A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
1️⃣ A follow-up to last week’s setup “thing”, Jose Munoz has got a sweet setup going to keep track of his progress in the video games he’s playing using Things and Sofa as cornerstones. He scores bonus points for 1) his uber-clean website design, and 2) the ingenious AirPods Max tie-in to his gaming setup, which he accomplishes with a good ol’ fashion cable connected to his PS5 controller. I hadn’t remembered that noise cancelation and transparency modes work over the cable, but of course it does! [🔗 Jose Munoz // josemunozmatos.com]
3️⃣ This headline is as scary as it is fascinating: ‘A strange streak of young stars is evidence of a runaway supermassive black hole, study finds’ [🔗 W. M. Keck Observatory // phys.org]
7️⃣ If you, like me, departed Twitter and found refuge on Micro.blog, you might be interested in the newest feature that Manton and team introduced: A import tool to get all your tweets onto a dedicated blog at your own domain. It integrates well within your existing blog, and puts the control back into your hands (including edits! 😉), which you can see here in Manton’s screencast. It’s going to be my project for tomorrow. [▶️ Micro.blog // youtube.com]
But between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared via an internal messaging system sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ carcameras, according to interviews by Reuters with nine former employees. […]
Also shared: crashes and road-rage incidents. One crash video in 2021 showed a Tesla driving at high speed in a residential area hitting a child riding a bike, according to another ex-employee. The child flew in one direction, the bike in another. The video spread around a Tesla office in San Mateo, California, via private one-on-one chats, “like wildfire,” the ex-employee said.
Still, the videos and images were certainly anonymous, so how bad is it, really?
Tesla states in its online “Customer Privacy Notice” that its “camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle.” But seven former employees told Reuters the computer program they used at work could show the location of recordings — which potentially could reveal where a Tesla owner lived.
Oh.
But, wait, there’s more.
According to several ex-employees, some labelers shared screenshots, sometimes marked up using Adobe Photoshop, in private group chats on Mattermost, Tesla’s internal messaging system. There they would attract responses from other workers and managers. Participants would also add their own marked-up images, jokes or emojis to keep the conversation going. Some of the emojis were custom-created to reference office inside jokes, several ex-employees said.
Maybe allowing Tesla unfettered access to the myriad of cameras on your computer car isn’t such a great idea.
(To be clear, even if it was all completely anonymized, the memeifying and blatant misuse of customer data would still be appalling.)
These folks had agreed to share their data and recordings with Tesla, but I can’t imagine any of them had this kind of access and sharing in mind when they checked that box. Not to mention the other people in and around the vehicle who made no such agreement, but were still had their recordings accessed by Tesla.
Here’s the kicker:
One of the perks of working for Tesla as a data labeler in San Mateo was the chance to win a prize — use of a company car for a day or two, according to two former employees.
But some of the lucky winners became paranoid when driving the electric cars.
“Knowing how much data those vehicles are capable of collecting definitely made folks nervous,” one ex-employee said.
I used to covet the idea of owning a Tesla. Not so much these days.
If you want to get even more angry about this whole situation, be sure to read the rest of the bombshell report by Steve Stecklow, Waylon Cunningham, and Hyunjoo Jin.
Tonight, I noticed something curious about Apple’s latest post to their official Newsroom, a blog of sorts where the company makes public statements and press releases. The post regarding the opening dates for their two newest retail stores is categorized as a ‘Quick Read’, complete with a lightening bolt icon and pop-up interaction from the main Newsroom feed. Items there have traditionally been categorized as ‘Press Pelease’, Update’, ‘Photos’, or ’Feature’1 - the differences between which have always been hazy to me. As of tonight, they’ve added ‘Quick Read’ into the mix, which further muddies the meanings.
Now, I’m not one to typically throw shade at ambiguous categorization; I’ve certainly gone back and forth in my brief time as an internet publisher on the merits of tags vs. categories, and which buckets even make sense to have ongoing. But I’ll just leave these word count comparisons here as anecdata:
Still, it’s nice to see Apple join in on the return of personal blogging with something new, however minor it may be, on their blog.
And occasional letters from the CEO, like Tim Cook’s apology for the unstable iOS 6 Maps debut. That article, I learned during the writing of this article, was taken down from Apple’s site after less than three years. Here’s the Internet Archive’s final snapshot of that page on March 31, 2015. Shame on Apple for contributing to link rot with such a highly linked post.↩︎
Dark Noise, the best-in-class white noise app, is out with version 3.0 and introduces — among other things — a subscription plan: Dark Noise Pro ($2.99/month, $19.99/year, $49.99/lifetime). I don’t fault developers who go down this route. I think they should earn additional income for developing new features, supporting new OSes, and generally keeping the app updated. But sometimes it doesn’t feel like they successfully balance the transition from a paid-up-front model to an ongoing subscription. Sometimes, it feels like you’re repaying for the same features that were already included in the initial transaction. Nobody likes it when the terms of an agreement are changed without their input or consent, so these bumpy transitions bring out the grumpiness in folks.
But Charlie Chapman, Dark Noise’s developer (and host of the excellent Launched podcast, on which he has agonized over this decision for literal years), did it right. For one, the free tier is very (too?) generous. I imagine the vast majority of users will feel no pressure to upgrade to the paid plan because of the wide selection of sounds available for free. Better yet, people who previously paid for the app before the introduction of Dark Noise Pro will have every existing feature, like sound mixing and the full current sound catalog, unlocked for them forever. They haven’t lost out on anything; the terms of the transaction haven’t changed.
This note, front-and-center in the app’s settings, makes me feel appreciated for being an original supporter, and clearly lays out the benefits. ⌘
Chapman will undoubtedly develop new features down the road, and will rightfully put that shiny new stuff behind the subscription plan. The additional income, I hope, will allow him to spend more time making his already great app even better. And if those new features seem worthwhile at those prices, I’ll happily enter into a new agreement.1 But for now, I’m very appreciative that I can continue to use the app as I always have, without needing to pay any more. It’s been a smooth transition that other developers would do well to follow.
As an aside, I always prefer annual subscription options for apps over monthly ones. I don’t want the mental overhead of reconsidering an app every month. Sure, maybe I’ll pay for one month up front to try it out, but if it sticks I’ll typically start an annual subscription. It usually saves me a few bucks overall, and it feels more fair to look back after a full year’s worth of use and then answer the question, “Would I pay for this app again?”↩︎
A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
Happy Easter! 🐰
1️⃣ Lex Friedman (delightful podcaster), tired of getting confused with Lex Fridman (another podcaster), created a song to explain the situation to the swaths of folks who mix them up. [🔗 lexfriedman.com/friedman]
3️⃣ The excellent Pixel Envy, written by Nick Heer, got a new coat of paint, and it looks great! I lost a good half hour just poking around the site. Very clean and attractive design. [🔗 Nick Heer // pxlnv.com]
4️⃣ Speaking of website updates, Jeff Perry has (re)created his internet home at JeffPerry.me. I love what he’s doing with the link colors and Font Awesome icons. And I’m excited that he’s a fellow Blottian! [🔗 jeffperry.me]
7️⃣ I’m always down for a good workflow write-up. This one is by John Voorhees of MacStories, detailing how he saves and manages links (and is part of the Automation April series). His takeaway: be thoughtful about how you actually work before optimizing a process. I’ve done a bit of that for my own link management lately, so it hit the right chords. [🔗 John Voorhees // macstories.net]
I think of likes on social media kind of like non-verbal responses in the real world. When I say something clever and someone around me smiles, they don’t have to think of something thoughtful to say as a response, I know they liked what I said, and that makes me happy.
I started out opposed to what Matt was saying here. Ever since moving to Micro.blog for my social media needs — another place where comments are the only form of interaction possible — I’ve felt my desire for likes and other quick reactions ebb.
But this last paragraph gave me pause. Is there a void left without a “non-verbal response” option on the internet?
4️⃣ This iOverlander app helps you to find camping and overnight spots filtered by free and paid, amenities, and and whatnot. [🔗 apps.apple.com]
5️⃣ Shoutouts.lol by Vincent Ritter is awesome. It’s an easy way to build a database of sorts of things that you want to highlight. And then with a simple embedded script, it presents one at random. It’s what I use to show off the ‘Stuff I Love’ at the bottom of my site. And only $10 a year! [🔗 Vincent Ritter // shoutouts.lol]
6️⃣ Pepsi’s got a new/old logo. I like it! I think. [🔗 pepsico.com]
7️⃣ Where I’m headed right now for a spur of the moment climbing day. 🧗♂️ [📍 mountainproject.com]
I can’t get over how well done the feature suggestion and bug reporting flow is in Readwise Reader. Take a look:
I’d love it if feedback was always this quick and painless to provide. ⌘
Too many systems require endless dropdown menus, they need step-by-step instructions to reproduce the problem, and end up feeling like way more trouble than their worth. I’m looking directly at you, Apple’s Feedback Assistant.
Reader’s open-ended text box allows me to write out my thoughts plainly, as if I’m just sending a quick message over to the app’s developers. It feels informal, and I never get frustrated trying to send along my thoughts. Which is good for the folks on the receiving end because by the time I’m done filling out most feedback forms, I’m more pissed off than I was with the initial problem and I’m sure that comes across in my feedback.
Reader earns bonus points for the prompt, well, feedback on any report sent over in the way of an email confirmation. I’ve also gotten direct messages in their Discord regarding my bug reports and feature requests.
Starting a feedback report is top-level in the document ‘More’ menu, and requires just one quick classification before you’re writing out the message. ⌘
In the end, it’s the results from feature suggestions and bug reports that really matters, but Reader’s no-fuss system tells me that they really do want to receive a bunch of feedback so that they can improve their product. Most app developers could learn a lot by taking a leaf out of the Reader book.
General Motors plans to phase out widely-used Apple CarPlay and Android Auto technologies that allow drivers to bypass a vehicle’s infotainment systems, shifting instead to built-in infotainment systems developed with Google for future electric vehicles.
This seems like a very short-sighted move on GM’s part. I wonder how badly their arm was twisted by Google as their development partner.
I’d be astounded if GM doesn’t reverse course within, let’s say, two years. Let’s not forget Apple’s claim when they introduced the upcoming next-generation of CarPlay (timestamp of Apple’s YouTube video | The Verge write-up) last year:
Are you sure you want to leave out all those potential customers, GM? (Image: Apple) ⌘
I’m no transportation market analyst, but I have to assume that a big segment of folks interested in electric vehicles use iPhones.
We’ve launched a new feature for Micro.blog Premium customers: automatic podcast episode transcripts, powered by OpenAI’s Whisper model. I’m excited about this because it’s one of the more practical, time-saving solutions coming out of the rise of AI. The automatic transcripts are so accurate they can be used as-is, or edited by hand as you have time.
[…]
The new transcripts feature is available to anyone hosting their podcast on Micro.blog. When you upload a new MP3, Micro.blog will process it to generate a transcript. You can then edit the transcript or link it from your podcast page.
What a great, practical use of Whisper. I love that it’s automatic, and can be linked for listeners who want to follow along. Anything that helps make the internet a more accessible place for us all gets a thumbs up from me.
Manton continues with icing on the cake:
There’s no extra charge for any of this. Micro.blog Premium has always been $10/month and it will continue to be priced that way. It includes podcast hosting and also email newsletters, bookmark archiving, web page highlights, and much more. We think it’s a great value.
