CheeseFreeze

Apple Maps shows users the Gulf of Mexico when searching for 'Gulf of America'

CheeseFreeze

January 30

Google Maps managers are a bunch of cowards.

Apple Vision Pro review one year later: time to exit the preview

CheeseFreeze

January 30

I have the Vision Pro dev kit, basically the same hardware but with an extra USBC port and a bunch of accessories, but otherwise close to the product you’ll get from Apple today.

The device was both released too late and too soon.

Too late because Meta pushed an entire ecosystem for years - at a huge loss, albeit with a different positioning.
if Apple didn’t have Meta as competitor I bet their current positioning would have been different. They just couldn’t enter the market so late with a “Samsung let’s copy” approach. So it became a “spatial computer” instead that no one wants.

Too soon because they weren’t ready by a long shot. Most of the apps are iPad apps projected on a flat plane in a 3D space. The only way they can sell that odd reality is because of their “spatial computer” positioning: these are windows on your spatial desktop! Sure, whatever. The end result is that most of the UX isn’t truly spatial. It’s just flat stuff in a 3D space. The spatial nature isn’t leveraged.

The “you can have 10 monitors” argument is also nonsensical. Nobody needs it. And you can buy pretty decent monitors for $500-$700 if that’s what you need.

The truth is, you’re not really productive with a VR device. Especially one that feels way too heavy on your face and puts two monitors right in front of you.

AVP it’s a terrible device for gaming. Meta was smart enough to go for a dual approach where you can switch between hands and controllers based on your use-case.

So at least with the Meta Quest, you can consume spatial videos and many fun games for $550 or so. On AVP, you can’t really do much.

iOS 18.3 arrives with Visual Intelligence update, notification summary changes

CheeseFreeze

January 28

If Apple adds features:

”We don’t need this! We need a Snow-Leopard update where they fix all the bugs!”

If Apple focuses on bug fixes:

“They aren’t innovating! This is so boring!”

Epic Games shifts EU app store strategy after missing target by 71 million users

CheeseFreeze

January 24

22july2013 said:

I'm glad Epic has a Privacy Statement for its app store, but it's not very good. Here's what it says:
We encourage developers to request the minimum access necessary for their applications to function properly.
So they "encourage" their developers not to minimize their apps' access to user data. They don't require it. They don't enforce it.
by requiring explicit consent for each application and for each type of data being accessed.
Now that statement is a little better. Although I'm not completely sure how to reconcile it with the previous statement. In any case, does Epic ever punish software developers for not meeting this requirement? Does Epic ever validate any software to ensure this requirement is met, or is Epic just trusting the software developer? I have no idea, so I'm a little scared to trust the Epic Store. If Epic ever wants me to trust them, they should get far more detailed about the mechanics of their system, especially since they don't have a good reputation on user privacy like Apple does.

You are deliberately misinterpreting their policies or not understanding them. You take this statement out of context.

As a game developer myself and having dealt with their policies, to clarify their “We encourage developers to request the minimum access necessary for their applications to function properly”, it is to be read in the context of: “don’t request more than the minimum”.

They are encouraging developers NOT to ask for unnecessary permissions. And as the same sentence states: “to function properly”.

The alternative is that an app doesn’t ask you for the minimum permissions and then fails to operate.

The Epic store is actually more strict than say Steam that runs on PC. They respond to complaints and they let developers sign strict agreements.

Since iOS is a very safe platform where everything is compartmentalized and still enforces OS level concepts such as asking the user for each individual permission as well as app notarization, the fact that you downloaded it from Epic vs App Store doesn’t mean a lot to your safety. They are both safe.

The only thing you’d miss is the App Store review process, which in my experience is a flawed concept that doesn’t scale. I’ve seen apps accepted that are harmful, and apps denied which weren’t. With over 2000 apps being released on a daily basis, it’s a losing game. Don’t expect too much of that review process. It worked at some point, now it’s mainly Apple propaganda to justify their App Store remaining the only store in town.