scampercom

The question isn’t whether you adore Clinton (which I do not… but that’s irrelevant). It’s whether you want an administration whose tech platform backs Apple’s positions on encryption, privacy, innovation. That was the question, and that, I do.

This headline is exactly the kind of levity we needed today.

I only carry my phone when I’m traveling, and it’s been a harrowing experience. The battery seems to drain so quickly (see: range anxiety) and I’m constantly having to manage it. What I’d love more than anything: keep the damn phones the same thickness—or make them slightly thicker—and give me solid 18-hours of life. These gizmos are thin enough. I’m not looking for cardboard-thickness. I want them to have power, all day, when I’m constantly checking the screen for maps and travel notes, with decent brightness, so I don’t have to worry about turning off key features just to have some assurance that I won’t have a brick in my pocket by the time I’m taking the train back to my village. And I don’t want to add battery bumps or cases. We can achieve this, today, without third party kit.

While I have no interest in folding tech, I’ve come up with a brilliant marketing strategy. Apple calls the foldable the iPhone 17.5.

The reason I’m not liking this news is because TouchID _sucks_. Passwords suck too, but at least I can use a password manager, and never worry about signing in (unless the password expires or is compromised in a leak, etc.). But biometrics are unreliable. I have to re-train my TouchID constantly—several times a week—or it forgets my fingers. I can see it degrading within hours, failing multiple attempts, and forcing me to go into Settings to tune it, tune it, tune it. Is it more secure? Maybe. But it requires so much babysitting and handholding and just _effort_ that I’d much rather be using a password any day!

I can’t be the only one who TouchID doesn’t work for. (FaceID is fine.)

This is exactly the correct amount of snark I need to start my day. I salute you.

I bought AC: Mirage for iPadOS the first week, when the full game could be bought for (I think) $25. Been playing it since with my otherwise unused PS4 game controller, and it’s been great. M1 iPad, zero crashes, 30 FPS frame rate. I believe the game was released wide late last year, so I can imagine a $25 mobile aftermarket for AAA titles doing relatively well, if expectations are set. More than $25 is doubtful for now, but it’s taken console games years to normalize $70 titles, so maybe in time.

“iPhone owners must use a nano-SIM for their primary line…”

My hope was that I could move my primary line to the eSIM “slot” (since that won’t be changing), so that I could use the physical SIM slot for prepaid SIMs when I travel. Having it the other way around is pretty inconvenient. Or maybe there’s something I’m not getting. Shouldn’t the physical slot be the one that travelers would keep open?

m4m40 said:

…it had an ending…

Yup, in my mind it ended. It “appeared to conclude” in 2022 because it did conclude. No interest in an artificial extension (and Sudeikis seems to agree, from what I’ve read elsewhere).