Atlas of Type Foundries

Something very useful from the Atlas of Type: a huge list of type foundries. Only a handful of Canadian designers on this list, including the legendary Canada Type and Pangram Pangram, but I was particularly excited to learn about Tiro Typeworks. They have a vast library of type … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Netflix Says Its Brief Apple TV App Integration Was a Mistake

Chris Welch, the Verge: Netflix spokesperson MoMo Zhou has told The Verge that this morning’s window where Netflix appeared as a “participating” service in Apple TV — including temporary support for the watchlist and “continue watching” features — was an error and has now been ro … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago

Sponsor: Magic Lasso Adblock: Incredibly Private and Secure Safari Web Browsing

Online privacy isn’t just something you should be hoping for – it’s something you should expect. You should ensure your browsing history stays private and is not harvested by ad networks. By blocking ad trackers, Magic Lasso Adblock stops you being followed by ads around the web. … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 1 month ago