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Category: Linklog

Where you can find commentary and thoughts about things across the web from yours truly.

  • Splatoon 3’s Spring 2024 Splatfest: Baby Chicks vs. Li’l Bunnies vs. Bear Cubs

    News / Splatfest: SpringFest is taking place on the 20th of April!

    The has been officially confirmed now for April 20th!

    From April 20th at 1am BST to April 22nd at 1am BST, splat it out for one of these teams:

    Baby Chicks, Li’l Bunnies or Bear Cubs.

    Also, be sure to be on your lookout for SpringFest gear via the News app on your Switch. Nintendo has started distributing gear for it in Japan, not sure about other regions yet.

    @[email protected]

    — Splatoon Unofficial :inkling: (@[email protected]) 2024-04-05T10:47:58.195Z

    Splatoon 3’s latest Splatfest will see Baby Chicks, Li’l Bunnies, and Bear Cubs facing off to see which one’s the (cutest) fan favourite. Japan will be participating this time round, so the Splatfest will be taking place globally once more.

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  • Oman and I Answered Questions (And I Ranted About Xbox)

    Last night, Oman (Repflez) and I got together to answer the rverse community’s questions on our recent rebranding, the service’s future, and more. You can watch the two hour (I’m so sorry) Q&A on YouTube!

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  • Heads Up! Oman and I Hosting Live Q&A Tomorrow; Accepting Questions Now

    As I wrote on our official Discord server:

    Tomorrow, April 5th, 2024, at a time yet to-be-determined, Oman and Slade will be doing a live streamed Q&A on our recent rebrand, our direction following Nintendo Network’s closure, among other things. If you have questions for us, please drop them here so we know what’s going to come up — You may ask as many as you’d like for now, and we’ll answer a few of the most popular ones from this form on stream tomorrow, but of course, you’ll be able to ask follow ups from us live as well!

    [By submitting a question, you consent to having your question asked and answered live on stream. This form will be disabled on Friday about three hours prior to the stream, and responses will be fully destroyed on Monday, April 8th, 2024.]

    Please click/tap here (or the linklog entry on the SladeWatkins.net site) to ask a question. I will share out the stream tomorrow when it starts.

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  • Billie Eilish Automatically Adding New Followers to Close Friends List

    Cannot embed
    View on Threads

    So, I’m actually also curious: is this even allowed? Maybe we’ll find out, but in my quick Google search–I can’t find any APIs that make this happen. I’m almost definitely missing something here, so take that with a grain of salt, but this feels like it might be against Terms of Service, even if it is a really great (and clever) marketing tactic!!

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  • Verge Gets First Look at AltStore — One of Many Alternative iOS App Stores Coming to the EU

    Callum Booth from The Verge writes:

    Fundamentally, in their current state, third-party iOS app stores like AltStore will only be attractive to power users, groups of enthusiasts who are desperate to solve niche issues or have particular interests in something they can’t get on the App Store, like a fully functioning clipboard manager or game emulator.

    I don’t know if I necessarily agree with the “ONLY” argument there, given the sentiment online — however I don’t think Booth is entirely wrong either. Apple’s malicious compliance (with the Core Technology Fee) is also a big issue, and I have a feeling the EU isn’t done with the company on that front.

    Only time will tell. Check out their hands on at the link here or above.

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  • Pixel Fold Gets “Circle to Search”

    After I initially got it wrong on reddit, Google is in fact rolling out “Circle to Search” to Pixel Fold users right now (via 9to5Google). Why they’ve waited so long to give features to their most premium flagship phone will always be beyond me. Point is, this feature is becoming available in supported markets now.

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  • Google Might (Finally) Be Redesigning Android’s Status Bar Icons

    It has been approximately 84 years since Google redesigned their status bar icons. Historically, Android has used unsegmented and very accessibility unfriendly indicators for Wi-Fi and cellular signal strength on Android since version 5.0 Lollipop in 2015. However, according to Mishaal Rahman, it seems like they may finally be returning to the better looking segmented indicator icons used in 4.4 KitKat and earlier.

    Current icons on Android 14 (Credit: Mishaal Rahman/Android Authority)
    New icons in the Android 15 beta (Credit: Mishaal Rahman/Android Authority)

    Honestly, they look pretty good, although the battery icon needs some love (it doesn’t look amazing.) They’re not enabled by default, but Mishaal was able to get them enabled manually for his article.

    I wish I could enable them now, honestly… I strongly prefer segmented icons, and I feel that’s a place where Apple and Samsung have always done it better.

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  • Happy 69th Birthday, Steve Jobs

    Love him or hate him, he made an impact on the world — under his leadership at Apple, they spearheaded the smartphone revolution. Steve Jobs is a true inspiration for the next generation.

    He would have been 69 this year. Happy birthday, Steve!

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  • Apple Releases New “Apple Sports” App for iPhone

    Apple announced that there’s a new app for Sports on iPhone, aptly named “Apple Sports” and the design cues are very similar to those of watchOS and visionOS. I generally don’t like speculating too much–but considering how out of place this app and the Action Button menu looks on iOS 17, this could potentially mean iOS will receive an overdue redesign treatment this year to bring the platform more in line with other Apple platforms.

    iOS has stayed largely the same design-wise since iOS 7, with mainly minor tweaks each update cycle. With iOS 18 rumored to be a big update this year, only time will tell whether or not this happens!

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  • My Friend Writes About the “Trumpification” of Rep. Stefanik

    My friend Max writes about my US House Rep. Elise Stefanik’s “Trumpification” in his new blog post:

    “I think he has been insulting to women,” she told WAMC Northeast Public Radio in August 2015. She went on to predict that Trump’s first debate would be his campaign’s “peak moment” before his numbers drop. […]

    […] It was then and there that the old Stefanik died and in her ashes rose a leading MAGA figure. Stefanik realized quickly that she could quit this precarious cat-and-mouse game of bipartisanship and gain power rather easily. […]

    He really does a great job taking you from the beginning of her career all the way to the present “Trumpified” version of her former self. It’s worth the read.

    Disclosure: Like I mentioned, Max is a close friend of mine. I share this with you here because it’s an interesting read and deserves a signal boost — not simply because he’s a friend.

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