In “Twitter is really creepy” news, this happened. To be honest, I’m not sure how they get away with this. They’re not supposed to be allowed to pull from your web history or anything if you have the inferred identity and analytics permissions stuff turned off. My guess is that, like many things at Twitter, that feature is broken. Probably intentionally. And even if it wasn’t intentional, it’s not like they’d be willing to fix it: they don’t really have the manpower to do so.
Discovered this entirely by accident, Cobalt[.tools] is a video downloader for several services that isn’t a piece of shit (to put it nicely). No ads, no monetization, just a clean website that does what it says on the tin.
Here’s what it supports, according to the developer:
A huge thank you to our developers! Their hard work has already resulted in over 1,000 incredible spatial apps designed specifically for Vision Pro, along with over 1.5 million compatible apps. We're thrilled to see how they'll continue to push the boundaries for what’s possible.
Joz from Apple said on Twitter tonight that “apps designed specifically for Vision Pro” have surpassed 1,000. The company previously said just a couple weeks ago that there were 600 when the product initially launched at the beginning of this month. [h/t to MacRumors]
I mean, it’s eerily similar, for sure. But like the many other “predictions” the show has made, including the Trump presidency, I am about 99.9% certain that this is just a coincidence. The other .1%, though…well, I’m not so sure. Perhaps Matt Groening and company are time travelers. We’ll never know.
“The Apple Vision Pro headset is made of heavy materials like aluminum and glass…so how does this affect bumps and drops while wearing the device? Here’s an in-depth durability and drop test to see how it holds up!”
It did quite well, all things considered! I’m very impressed that, despite being a first-gen with some obvious inherent quirks that come with that, it’s still fully functional after getting absolutely hulk smashed by Sam. Do be careful with your $3,500 USD purchase, though. As the almighty JerryRigEverything says, “Glass is glass and glass breaks.”
“We’ve put together over 600 new APIs for developers to give them the tools to build a marketplace, install an app, let the user have control of that process,” Schiller says. “We’ve done a lot of core engineering [to help make things easier for alternative app store developers], and we’re going to continue to.”
“It’s important to note, however, that this notarization process isn’t as in-depth as the App Store’s traditional review, which also checks, among other things, that an app is following content rules. Still, this notarization should be enough to stop a malicious app that’s attempting to mimic a real app (say, from Facebook or Starbucks) from being installed on a user’s iPhone.”
Apple’s working overtime to “scare” folks from not using alternate storefronts, which they’re calling “Alternative App Marketplaces” to distinguish from their own App Store. That said, I think users have the choice in the matter here. There’s an argument to be had. Put the safeguards in place and let them decide.
I’m willing to bet most normal users, who aren’t enthusiasts or tech geeks like me, won’t even bother installing an “alternative app marketplace” or sideload an app unless they’re required to. My aunts certainly haven’t thought about that in years — they’ve used most of the default apps that come with their iPhones since switching a few years ago! I don’t foresee anything changing there.
Hey Slade, I let Engineering know about your friend blocking you once again, [sensitive information withheld], just for a sanity check. They got back to me pretty quickly with confirmation that it is showing as a legitimate block. They’ll look into it if they get a chance but I can’t make any promises.
I know you’re not doing the best mentally right now and I think you could use some friends around you right now. So please, take this advice: reach out to them soon and talk to them. Just talk, nothing more. Isolating yourself is only going to make things worse. Please, lean on your friends and just get better, because that’s what they’re there for. I’m sure they’d tell you the same thing.
All my best, A [name withheld]
This isn’t the answer I was hoping for, but it’s one of the more thoughtful ones I’ve ever gotten. My contact isn’t wrong, I’ve been getting more and more anxious over this. The truth is I have no idea what’s going on, and neither does the skeleton crew at Twitter. Max can see my account, but I can’t see his. I can’t DM him, I can’t even see past DMs. And I definitely can’t interact with him at all. It’s so beyond frustrating and weird.
It’s what I’ve been referring to as a “phantom block” — wherein the block is there for me, but definitely not for him. I’m hoping they can find a resolution soon — but it sucks I can’t keep up with one of my best friends on Twitter until it is. Somehow. I am at the mercy of the team behind a platform that is actively on fire.
But don’t worry, I’ll be taking that advice my contact gave and reaching out to Max and a couple of my other friends privately within the next day or so. They’re right: I haven’t been doing well, and isolating myself isn’t going to help anyone. My friends are there to lean on if I need them, and I do… so I’m going to stop isolating myself and be more communicative.
“More than 600 apps and games designed to take advantage of the unique and powerful capabilities of Apple Vision Pro will be available this Friday, February 2. Vision Pro has an infinite canvas where apps can scale beyond the boundaries of a traditional display, and introduces an intuitive and powerful three-dimensional user interface that users navigate with their eyes, hands, and voice. Spatial experiences on Vision Pro can transform any room into a personal theater for sports, TV shows, and films; unlock new ways to collaborate, create, and view digital content; and transport users to stunning gameplay environments and exciting new places.”
That may not sound like much, but for a brand-new, first-gen device and platform, it’s quite impressive. Spotify, YouTube, and Netflix are among the apps not available, though, so that’s unfortunate — but Disney+ is built right in, and if you have a cable subscription, you can tap into that with the (also built-in) TV app.
Interested to see what apps are launching. I know most of the ones I’d personally be interested are in compatibility mode on the headset, not native, so I can’t imagine many will adapt unless there’s a benefit to that. We’ll see!
Developer dimden, known for being the creator of the Old Twitter Layout browser extension, has been working on an “actually good” Twitter replacement called Whispy for a while now. Well, they took to Twitter to announce that there had been “great progress” made on Whispy and they think there will be a closed beta in February. They didn’t make any promises, however.
I’ve been in a really weird place with my mental health lately. Winter is always hard–and as things have begun to clear up, and I am more communicative with my friends for the first time in a long time–it’d seem Twitter is on its way to making my anxiety worse. The other day I replied to one of my best friends, Max, on Twitter and immediately that Tweet disappeared, and I was met with this screen…
Immediately, I had a panic attack. Every worst case scenario racing through my head. Honestly, as of writing, some of those thoughts are *still* going through my head. It’s going to take a lot to clear those.
The one contact I still have internally at the company says their system is reflecting the block is indeed in place, and there’s nothing they can do. But reader, he never actually blocked me. His partner even verified that with him directly. I even moved myself to paid user status temporarily on the lowest tier, and still, that switch did nothing in their system.
I have no idea what’s going on with Twitter. That place seems to be burning down by the day. Everything seems to be breaking slowly. Hell, we’re nearing a year since the name change to “X” (which nobody calls it) and nothing has moved over to “x.com” at all. Although, the DNS records for x.com did start pointing to Twitter’s servers recently, so maybe that move is coming… doubt it.
Your guess is as good as mine as to what happened. It’s really frustrating that Elon has basically made it so I can’t keep in touch with one of my best friends on social media. And yes, I do blame him for this: he’s an idiot and has no idea what he’s doing. Has he made some good decisions for Twitter? Yes. But others are decisions that only a newbie would make–ones that are bad for business, like chasing advertisers off the site.
I have no idea what I’m going to do. Thankfully, I can keep in touch with Max on other platforms… but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m so god damn frustrated with Twitter right now. There should be a solution for this! However, considering Twitter’s staff has no idea what’s going on here, I doubt there will be any sort of solution to my issue any time soon.
And for the record, this shouldn’t have happened at all. Just so we’re all clear.
