@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

DamonFerguson

@DamonFerguson@twit.social

IT guy, weather enthusiast.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

davemark, to apple
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

This rendition of the much maligned iPad Pro "Crush" ad is GENIUS.

If you've not seen the ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjkwIXWtrc

And here's the "fixed it for you" version:

https://twitter.com/rezawrecktion/status/1788211832936861950

Via @gruber

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark New today: Apple has apologized for the ad rubbing creatives the wrong way. Like the eraser-less Apple Pencil Pro that @gruber got instead of one with a virtual eraser on the opposite rounded end. I love that idea, seems like such a natural fit (and would have fit perfectly with the pencil-flicking animation for the event).

davemark, to privacy
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

"U.S. Court Rules That Police Can Force a Suspect to Unlock Phone With Thumbprint"

@gruber : "internalize the shortcut to hard-lock an iPhone, which temporarily disables Face/Touch ID and requires the passcode to unlock"

Press and hold the power button and a volume button. Try it. Know it.

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/04/18/police-touch-id

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@gruber @davemark @JPZ I thought that asking Siri “Who’s iPhone is this?” also used to lock down the phone (requiring password to unlock after asking, FaceID and TouchID disabled), but apparently no longer?

davemark, to apple
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

😮
"A US Navy and Coast Guard operation on Tuesday rescued three mariners stranded on a tiny Pacific Ocean islet for more than a week after the trio spelled out “HELP” using palm fronds laid on a white-sand beach"

Cool story. Feels like the open to a TV series, like "Lost" or "Gilligan's Island".

Wonder if Apple's "Emergency SOS via satellite" would have worked here?

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/11/asia/pacific-castaways-pikelot-island-us-rescue-intl-hnk/index.html

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark Emergency SOS via satellite isn’t available everywhere yet, and Micronesia isn’t a country listed in footnote 3 here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/101573

Likewise for SpaceX’s Starkink, Micronesia is in dark blue, like the rest of all other unavailable countries. Naturally SpaceX is going to put satellites over paths that cross land masses first, although they did launch enough into orbit between California and Hawaii for full coverage for Hawaiian Airlines: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/08/hawaiian-airlines-debuts-spacex-starlink-free-inflight-wi-fi-.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard

davemark, (edited ) to science
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

Got my eclipse glasses. They are rated CE and "ISO 12312-2".

That mean they are safe for staring at the sun? At ANY time, just during an eclipse?

Side note: Are there people who don't believe in the science of an eclipse? Who believe something else is happening?

Just curious.

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark Does it have to be the moon blocking the sun? 😉

star wars that's no moon GIF

davemark, to Netflix
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

🍿
Review from @gruber on my favorite new show, "The Gentlemen", on Netflix.

  • Review is spot on
  • To me, the lead, Theo James, would make the PERFECT new James Bond

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/03/15/the-gentlemen

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark Watched “Downton Abbey”? Theo played Kemal Pamuk, the young Turkish diplomat invited by Evelyn Napier (an acquaintance of Mary Crawley) for a fox hunt at the house in Season 1 Episode 3. The events that transpired formed a critical plot line that kept coming up throughout the series.

davemark, to StarTrek
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

Current status:
Introducing my son to “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark @elkmovie Excellent idea. The first season starts it off rough. Not a lot of consistency: male computer voice in some episodes, Picard on the bridge calling areas of the ship we never hear of again (“Sensor Control”, or something like that), women and men in miniskirt uniforms, and “Chief Engineer-of-the-week” syndrome. You need to see a few of the good ones to buy in, then you can forgive 1st season’s awkwardness. But a lot of series take the 1st season to get their groove.

davemark, to ai
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

"Apple boosts plans to bring generative AI to iPhones"

The article (linked below) plays up Apple's coming advances in AI.

I worry that this will give us the same Siri, but with the ability to query a ChatGPT "me too" capability.

WWDC is in about 4 months. Hoping against hope we see revolutionary change in Siri's level of intelligence. Holding out hope. 🙏🏻

https://www.ft.com/content/52839eb2-6641-42a6-acd7-5d41e809c97a

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark I liked that with the robots in the movie “Intersteller”, humans had the ability to give them a verbal command to dial their sense of humor / snark up or down. That would be a very nice feature with any AI, to be able to adjust it to be as straight-laced as the TNG Enterprise computer, or as snarky as Bender in “Futurama”. Or somewhere in between.

DamonFerguson, to random
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@ivory Having an issue on my iPad in landscape orientation in which occasionally the split-screen (my feed on the left 3/4ths, my favorites on the right quarter of the screen) is lost and I have only my feed, full screen, and no option to bring up the favorites again. I have to force-quit Ivory and relaunch to get the split-screen back. Are you aware of this?

DamonFerguson, to random
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark @jdalrymple Lesson learned the hard way about AppleCare+: one should not buy AC+ coverage with a device if the device isn’t going to be used/gifted soon after purchase. My mom bought me Beats Studio Pro headphones with AC+ from Amazon in mid-October during their Prime Days. The AC+ warranty on my just-opened-the-box-today Studio Pros shows expiration date of 10/13/25, not 12/24/25. 2+ months wasted. In such cases it’s best to not buy AC+ with device, but rather upon device activation.

davemark, to mastodon
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

If I do a hashtag search on mastodon, I only am searching my own instance, correct?

If so, is there a way to search all instances?

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark see:

https://wedistribute.org/2023/08/mastodon-full-text-search/

Users have to be on an instance that’s upgraded their Mastodon server software and users must opt-in to enable their posts being searchable by the system.

9to5Mac, to random
@9to5Mac@mastodon.online avatar

Deals: HomePod mini from $79, Apple’s Leather AirTag Loop $13, 24-inch M1 iMac $599 off https://9to5mac.com/2023/11/06/homepod-mini-deals-imac/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@9to5Mac OWC sells “bulk” (i.e., open box —> re-boxed) with their own 90-day warranty (product would not be covered by Apple’s warranty)

davemark, (edited ) to apple
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

Why started switch with and :

"There is only a finite amount of 3-nanometer processors available, with much of the supply going toward the iPhone. So Apple started with two of its lower-volume machines."

From @markgurman PowerOn newsletter. Makes sense to me.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-11-05/apple-vision-pro-plan-includes-launching-initially-just-at-apple-stores-in-2024

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark I get that the MacBook Air might be the more popular model range, but MacBook Pro has got to be a close 2nd. Because the entire desktop line (Mac Mini, iMac, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro) are going to only make up 1/4th or so of all Mac sales, if that. Most people want a laptop for portability. It’s businesses and schools that typically need desktops. Yes, some consumers (a home iMac or Mac Mini for young kids to do schoolwork on, an occasional Mac Studio for adults), but as 2nd home Macs.

davemark, to Finance
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

Elon wants X to replace banks:

"Elon Musk wants X to be the center of your financial world, handling anything in your life that deals with money. He expects those features to launch by the end of 2024"

Would you trust Elon with your finances? 🤔💰

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/26/23934216/x-twitter-bank-elon-musk-2024

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark So that he can pull a Sam Bankman-Fried and use our money to pay off his X-debts? I think not! 🤪

georgetakei, to random

Now it looks like the No. 3 Republican in the House, Tom Emmer, is the new nominee for Speaker. This comes after McCarthy was deposed, and Scalise and Jordan both failed to get to 217 votes. Emmer asked for a roll call vote among his conference, and he looks like he is still more than 20 votes short. And look, Democrats would work with Emmer if he would agree to bring the budget and Ukrainian funding to the floor for a vote. But so far, he doesn’t want to dance with any Democrats. A bipartisan solution remains elusive, so the Speaker’s chair remains empty.

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@georgetakei Who”s left to fill the chair?

video/mp4

davemark, to apple
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

😮

First ever night-time !!!

Looks like a new iMac in the cards? Maybe an ?

Spooky! 👻

https://www.apple.com/apple-events/

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark Note if you “Add to your calendar” from the event page on Apple’s site, it blocks out 2 hours. Now, that could be a carryover/default for all events, but with it being the night before Halloween, it makes me wonder if Apple is either throwing in something extra (“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” or some other Apple TV+ content). But if so, the event graphics give no hint. It’s just so odd because it’s obviously being tied to Halloween with the “scary” reference, date, and timing.

paul, to random
@paul@tapbots.social avatar

Scary Fast better mean new Pro/Ultra/DoubleUltra chips or I suspect the EU is going to fine Apple for misleading advertising.

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@paul Hahaha 😂🤣 I will note if you “Add to calendar” from the event page on Apple’s site, it blocks 2 hours. Now, that could be a carryover/default for all events, but with it being the night before Halloween, it makes me wonder if Apple is either throwing in a showing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” or some other Apple TV+ content. But if so, the event graphics give no hit. It’s just so odd because it’s obviously being tied to Halloween with the “scary” reference, date, and timing.

davemark, to apple
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

On Apple and AI server plans:

"Apple plans to purchase 2,000–3,000 and 18,000–20,000 units of AI servers in 2023 and 2024, respectively. It represents about 1.3% and 5% of worldwide AI server shipments in 2023 and 2024, respectively."

Much more here:

https://medium.com/@mingchikuo/how-much-does-apple-need-to-invest-annually-in-generative-ai-to-catch-up-with-the-competition-56e237ea3feb

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark It’d be so awesome if they’d use their own chip designs and hardware for this.

davemark, to security
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

😮

Incredible new malware trick, worth being aware of.

In a nutshell, the character "ķ" (note the little tail under the k) is substituted for the letter "k".

The link looks legit, because who would think to look for that little tail?

Read more here...

https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/10/google-hosted-malvertising-leads-to-fake-keepass-site-that-looks-genuine/
#Security #Malware #Google

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark Wouldn’t it just be simple for the browser makers to provide a “Block sites with special character hostnames” option/switch to prevent this? No legitimate domain is going to use oddball characters (and if they do, they deserve being blocked by such a feature).

glennf, to random
@glennf@twit.social avatar

@gruber Listening to you @Moltz and my iPhone 15 Pro felt slightly on fire the first day, and Photos reported it was overheating and could not sync until it cooled down. But that was the worst of it—only while plugged in, only initially, phone didn’t shut down.

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@glennf @gruber @Moltz Great episode. 👏 It’s my understanding that every time one sets up a new iDevice, it’s doing its ML thing of detecting people, pets, etc. in photos. Why couldn’t Apple build an index file (encrypted of course) passed from device to device, updated for files not downloaded/copied or later removed or names removed?Feels a bit wasteful of energy for every new setup to do this from scratch. At minimum they could slow down the process a bit to prevent devices from heating up.

stroughtonsmith, to random
@stroughtonsmith@mastodon.social avatar

Good news! Broadcasts has a crash on launch on iOS 17.1 in a part of a SwiftUI gradient modifier that's worked fine for years 🤪

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@stroughtonsmith I noticed this afternoon as heading to my car, was trying to pull it up and get it started in advance of starting up my car. I was pleasantly surprised to find out though that it was usable through CarPlay. 😁

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@stroughtonsmith Yep yep! Should’ve mentioned that I just updated to the new version. 😁

paul, to random
@paul@tapbots.social avatar

Apple 2028 Press Release: F**k Everything, We're Doing Five Buttons

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@paul Nope, six:

“This year, we’ve added six multifunction buttons:

A Space button
A Reality button
A Power button (which we already had, but this one’s better)
A Soul button
A Mind button
A Time button

So now, it’s a widescreen iPod with touch controls. A revolutionary 7G phone. And a universe-domination device.

An iPod
A phone
And a universal dominator

iPod
Phone
Universal dominator

Are you getting it?!?

And we’re calling it ‘iPhone XX Pro Max Ultra Infinity Gauntlet Edition’! ”

glennf, to random
@glennf@twit.social avatar

It seems like if you have an Apple One subscription and share your storage with other people in a Family Sharing group, you cannot add storage (i.e., 2 TB plan + 2, 6, or 12 TB plan) but only replace (pay for Apple One, including storage, but only access 2, 6, or 12 TB paying the full iCloud+ price for each tier). Yes? No? Apple does its best to not make it clear.

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@glennf @donkey @HilliTech Glenn I’m just now reading this, I’m several days behind on Mastodon and hope to catch up tonight and tomorrow. Wanted to respond to this particular post, the picture you are commenting on seems to be for the 2nd of the 3 standard Apple One options, the “Family Plan”, which comes with 200 GB standard (see attached pic). Is yours a “Family” or “Premier” plan? I’m Premier with Family Sharing on and I have the 5 add-on options like others’ pics show.

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@glennf @donkey @HilliTech One key thing I noticed was your “Storage Plan” screenshot doesn’t show the blue “Change Apple One Plan” button at the bottom. I’m on iOS 17.0.1 for what it’s worth. If you’re on that version and have the $32.95 Apple One Premier like me, I wonder if something is up where it isn’t fully recognizing your Apple One plan. I wonder if canceling and resubscribing would fix it, but I can’t say what the repercussions would be for your stored data if you did.

davemark, to iPhone
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

😮

As of this morning (Saturday), the iPhone 15 Pro Max delivery date is already 8 weeks out.

No in-store availability that I can find, either.

Apple knows marketing.

DamonFerguson,
@DamonFerguson@twit.social avatar

@davemark Interesting. Do we know if any of the Pro Max were shipped and sold from Apple Stores? I thought this was the usual practice, so some people can try to get a “Day 1” phone if they missed the preorder.

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