** The Bulletin ** June 17, 2023
Hey you!
I told you I’d be in touch soon. Since we last spoke, I started providing coverage of the Reddit blackout. I put up a video on YouTube where I laid out the timeline, and I also put out a couple blog posts about the situation where I flexed my reporting skills and formed an opinion. Those are linked below per usual.
Most notably, I’ve sunset Twitter for most updates. I have a dedicated page at SladeWatkins.com/twitter that outlines everything. In short — I don’t think Twitter’s going to last.
New on YouTube
I laid out a timeline of Reddit’s API shutdown and related it to the upcoming IPO in my new 9 minute piece “How Reddit Killed Apollo, Sync, and More: IPO, API, Timeline, What’s Next”
Games hasn’t launched yet, but is planned to launch by end of July 2023. August 2023 at the latest! The last bit of equipment I needed just arrived yesterday (Friday).
New in my Journal
I got really sick for a brief period of time and complained about it.
I complained about iOS getting all the good apps instead of Android, specifically for Mastodon.
I complained about Amazon screwing up and losing my package (a phone case) within their shipping network, which doesn’t exist where I live anyway.
I wrote about the subreddit blackout on Reddit and my hopes for it after Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, was absolutely obliterated during his AMA.
And finally, last night (Friday) I posted an update in regards to the API situation, expressing that it’s recoverable but Steve Huffman doesn’t want to listen to anyone and dug his heels in. Spoiler alert: It’s not recoverable anymore, folks.
Things I found across the net
We can once again thank the EU for something good — removable and thus, user-serviceable, batteries. It’s something they’re looking into, apparently.
In a huge pivot for the company on the gaming front, Apple announced their own “Game Porting Toolkit” at their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2023) to help developers bring Windows games built for Intel to Macs with Apple silicon.
Apple also announced iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS (14) Sonoma, and watchOS 10. I am already on all the developer betas (except iPadOS, my iPad is too old) and I have to say — watchOS has a brand-new redesign and feels very different. It took some getting used to. You can find more info by clicking on the OS names. (As an Android-first user, I am very jealous of some of these features, even though I carry an iPhone in my other pocket…)
Oh, and I wanted to call this out specifically — Android has had an “auto-delete 2FA codes” thing for a while, but now iPhones are getting it, too! Everyone rejoice in cleaner Messages threads!
Speaking of Android, can Samsung win me over? This gapless hinge thing that’s being rumoured is certainly grabbing my attention… I’ve already loosely decided to go with a folding phone for the next upgrade cycle — and it’s between the Google Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold lines. I’m paying close attention to the market, because the upgrade cycle starts early next year. Whatever gets announced now is likely what replaces my rapidly aging Pixel 6. Whether it’s a fold or not. (No, I don’t want a flip phone.)
Chance Miller wrote an absolutely brilliant article on 9to5Mac about Reddit’s out-of-touch CEO Steve Huffman, which absolutely encapsulates how I and many other feel about his stupid decisions. TL:DR — He doesn’t care, he does what he wants.
There might be reason to believe he’s taking advice from Twitter’s former CEO/now “CTO” (basically CEO still, as he controls everything while the new CEO, Linda Yaccarino sits there and looks pretty) Elon Musk, who Huffman praised in an interview with NBC News and admitted he has spoken to him as well. Twitter’s dying off slowly, so it’s not exactly the company you want to emulate.
While I realize it isn’t exactly an independent source, Signal Foundation President Meredith Whittaker did do a good write up on why the UK’s “Online Safety Bill” maybe isn’t the best idea for safety. In short, I agree with her here — there is no safe way to create a backdoor. All conversations that are end-to-end encrypted are the safest way to communicate — no backdoors, no ways to breach it. As someone who adopts a “reasonably secure” approach to navigating technology in the modern day, I will always advocate against such bills that seek to inhibit my safety and the safety of others. The “Online Safety Bill” should not pass. (Disclosure: I use Signal as my primary chat application.)
And that’s it for The Bulletin this time round. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Stay dry if you’re in the northeastern US, crappy weather is coming, as sad as it is…
Yours,
—Slade
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