Safari doesn't support the Vibration API, but in iOS 18 they added a non-standard "switch" attribute to checkboxes that turns them into a vibrating switch, and people figured out how to use it to create full-fledged vibrations.
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Telegram Desktop (Qt) 6.6.1 added an experimental setting for unlimited recent stickers 🎉
Settings › Advanced › Scroll to the end › Experimental settings › Scroll to the end › Unlimited recent stickers
It is described as "Display as many stickers as server provides"
Settings › Advanced › Scroll to the end › Experimental settings › Scroll to the end › Unlimited recent stickers
It is described as "Display as many stickers as server provides"
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Oh nice, so all software from iterate.ch is apparently a rug pull now because they decided to change the business model, screwing me as their existing customer.
Exhibit A.
I purchased Cyberduck from the App Store originally, but I quickly learned that the version is limited and switched to the side loaded version, activating it with an App Store receipt. One day this option was just removed with no explanation. Fine. I'll just buy another license.
Exhibit B
I also had Mountain Duck acquired from the App Store, I kept using it. Today I launched it, only to witness money extortion, with no way to use the software I bought!
In GitHub Discussions they said that they were changing the model from perpetual to major updates, and that they can't force existing App Store customers to migrate to the new model. If I want to, uh, use the license *I already paid for*, I must go ask support for a license key and download the old version manually.
How about I ditch your rug pull of a company instead? I understand your decision to change the model, maybe it wasn't sustainable, whatever, but this is not the way to do it.
If anyone ever seeks for an opinion on the software from this company, I will have to make them aware that they consider such treatment to be OK.
They could have left the original app alone without nudging me to go through their support, they could have automated the app store receipt exchange, they could have allowed me to grandfather my license in for the future versions if their expenses allow that. Unfortunately, they did none of that.
Exhibit A.
I purchased Cyberduck from the App Store originally, but I quickly learned that the version is limited and switched to the side loaded version, activating it with an App Store receipt. One day this option was just removed with no explanation. Fine. I'll just buy another license.
Exhibit B
I also had Mountain Duck acquired from the App Store, I kept using it. Today I launched it, only to witness money extortion, with no way to use the software I bought!
In GitHub Discussions they said that they were changing the model from perpetual to major updates, and that they can't force existing App Store customers to migrate to the new model. If I want to, uh, use the license *I already paid for*, I must go ask support for a license key and download the old version manually.
How about I ditch your rug pull of a company instead? I understand your decision to change the model, maybe it wasn't sustainable, whatever, but this is not the way to do it.
If anyone ever seeks for an opinion on the software from this company, I will have to make them aware that they consider such treatment to be OK.
They could have left the original app alone without nudging me to go through their support, they could have automated the app store receipt exchange, they could have allowed me to grandfather my license in for the future versions if their expenses allow that. Unfortunately, they did none of that.
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GlobalSign and Let's Encrypt have started denying and revoking TLS certificates for websites of "Russian government-controlled entities", citing sanctions rules, and this is very bad because it means the Russian government will have more incentive to promote its government-controlled root CA, and citizens will have more incentive to install these. In turn, this means the Russian government would be able to MITM a lot of TLS traffic.
If these CAs become popular at any point, they can start banning any TLS traffic that doesn't use them, as Kazakhstan tried in the past.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan_man-in-the-middle_attack
If these CAs become popular at any point, they can start banning any TLS traffic that doesn't use them, as Kazakhstan tried in the past.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan_man-in-the-middle_attack
Wikipedia
Kazakhstan man-in-the-middle attack
state-actor security exploit by the government of Kazakhstan
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Remember how, in the late 2010s, a good percentage of websites you opened had the same design and colored buttons due to the popularity of the Bootstrap default theme?
The current infestation of Claude-made websites is resurfacing the phenomenon. Gosh, do they all look the same.
The screenshot is the said classic Bootstrap theme.
The current infestation of Claude-made websites is resurfacing the phenomenon. Gosh, do they all look the same.
The screenshot is the said classic Bootstrap theme.
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Oop, that post was wrong, I was comparing Stripe to Shopify! So we will instead use this to compare Stripe to Shopify.
The way Shopify acquiring is tricking users into saving their payment info is very deceptive.
1. It is enabled by default
A very debatable decision to save payment info by default in the first place.
2. Masking it as a legalese paragraph
Stripe at least uses a noticeable checkmark. Many users learned to read what the checkmarks say and remove them as they see fit.
Shopify has an identical feature, but instead it is a paragraph with a small "Not now" hyperlink to fight this behavior. Doesn't even register as part of the form.
The way Shopify acquiring is tricking users into saving their payment info is very deceptive.
1. It is enabled by default
A very debatable decision to save payment info by default in the first place.
2. Masking it as a legalese paragraph
Stripe at least uses a noticeable checkmark. Many users learned to read what the checkmarks say and remove them as they see fit.
Shopify has an identical feature, but instead it is a paragraph with a small "Not now" hyperlink to fight this behavior. Doesn't even register as part of the form.
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I would have been angry about this, but YouTube search was so useless for the last decade that not much is being lost here. Google is better at searching YouTube than YouTube is at searching itself.
https://fixupx.com/nealmohan/status/2075622357713256553
https://fixupx.com/nealmohan/status/2075622357713256553
FixupX
Neal Mohan (@nealmohan)
Starting this week we're rolling out Ask YouTube on the web for U.S. users. You’ll be able to ask more natural, conversational questions to help you find videos and explore new ideas.
We’re looking forward to your feedback as we continue to build better…
We’re looking forward to your feedback as we continue to build better…
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Poking at Quartz Composer Legacy
Apple had this programming language and graph-based visual environment called Quartz Composer (not to be confused with Quartz Compositor) that they deprecated a few years ago. It would come with Xcode additional tools.
This was a processing pipeline for graphics. It could either be used as an internal layer for filters or as a way to produce animations on its own.
You could use it to create screensavers, animations for macOS apps, Dashboard widgets, and image processing filters that some video and photo editing software would take. It had all sorts of funny inputs and processors like webcam, Internet requests, shader support, JavaScript, etc.
For example, Apple Keynote could accept a Quartz Composition to use as a slide background; there were compositions to render RSS feeds and podcasts; iTunes audio visualizers were also done with it; QuickTime Player was able to play these back; Safari had a plug-in to play these embedded (starts to smell like Flash).
Quartz Composer was removed from Xcode 12 additional tools and never received a working ARM build. Its latest build crashes on newer macOS versions.
The filters that are created in Quartz Composer are "Quartz Composition Filters" (.qtz) and are essentially processing pipeline programs. I found mentions of people using them through the Services integration from Automator in Aperture. They could be used for custom transitions, titles, and effects in iMovie. The OS X Server Podcast Composer app had a lot of advanced features available through Quartz Compositions. I found mentions of custom Quartz Composition Filters even being usable in Photo Booth and iChat up to Big Sur.
On the third-party software end, I found that Pixelmator and Serato Video could use them in the past.
From my testing, modern versions of Pixelmator, Keynote, and QuickTime all have no clue what this format is anymore.
In modern macOS, Automator still has a step called "Quartz Composition Filter". Similar to Photo Booth, it ignores the custom filters from ~/Library/Compositions or /Library/Compositions. In a macOS 26 VM with SIP disabled I tried replacing the built-in filters under /System/Library/Compositions with some custom ones I found online. Neither Photo Booth nor Automator reacted — the "replaced" filters continued to work just as before. This makes me think these files are not used anymore, Apple could have reimplemented these built-in filters with modern code and gotten rid of the Quartz Composer code without removing the filter files.
Screen Savers don't work anymore on modern macOS. I tried this .qtz screensaver that imitates the iOS 7 lock screen, or another one that is a simulation of dark matter. Adding Quartz Screen Savers to ~/Library/Screen Savers is recognized by macOS under Settings › Wallpaper › Screen Saver... › Custom › Other, but it renders as a black screen.
There are also just "Quartz Filters" (.qfilter) that are hard-wired XML files with different properties. They are not well documented. I'm not sure if they are related at all besides using the Quartz graphics framework. But these are still working and are available as filters in macOS ColorSync, which has a GUI to create and edit them. They are available for practical use as a Quartz Filters option in PDF export in Preview. They allow stuff like resampling images in PDFs, applying color effects to them, and changing some PDF internals.
Apple had this programming language and graph-based visual environment called Quartz Composer (not to be confused with Quartz Compositor) that they deprecated a few years ago. It would come with Xcode additional tools.
This was a processing pipeline for graphics. It could either be used as an internal layer for filters or as a way to produce animations on its own.
You could use it to create screensavers, animations for macOS apps, Dashboard widgets, and image processing filters that some video and photo editing software would take. It had all sorts of funny inputs and processors like webcam, Internet requests, shader support, JavaScript, etc.
For example, Apple Keynote could accept a Quartz Composition to use as a slide background; there were compositions to render RSS feeds and podcasts; iTunes audio visualizers were also done with it; QuickTime Player was able to play these back; Safari had a plug-in to play these embedded (starts to smell like Flash).
Quartz Composer was removed from Xcode 12 additional tools and never received a working ARM build. Its latest build crashes on newer macOS versions.
The filters that are created in Quartz Composer are "Quartz Composition Filters" (.qtz) and are essentially processing pipeline programs. I found mentions of people using them through the Services integration from Automator in Aperture. They could be used for custom transitions, titles, and effects in iMovie. The OS X Server Podcast Composer app had a lot of advanced features available through Quartz Compositions. I found mentions of custom Quartz Composition Filters even being usable in Photo Booth and iChat up to Big Sur.
On the third-party software end, I found that Pixelmator and Serato Video could use them in the past.
From my testing, modern versions of Pixelmator, Keynote, and QuickTime all have no clue what this format is anymore.
In modern macOS, Automator still has a step called "Quartz Composition Filter". Similar to Photo Booth, it ignores the custom filters from ~/Library/Compositions or /Library/Compositions. In a macOS 26 VM with SIP disabled I tried replacing the built-in filters under /System/Library/Compositions with some custom ones I found online. Neither Photo Booth nor Automator reacted — the "replaced" filters continued to work just as before. This makes me think these files are not used anymore, Apple could have reimplemented these built-in filters with modern code and gotten rid of the Quartz Composer code without removing the filter files.
Screen Savers don't work anymore on modern macOS. I tried this .qtz screensaver that imitates the iOS 7 lock screen, or another one that is a simulation of dark matter. Adding Quartz Screen Savers to ~/Library/Screen Savers is recognized by macOS under Settings › Wallpaper › Screen Saver... › Custom › Other, but it renders as a black screen.
There are also just "Quartz Filters" (.qfilter) that are hard-wired XML files with different properties. They are not well documented. I'm not sure if they are related at all besides using the Quartz graphics framework. But these are still working and are available as filters in macOS ColorSync, which has a GUI to create and edit them. They are available for practical use as a Quartz Filters option in PDF export in Preview. They allow stuff like resampling images in PDFs, applying color effects to them, and changing some PDF internals.
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I am baffled that when Apple introduced the new icon format in macOS 26 they didn't add support for some sort of "pop out"/"protrusion" layer.
Even Apple's own designers are handicapped by this, suffering from this decision and being unable to produce an icon for Preview that doesn't suck.
Also fun thing, in the macOS 27 beta, they were tweaking all the icons very slightly almost every beta build — primarily outline and shadow intensity stuff. The icons became much less glossy but more flat (e.g. Finder, Games, Mail, Phone) as a result, although some, on the contrary, started using the glass shader (e.g. Maps, and just look what they did to Chess!).
Even Apple's own designers are handicapped by this, suffering from this decision and being unable to produce an icon for Preview that doesn't suck.
Also fun thing, in the macOS 27 beta, they were tweaking all the icons very slightly almost every beta build — primarily outline and shadow intensity stuff. The icons became much less glossy but more flat (e.g. Finder, Games, Mail, Phone) as a result, although some, on the contrary, started using the glass shader (e.g. Maps, and just look what they did to Chess!).
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