Big Sur brings a frustrating interface change to notifications. This post documents the change in great detail. It’s all about the process of dismissing a notification, which is much harder than it used to be, both in terms of fine motor control requirements and low discoverability.

Read the post, see if you agree.

Glen Weldon, NPR:

Wolfwalkers, from Cartoon Saloon, the production company behind 2009’s The Secret of Kells and 2014’s Song of the Sea, isn’t made for kids. Or at least, not just for kids.

Because there are a lot of other thematic elements jostling for elbow room in this tale of young English girl Robyn (voiced by Honor Kneafsey) and her father (voiced by Sean Bean) trying to make a go of it in the pre-colonial Irish town of Kilkenny.

And:

Layered over the anti-authoritarian theme is an ecological one: The town is growing, and Robyn’s father has been hired by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (voiced by Simon McBurney) to clear the wolves out of the rapidly vanishing forest nearby. There’s a healthy dose of feminism in the mix, as well: Robyn only wants to help her father hunt, but her status as a young woman gets her consigned to menial scullery duties. You don’t have to scratch the film’s surface terribly hard to find a queer reading, either: Robyn and her father are desperately trying to blend in, but Robyn’s need for freedom (and her drive to point out to her father that his white-knuckle grip on their assigned hierarchical roles is wrong) endangers them both.

The upshot here is that all this is really well handled, a mix that’s compelling, rather than muddled.

Because of the film’s densely packed themes, you can pick and choose which particular “message” you’ll take away from Wolfwalkers. But whichever you pick, the feel of this hauntingly rich visual feast will stay with you much longer.

This seems a perfect movie to watch with the family over the holidays. On Apple TV+ now.

Unbound for Mac blog:

With the announcement of the App Store Small Business Program, I’ve stopped selling Unbound directly via the web site. I thought it would be worth explaining how I came to that decision.

This is an interesting read, mostly for developers, but also for folks interested in Apple’s business practices.

If you sell a Mac app, you likely either sell it on the Mac App Store or via an eCommerce engine like Paddle. The economics are a big part of the “how to sell” decision.

Paddle takes a much smaller cut than Apple, but requires a time and coding investment. Apple’s move to cut their end for small (under $1M) sellers from 30% to 15% definitely has an impact on the overall math.

Paddle gives you the freedom to update your app when you like, no approval necessary. Apple, obviously, has hoops to jump through, including a notarization process, and restrictions on content.

Paddle makes it easy to do demos, offer coupon codes, etc.

If Apple highlights your App, the exposure can bring a huge spike in sales.

If Paddle suffered a data breach, suddenly I would be on the hook for exposing people’s emails or (God forbid) credit card data. While this has not happened, and I have no reason whatsoever to think Paddle is anything but competent, I’m still much happier trusting Apple’s security practices than any third party. (And if Apple has a security breach, I feel like I’m unlikely to take the blame from customers—the vast majority of them have done business with Apple directly in the past, whether for their computers, phones, or even just iTunes purchases.)

Even apart from a data breach, removing all third parties from the equation is a privacy win for customers—I can proudly tell people the app collects no data whatsoever, whereas Paddle had to “phone home” to validate product keys.

This last bit is something I never considered.

Worthwhile, provocative read.

This ad dropped last month, an homage to Singin’ in the Rain, but designed to sell Burberry product.

I love this ad, wonder how much of this is CGI, how much practical effects. No matter, to me, has all the feel of an Apple ad.

Side note: In the original Singing in the Rain, linked above, that’s Carrie Fisher’s mom at the beginning of the scene.

How many HTML tags can you remember? My score was embarrassingly low, but it was fun anyway.

Dana Mattioli, Wall Street Journal:

Jeff Bezos built Amazon.com Inc. from his garage with an underdog’s ambition to take on the establishment. He imbued staff with an obsession to grow fast by grabbing customers using the biggest selection and lowest prices.

And:

That ethos helps keep Amazon booming. Aggressive competition—including wresting market share from rivals—is often a hallmark of a successful business. It’s also why the tech-and-retail giant is the target of rivals, regulators and politicians who say its tactics are unfair for a company its size, and potentially illegal. As the company has grown, so has its capacity to take on an ever-growing array of competitors.

And:

Executives behind the scenes have methodically waged targeted campaigns against rivals and partners alike—an approach that has changed little through the years, from diapers to footwear.

No competitor is too small to draw Amazon’s sights. It cloned a line of camera tripods that a small outside company sold on Amazon’s site, hurting the vendor’s sales so badly it is now a fraction of its original size, the little firm’s owner said.

And:

When Amazon decided to compete with furniture retailer Wayfair Inc., Mr. Bezos’s deputies created what they called the Wayfair Parity Team, which studied how Wayfair procured, sold and delivered bulky furniture, eventually replicating a majority of its offerings, said people who worked on the team.

The article goes on and on, but you get the idea. The sense here is that Amazon wants to replicate every product it sells, discarding partnerships once they have their own version of that partner’s product.

At what point does this turn into unfair business practice?

Buzzfeed News:

Last Tuesday, Facebook launched what it portrayed as a full-throated defense of small businesses. In taking out full-page ads in major newspapers and creating a webpage encouraging people to “Speak Up for Small Businesses,” the social networking giant argued that a change in Apple’s mobile operating system would decimate family-run enterprises by preventing them from targeting people with online ads.

But:

But while the $750 billion company’s public relations effort has presented a united front with small businesses, some Facebook employees complained about what they called a self-serving campaign that bordered on hypocrisy, according to internal comments and audio of a presentation to workers that were obtained by BuzzFeed News.

And:

“It feels like we are trying to justify doing a bad thing by hiding behind people with a sympathetic message,” one engineer wrote in response to an internal post about the campaign from Dan Levy, Facebook’s vice president for ads.

To me, this is a badly thought out campaign that is fooling no one. Usually, a controversial campaign like this would have champions on both sides. I’ve yet to encounter anyone who’s taken the Facebook side of this debate.

Embedded below is a five minute chunk of Peter Jackson’s coming Beatles movie. It’s far more than a trailer.

What I found most amazing about this treat is how much footage there is that I’ve never seen before.

Enjoy. Coming to theaters August 27th.

The New Yorker:

In 1977, Shigeru Miyamoto joined Nintendo, a company then known for selling toys, playing cards, and trivial novelties. Miyamoto was twenty-four, fresh out of art school. His employer, inspired by the success of a California company named Atari, was hoping to expand into video games. Miyamoto began tinkering with a story about a carpenter, a damsel in distress, and a giant ape. The result, Donkey Kong, débuted in 1981. Four years later, Miyamoto had turned the carpenter into a plumber; Mario, and the Super Mario Bros. franchise, had arrived. But Miyamoto wanted more. Tired of linear, side-scrolling mechanics, he yearned to conjure the open world and carefree adventures of his childhood in Sonobe, a town just west of Kyoto. In 1986, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda.

And:

Miyamoto turned sixty-eight in November. He’s been linked to Walt Disney since the early days of his career, and those comparisons are set to continue; Miyamoto is currently overseeing the design and installation of Super Nintendo World, a half-billion-dollar theme park at Universal Studios in Osaka.

There are allegedly plans to bring a Super Nintendo World to Hollywood, Orlando, and Singapore, too.

A few days after Miyamoto’s birthday, I had a rare chance to speak to him at length, over Zoom—and he was willing to show more of the man behind the mascot than expected. In doing so, he revealed how deeply he has considered the discipline of game design and how much he has tried to move it forward. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

If you are a Nintendo fan, take some time to read the interview. Miyamoto rarely speaks publicly. Great read.

Check out the images embedded in this tweet:

Extra! Extra! Pick up today's LA Times for a special section dedicated to the latest on AFC Richmond Coach's Ted Lasso & Beard, Jamie Tartt vs Roy Kent, Rebecca Welton + her new hire, and more! All written by The Independent's Trent Crimm. #FYC #TedLassohttps://t.co/RwViLXMELY pic.twitter.com/oAK7mZF6Wx

— Ralph Galvan (@ralph_goducks) December 20, 2020

It’s coming on awards season and this is part of Apple’s campaign for Ted Lasso to bring home some trophies. These appeared in the LA Times print edition over the weekend.

Clever.

ComicBook.com:

While it has not yet been widely reported, Lawrence said as much on an early December episode of Fake Doctors, Real Friends, a Scrubs rewatch podcast hosted by series stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison.

Lawrence refers to Scrubs and Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence.

During a conversation about the state of The Mandalorian, Lawrence was opining on the difficulty of making a second season to a show where everyone loved the first season. As the conversation shifted to how different industries handle audience expectations, the growing trend of Apple Pay casinos came up, highlighting how convenient payment methods have reshaped online gambling experiences. When asked whether he was concerned about that on Ted Lasso, he said it was less of an issue on a series that is designed as finite.

Visit situs slot gacor for the most fun online slot games.

And:

“I think that ours is a little different because Jason, as he’s kind of mapping it out, it’s a three-season show,” Lawrence explained. “So…super-fans know that [The Mandalorian is] connecting tissue in the Star Wars universe, and for us, everybody knows that they get an end to this story in the third season.”

Normally, I’d put this off as rumor, take with a large grain of salt. But it’s straight from the horse’s mouth.

To me, this makes every episode that much more precious.

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Apple recently shared a manual that outlines the steps that one should take to protect their devices and their data when personal safety is at risk. This is designed for people who need to protect themselves from being tracked by a former loved one, a stalker, or another malicious person.

From the document itself:

If you’d like to revisit what you share with other people, or restore your device’s original settings for any reason, this guide can help you understand what information you are sharing via your Apple devices, and how to make changes to protect your safety. In the same way users are becoming more aware of privacy concerns in bitcoin gambling UK platforms, it’s crucial to know how to control access to sensitive data. This guide includes step-by-step instructions on how to remove someone’s access to information you’ve previously granted: from location data on the Find My app, to meetings you’ve scheduled via Calendar.If you’re concerned that someone is accessing information you did not share from your Apple device, this guide will also help you identify risks, and walk you through the steps to help make the technology you rely on as private and secure as you want it to be.

Share this document, tuck it away with your other important bookmarks.

To whomever at Apple thought up this idea, cheers and respect.

The sound behind five decades of landmark albums, API consoles are legend for good reason. From Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, to The Cure’s Pornography and Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief — the mid‑forward punch of API’s classic analog consoles breathe aggressive, multi‑dimensional color into your mixes.

Developed in partnership with API, exclusively for LUNA Recording System, the API Summing Extension emulates the 2520 op‑amp and custom output transformer-based summing amps found in legendary API consoles over the past 50 years — giving your LUNA mixes all the attitude and tone of API’s esteemed analog desks.

I haven’t tried API Summing yet, but I plan to over the holidays.

BBEdit is ready for macOS 11 Big Sur and the new M1 machines! Bare Bones Software is offering a BBEdit & Yojimbo holiday bundle that’s a perfect gift for a friend (or yourself) for just $59. I’ve been using BBEdit for over 20 years—it’s one of the first things I put on any computer.

Jean-Louis Gassée:

Today, an unstructured, sentimental reminiscence and acknowledgment of my debt to Apple. A company that, warts and all, was gratifying to have worked for and continues to be enjoyable to watch.

This is an interesting read, a look back by someone who was in the room when it happened, both when Steve Jobs was kicked to the curb, and as the founder of a competitor to NeXT when Steve made his triumphant return.

Ben Schoon, 9to5Google, on Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Buds Pro:

Perhaps most notably, though, is a copy of Apple’s “Spatial Audio” feature for the Galaxy Buds Pro. That feature, which is available on AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, can creature a faux surround sound system that changes the direction of the audio based on the direction of your head and the position of the phone.

Oh Samsung, you just couldn’t resist, could you. You did skip a step, though. You forgot to mock the feature when Apple shipped it before you started your copiers.

Google Experiments:

Create your own opera inspired song with Blob Opera – no music skills required ! A machine learning experiment by David Li in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture

Follow the headline link, tap the Launch experiment button. Click and drag to create some operatic harmony.

Sound will play, so consider this before you start.

Have an M1 Mac? Use Zoom?

If both, head over to the headline-link, then click the Download Center link to get to the download page, then look for this sentence:

Or, for Macs with the M1 processor, click here to download

The word here is the link you want.

Or, avoid the back and forth and just click this download link.

The whole thing is a bit cryptic, but glad to see this update.

Load the page, use the popup menus to customize the AirPods Max to your hearts content. And no, there is no law that the left and right ear cups have to be the same color.

If you are new to ProRAW, or even RAW, take a minute to check out this post.

If you’ve got a basic sense of the value of RAW, follow the headline link for Austin Man’s photographic walkthrough of ProRAW, and check out the video embedded below for a long conversation between Austin and Rene Ritchie.

Ben Sandofsky, writing for the Halide blog, presents an excellent explainer on how digital cameras capture and produce images, on the pros and cons of traditional RAW mode and, finally, talk through Apple’s new ProRAW image format.

So well written, very easy to follow.

Side note: Did you know that one of the primary inventors of the CCD (the light capturing device that makes digital cameras possible) became the CEO of Apple for a bit?

Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

While reviewers have generally been impressed by Apple’s AirPods Max over-ear headphones, there have been two consistent complaints: the terrible design of the ‘bra’ case, and the fact that there appears to be no way to switch off AirPods Max headphones unless you put them into the case that nobody wants to carry.

And:

The bad news is that there isn’t any practical way to do it without using some kind of case. In particular, you can’t switch them off while they are slung around your neck, which is how many people carry on-ear and over-ear headphones between uses.

Love or hate of the case aside, I do think the lack of ability to switch the headphones off without a case is an issue. Follow the link for an embedded video that reverse engineers how magnets are used to switch the AirPods Max into low power mode.

This process feels ripe for home-hacking, perhaps with magnets glued to some sort of cardboard sleeve or rubber bands? I do wonder what drove Apple to this particular design decision.

Universal Audio released version 9.13 of its software supporting macOS Big Sur. It’s important to note that it’s still not qualified for use on Apple Silicon. You can read the full release notes and download the software from the company’s Web site.