Matisyahu's Blog

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

recent posts

  • The ongoing saga of Manifest V3 and browser choice.

    Ah, the ongoing saga that is Manifest V3 with the current schedule (link) continues as Google insists on pushing forward with it’s schedule:

    Even in the light of the growing list of issues that need resolving (link) not to mention unhappy developers who are trying to keep their new projects moving forward while they liaison with Google to get problems sorted (link) it is doubtful they’re going to get MV3 to a position (before the 17 January 2022 cut off where they stop accepting new MV2 extensions) where developers of new extension(s) will find that the framework is suitable. Sure, if you look at the timetable as an existing developer then you’ve got year up your sleeve when you keep updating your applications as you wait for issues relating to MV3 are corrected but that leaves new developers stuck having to deal with MV3 and trying to hurry along Google to get problems blocking ones extension from operating properly.

    Below is a video that goes into detail why they’ve made the changes they have:

    The issues that were raised the video, I would hazard to guess, are issues that most extension developers would agree are issues that need addressing but the problem is that, like Apple, there was no consultation with the extension developers who maintain the ecosystem. It is a situation of a software company developing something without first asking whether it is suitable for the primary customer who will be using it – in this case the lack of consultation has resulted in parts of Manifest V3 that are not fit for purpose.

    With that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised that we’re going to see Manifest V3 serving as the basis of the future work being put out by the ‘WebExtensions Community Group’ – even Apple with the release of Safari Technology Preview 136 (link) has been updated to support manifest_version 3 and service_worker background scripts along with man other features (there appears to be a flurry of activity from Apple regrading the Webextensions API which increased the declarativeNetRequest filter rules from 50,000 to 150,000 (per extension, Adguard gets around it by treating each filter category like a seperate extension – I’m unsure whether there is a hard global limit like how Chrome has) however hopefully they’ll bring it inline with Chrome 89 at a later date (Google sets it to 300,000 global limit – limit is shared amongst all the extensions installed)).

    Side note 1: The interesting part has been that the global static rule limit has been set to 300,000 with Chrome 89 however it appears that Google don’t want developers relying on a fixed number as they have said developers should use getAvailableStaticRuleCount to find out how many rules they have left. What that indicates to me is that we may see that limit rise in the future – I assume that’ll happen when they develop a more efficient way of dealing with large numbers of filters to ensure that there isn’t a performance hit. With that all being said, at the moment on Safari I have 256512 active filters through Adguard. Although I have heard people with must larger sets of rules I’d say in the long term the limit will be addressed through a combination of the limit being increased while optimising the filtering rules.

    Side note 2: If you’re wanting something to offset the above pessimism then there is light at the end of the tunnel. I suggest you read through the minutes by the (link) many developers working at the organisations which contribute to the ‘WebExtensions Community Group’ because for all the doom and gloom in the tech media, there is working going on behind the scene. When it comes to Google fixing issues and you’re getting frustrated because it is ‘taking too long’ then there is always the possibility that the reason why it is taking longer than expect is because they developer is wanting to bounce ideas off other members to then all members of the ‘WebExtensions Community Group’ can agree on how something is implemented.

    Side note 3: Here is some interesting reading:

    https://twitter.com/slightlylate/status/1433711260235755521?s=20

  • Who do you trust with your data?

    There was an interesting video uploaded by Louis Rossman regarding who consumers trust with their data (link):

    It appears that Louis was confused (along with I) regarding how the average person has more trust in Google than they do with Apple regarding keeping their personal data safe. I wonder when the question was asked to people that what people were thinking wasn’t the matter of privacy (stuff that Google collections on them) but rather how secure the service is from hacking etc. I say that because there are still people today who believed that the ‘celebrity leak’ from iCloud had something to do with an iCloud weakness when the reality is that it was people who had weak passwords and failing to implement 2FA. As a result of this misunderstanding of what took place there are people who believe that Google is more secure when in reality something is only as secure as you make it (2FA on iCloud was ‘opt in’ up until recently) – if you have a weak password and don’t turn on 2FA then all the magic in the world isn’t going to make your account secure. I think the second reasoning might be that because Google makes it’s money through collecting information and creating a profile to improve they service while delivering relevant ads that some might conclude Google has greater incentive to being more security focused because it is that information which gives them a competitive edge over the competition and thus they want to guard that edge they have by keeping it secure.

    When thinking about the question there is also the matter of what people mean by trust – is it ‘trust’ in terms of keeping data secure? is it trust in terms of not sharing it with third parties? is it trust in terms of using the information they have which will benefit to the end user with a more customised/bespoke experience rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach which fails to meet an end users needs? as Ross notes, it lacks the sort of extended answers which would give a good insight into how the end user interprets the question which leads into why they answered the question in that way.

    Where I disagree with Ross is regarding his conclusions regarding Google’s business model – if push comes to shove and they had to ramp up their cloud services, hardware etc. they could easily do it, it wouldn’t be easy but they do have something beyond just ‘hoovering up data’. Compare that to say Facebook – what do they really have in the way of monetisable services that people are willing and able to pay for? If Facebook offered an ad free version for US$9.99 per month would there be sufficient enough numbers to make it worth their while or is Facebook’s only utility is the fact that it is free meaning if it wasn’t free then going without it wouldn’t be a major inconvenience (keeping in mind that one used to pay for WhatsApp which didn’t slow down it’s adoption). According to Google (link) they have 6 million monthly paying companies which is hardly something to be sneezed at. If push came to shove Google could offer a Google One Pro which would be a consumer version of Workspace with additional space, maybe bundle ad free music and YouTube along with making all their other ‘properties’ ad free.

    Would it work? In the US they make $256 per year ARPU, on a global scale they make $137 per year ARPU (link – based on 2019 data), so lets assume that their goal is to hit at least the minimum of $22 per month ($256 divided by 12) then they could easily charge US$29.99 (which would work out to be around NZ$49.99 incl GST). Google could move all their devices to start using Samsung based chips for all their devices which would leverage economies of scale, start focusing on a global vision beyond the niche they’ve built out so far etc. and put themselves in a position where although ad revenue would be a large component, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if a regulatory agency started to regulate the ad market or tech giants over all because Google has a viable business path (be it small relative to their ad business).

    Maybe this is why users trust Google, because they find utility in using Google services because they choose to use Google when alternatives exist where as with Facebook many people I talk to have noted that they reluctantly use it even though it is a toxic data mining ad riddled cess pit which amplifies the worst that humanity has to offer all for the sake of ‘the click’ or as the marketing folks call it – ‘engagement’. I think that Facebook is, when looking from a long term perspective, in a lot more grave situation than they lead on. Sure, there is the ‘novelty’ of ‘the metaverse’ but given the reputation that Facebook has it is doubtful that there will be a willingness by people to invest further into Facebook. There are also threats coming from outside in the form of competition – the past they could deal with threats by buying them out but given the extra attention they’re given by anti-trust regulators it is doubtful that they can buy out the new platforms which Gen Y and Gen Z are using with TikTok being the most visible alternative. Twitter is positioning themselves as an an alternative, there is wt.social, Bebo has been rebooted and I suspect that if Twitter Blue turns out to be a good little money spinner combined with some crack down on Facebook then I could see emerge more Facebook alternatives – maybe a more decentralised model akin to Mastodon where each instance can specialise based around a region or possibly an interest/hobby/etc by its membership.

  • UDM updates, Apple display rumours and political wrangling in the US.

    Starting into the first week of the holidays and Ubiquiti has release an firmware update for their UDM 1.11.0 which introduces bug fixes, optimisations such as improved PPPoE throughput, making WPA3 available for mainstream adoption and lots more (link). A nice little early Christmas present which, as of the time of this writing having used it for a few hours, is absolutely rock solid so far with setting up the UDM (I did a factory reset as part of the upgrade to 1.11.0) going a lot smoother than in the past. The big upcoming update will be when the Unifi AP AC HD firmware moves from the 5.x series to the 6.x series which has a whole new wifi firmware ‘binary blob’ that it’ll be using hence all the testing, testing and more testing that has occurred in over the 6 months or so.

    There are rumours that Apple is going to get back into the display market (link) which will be at a more mainstream accessible pricing. When thinking about this rumour and the lack of a 27inch iMac I am wondering whether we’ll eventually see a 27inch iMac or do Apple see the market for the 27inch iMac being the more power user and/or enthusiast area where maybe a Mac mini Pro or even a Mac Pro mini combined with an Apple display would fill the gap between the mainstream 24inch iMac and the Mac Pro at the high end. Although I have an iMac 27inch I am strongly looking at getting maybe a Mac mini but maxed out as my next device with either an Apple display one one from Dell particularly if the price is a lot better than going with an iMac 27inch (or what ever the size screen Apple decide to go with – assuming they ship a bigger iMac with Apple Silicon).

    I’ve been following US politics regarding the whole ‘Build Back Better’ with the media pointing out how Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the source of why Biden’s agenda is blocked but let’s remember it wasn’t too long ago where a report came out that there are 10 senators who oppose it. The reason why it hasn’t passed is because there are more Ethan just those two who want to upend build back better, it just so happened to be that it is Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema turn to be ‘villains of the week’ which will provide the other 8 senators plausible deniability. For me, I’ve pretty much turned off from US politics because really is depressing how very little has been accomplished within a year due to the lack of discipline within the Democratic Party.

    Getting back to New Zealand politics, it is one thing for the opposition parties to critique the government in areas where they believe they have a weakness but what amazes me is how the rest of the world is having a fifth wave yet journalist are inward looking navel gazers demanding the borders be open. What this goes to show is that the media in New Zealand is the embodiment of the phrase “the media is the mouthpiece of the capitalist class” – god forbid the New Zealand media remind the New Zealand public that there is a pandemic raging overseas and maybe the focus is should be on keeping in New Zealand rather than fetishising the potential to make a few extra dollars (at the expense of human life).

  • The future of ARM, Samsung and Apple.

    Almost at the end of the week and looking forward to next week when I have time off from work – using three days of my annual leave but getting 9 days off in total due to my normal week being Wednesday to Sunday (Monday and Tuesday being my weekend) so I end up with two statutory holidays then three annual leave days thus making 5 days then the two days at the beginning of next week followed by two days at the beginning of the following week.

    I’m not spending up big this year as I am looking to see what Samsung brings next year with the launch of the Samsung S22 range which will include an AMD GPU and hopefully the CPUs will being ARMv9 which will have all the neat stuff that ARM talked about in a recent presentation.

    I’m still holding out for the ARMv9 version of Apple Silicon but equally I’m waiting for the platform to mature as earlier adopters are dealing with the usual teething problems that one faces with code that has been recently ported to a new platform so there are probably still a lot of optimisations and bug fixes that need to take place (which will occur over time). There is also plenty of optimisation that needs to take place – Chrome for example, although compatible, is gradually getting the optimisations that the Intel version had.

    On the issue of Chrome, there have been some waves made recently with the announcement of a roadmap for Manifest v3 of the extension framework which Google promises will bring a more secure experience as well as improved performance (link) but critics have pointed out that the limited nature of the new APIs mean that extensions will not provide the sort of low level access which enable effective content blocking (link). There is a year before the Manifest v2 support is fully removed from Chrome so it’ll be interesting to see whether Google listen to developers and making the necessary changes – given how Google had pushed back the release of ‘Federated Learning of Cohorts’ (FLoC) (link) due to concern from consumers to regulatory agencies as well as researchers, it is possible that Google may make some concessions. I don’t think that Google will abandoned Manifest v3 completely but I could see them making some concessions in the form of adding back functionality that is lacking in Manifest v3.

  • I’ve got a new scooter.

    Writing this on Sunday 12 December I’m looking back at the week that was. I took my scooter in on Monday and have found that the cost of fixing the big moved from, “oh, maybe a couple of hundred dollars” to “you can pretty much buy a whole new bike for that amount” which I ended up deciding to do. I was annoyed at first but then I remember I have had the old bike for 7 years so I realised that it had a pretty good run. I decided to replace my Aprilia Motard SR 50 with a Lambretta V50 Special.

    It is roughly the same size as my old bike but a better engine, a new stylish retro appearance etc. so I’m looking forward to picking it up on Monday or Tuesday next week. Although I do like taking the bus back and forths from work it does limit me in what I can do on my day off so the first thing I might do is go for a ride into Wellington on my scooter then cruise down Oriental Parade enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

    On Saturday I was coughing up a lung at work so I decided to take Sunday off which required me to get a COVID check – swab up the nose is a little uncomfortable but it’s one of those things one has to play ones part in keeping the community safe. It’s probably just the run of the mill cough and sore throat but because people are on high alert for the new strain while trying to contain the existing outbreak everyone is on high alert.

    I was reading through the AskReddit subreddit where someone posed the question about whether something that is ubiquitous today but will be looked back at with the same shock as one does today regarding how widespread smoking was in the past. My contribution was this: People who want something for free then act surprised when there is a tonne of data mining going on the background for ad targeting.

    What I am hoping is eventually people will recognise that just because something is delivered via the internet doesn’t mean that it isn’t without cost – people are paying for Netflix, Spotify etc. what I also hope is that businesses move to a payment model because ad supported model is too politically risky given the sort of scrutiny many businesses are now under across the globe. The result: “Gee, it’s amazing how people thought that they could get something for free without there being a ‘cost’ being paid for in the form of data”.

    The usual retort is ‘but what is to stop them violating privacy even if they do pay’ – my reply to that is this, the current system only works if you have economies of scale to generate the user data which in turn enables you platform to become a viable platform for businesses to advertise on which creates the revenue to pay for the services you’re providing. In other words, you need the capacity to run for years making a loss before (hopefully) you will eventually reach that critical mass and start making a profit. Compare that to a scenario where paying for a service is the norm – it would be possible to create a business model around paying customers where you would be a lot closer to making a profit and you can compete based on protecting your customers privacy as a point of differentiation.

    This coming week the rumour has it that macOS 12.1, iOS 15.2 and tvOS 15.2 will be released to the public (at this moment it is currently at RC2 so it is close to release but they want to test to ensure that there are no nasty surprised for early adopters when it is released). Last week there was also the release of Safari Technology Preview 136 which has a lot of changes in it – it’ll be interesting to see whether there will be a change in pace in Safari releases once the transition for the Mac from x86-64 to Apple Silicon is completed so then they can focus 100% on Apple Silicon rather than having to check whether something that work well on Apple Silicon works well on x86-64.

  • The ongoing love/hate relationship with Chrome and Safari.

    Back to using Safari – Chrome has its benefits but I think I’ve got things nailed down with Safari and Ad Guard. I think the problems I’ve had in the past is that I haven’t gotten it setup properly before I started ‘surfing the net’. What I’ve done this time is when I installed Ad Guard rather than enabling it straight way in Safari I first of all cleared all cookies, cache and history so I start with a clean slate, I then open up Ad Guard, enable all the filters I want, update the filters to the latest version, add the allowed websites then enable the extensions in Safari. Taking those careful steps has resulted in websites not breaking (the ones I’ve added to my allowed list) and those that have the filters applied to are consistently having their ads block along with blocking other nasties so I’m a happy lad.

    As I get closer to the festivities and end of the year I am drawing up a list of things I want to do with the first, which is the easiest I can do, is move from Spark to back to Skinny Mobile – I’ll probably do that before then but that depends on when Apple starts to ship iOS 15.2, tvOS 15.2 and macOS 12.1 which are all currently in beta testing at the moment. My big focus on 2022 is getting myself focused on getting in a better state financially as well as in terms of health. Yes, I could start today but I’d sooner get the crazy season out of the way which will remove any distractions rather than trying to start now, get distracted by the festivities then trying to get back on track again.

  • My dissatisfaction with the licence changes in New Zealand.

    After much moaning and groaning by me regarding a poorly thought out law change pushed through over 7 years ago by the National government it appears that the Labour government has come come to sanity and reversed the decision (link). What was the poorly thought out decision that I am referring to? the decision to put a 2 year limit on learner/restricted licence on the along with the erroneous basis on which the decision was made. The erroneous decision was based on the notion that allowing people to say permanently on learners or restricted would serve as a disincentive to move to a full licence – and what basis did they make that? feedback by those who benefit from making an easy profit off people being pushed to have a full licence (regardless of whether they needed it or not) and ‘feel facts’ (‘which aren’t technically facts but feel true’, a term I borrowed from SNL (link)) made up by lobby groups whose narrow focus blinds them to the many possible scenarios that they haven’t considered.

    The frequently asked questions pretty much goes into detail addressing why people never actually move on beyond either a learners or a restricted licence with the question: Why don’t licence holders progress to a full licence?

    • the cost of theory and practical tests
    • the cost of renewing the licence
    • no adequate supervision/training
    • no access to a road legal vehicle to be trained in, or to take to a practical test.
    • only needing a learner licence to ride a moped
    • only wanting a driver licence for identification
    • having other transport options
    • no access a vehicle to learn to drive
    • in the case of a restricted licence, only needing to transport children or a spouse.

    When it comes to ID, there is the 18+ card now known as the Kiwi Access cad but the problem is that identity verification requires it to be used in conjunction with a birth certificate where as a drivers licence in almost every case is sufficient enough for ID. Then there is the scenario of given in the public submissions, for example on page 7 one submitter said their 78-year-old Grandmother has had her restricted for a long time and complies with conditions as she only drives by herself. (link) There were submitters also felt they should not be required to retake a theory test upon renewal for a licence they have already passed – a test would have to be reset every 5 years if one wishes to simply renew a learners licence. Then there is the biggest group I would say which are many university students, young adults and others who only have an interest in riding a moped and we can do so with a standard learners – so why force them to move to a full licence? thank goodness the government made the right decision in the end that’ll go back to the status quo.

    Does the quality of drivers need to improve? yes, but limiting the length of time one can remain on learners or restricted doesn’t benefit anyone and certainly won’t improve the quality of drives. If these organisations were serious about improving the quality of drivers then I suggest they put their ‘feel facts’ to one side and focus on an alternative to the current model that focuses on ‘can the person put on a good show to pass a test’ in favour of a more exhaustive regiment over a set number of weeks. The goal with such a change would result in a restricted licence issued based on a regiment of the first week being the base line and the last week being an indicator as to whether the mentoring that the instructor has provided has been taken on board by the student via a visible improvement 6 weeks later (thus demonstrating a degree of humility by demonstrating that recognise they’re a student and take on board the feedback the instructor provides) vs 6 weeks later there is no improvement thus indicating they need to remain as a learner for longer (thus also demonstrating that they’re not willing to take on board advice and improve – they’ve convinced themselves that they’re already the expert and don’t need to improve thus it is doubtful giving them a restricted licence will result in them improving long term).

  • The ongoing love/hate relationship I have with Android, Google and their attempt at getting into the hardware market.

    I’ve been a big fan of Google’s hardware line, specifically, their Pixel phones due to their ‘crapware free’ implementation of Android when compared to other big OEMs that bloat up the standard Android install with crapware because the said OEM has been paid by software vendors aka ‘partners’. Samsung is doing a lot better than before but they still insist on preloading their phones with Microsoft Software. It is something I wish Android OEMs would get through their thick skulls – if I want something I’ll download it myself otherwise don’t second guess what I want by preloading things that I’ll never actually use.

    The problem is that Google only ships their hardware to a limited number of markets and at first the excuse was because they had just bought HTC’s handset division, that they were building out the distribution network but at some point one has to accept that it’ll never be coming to New Zealand. At some point you have to ask what is the real reason why they haven’t gone beyond those small number of markets and then suddenly you see the big announcement Google and Samsung – replacing of Tizen on their watches with WearOS then there was the recent announcement of Android 12L for large screen devices which marks the possible death of ChromeOS on tablet devices.

    I think the long term issue is that Google cannot risk upsetting one of their most important partners particularly when you consider the breadth and reach that they have into markets that Google doesn’t have any presence in and would take years for them to build up the infrastructure not to mention years of losses. I also think that when it comes to Samsung, they’ve got a limited set of options when one considers the abysmal quality (see study from a couple of years ago where 40 zero day security holes were found not to mention the numerous security researchers who haven’t exactly praised the security worthiness of it) of the software when Samsung tries to go off and ‘go it alone’ resulting in the market having very little appetite for Tizen smartphones when it is offered (see also Huawei crash and burn outside of the US via the lack of Google Services being preinstalled on phones sold outside of China).

    I’d also argue that long term I could eventually see Android TV making its way into Samsung televisions as well – it makes sense at this point to cease re-inventing the wheel and use what is on offer particularly if that partner is willing to pick up a lot of the development moving forward. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up seeing Samsung selling tablets loaded with Android 12L, ChromeOS on laptops etc. What I am holding out for is the rumoured S22 with the AMD GPU running Android 12 natively.

    On a good side regarding Android 12, project mainline has bought two new modules, ART and Device Scheduling, to the Play Store (link). It appears that Google is choosing the modules that are most prone to security issues and bringing the maintaining of that inhouse. Hopefully in the future we’ll start to see more modules so that eventually the OEMs maintain their kernel drivers, use public APIs to customise the look and feel of their Android build then Google themselves take care of everything above the kernel. It’ll be interesting to see whether Samsung will distribute GPU driver updates via the Playstore like what Qualcomm provides or whether they’ll continue shipping it as part of a monthly maintenance update.

  • Reviews of the new MacBook Pro 14″ and 16″ are out and the plague of disposable products resulting in an ewaste mountain.

    I’ve been watching videos reviewing the new MacBook Pro 14″ and 16″, even after all this time I am astonished at how well the Apple GPU is scaling given the tendency of GPUs designed for lower power tend to have an upper limit in terms of scalability (architectural decisions made to reduce power usage can inhibit the ability to scale) so I was expecting them to maybe work with AMD on a discrete GPU but it appears I have been proven incorrect (keeping in mind the post I made in the past was pure speculation rather than making definitive statements facts). It’ll be interesting to see the performance in the upcoming larger iMac and Mac Pro – rumour has it that it might end up scaling up 2 x M1 Max in lieu of putting more on a single SoC which will result in a 20 core SoC; 16 high performance cores, 4 efficiency cores. What I hope is that because they control the hardware and software that we’ll see a better graphics experience – greater use of Metal optimisation as Apple moves more of its underpinnings from OpenGL to Metal.

    The other part of the equation is where the Windows world will fit into this when one considers Qualcomm’s recent purchase of Nuvia which will hopefully give them to people power along with their expertise to bring about some silicon that can cater for the laptop, tablet, desktop and workstation market that Microsoft appears to be hinting at having an interest in moving Windows for ARM from merely a box that needs to be ticked to taking it seriously particularly when one looks at the investments being made by MIcrosoft to bring their middleware to the platform.

    On Another topic given the recent discussion about ‘right to repair’ and dealing with the amount of electronic waste that is building up, if we’re going to get serious about the environment such as using electricity more efficiently and reduce our e-waste then we need to, as consumers, demanding products that prioritise convenience over all things else.

    A good example of this would be the rise in wireless earbuds where the batteries are dead after 2 years max even with moderate usage then add to the recharging which is wireless which is inefficient – on a small scale that wouldn’t be an issue but on a cumulative basis it would cause a problem in those countries whose power generation is dependent upon burning fossil fuels. Then there is the ‘right to repair’ movement regarding the ‘right to repair’ ones devices by getting access to the information and parts required to do so. I think it is a good start but the biggest component in this war on electronic waste is the issue of planned obsolescence where there needs to be requirements – either the OEM is forced to provide x number of years security and bug fixes (rather than the current situation of Apple not providing all security fixes to old versions of iOS) or the alternative being that the source code for drivers etc. are merged back into a public Android tree that allows people to keep updating their Android phone beyond what the OEM is willing to provide (maybe a third party business model could develop around providing a long term supported version of Android that one can install after the OEM has abandoned it).

    This is one of the reasons I get frustrated when I hear people go on about how electric vehicles are the future – no they’re not, the future is better unitary plans that stop and reverse urban sprawl, focus on dense housing, shared green spaces, greater use of telecommuting, greater use of staggered start times, investing into mass transit and fully electrifying the rail network, building more renewable energy generation. Why aren’t electric vehicles the future (in the sense of it being a ‘silver bullet’ to solve all of life’s problems) – consider the full life cycle from start to finish when building a car including the battery, when you consider all that you quickly realise that although it is better than a petrol car it’ll never be as good as mass transit, it won’t fix congestion not to mention all the maintenance costs of supporting and upgrading urban motorways and state highways.

  • Senate investigating big technology and the role of algorithms in ‘manufacturing consent’.

    It is interesting to see the new service that Apple roll out (link) and finding myself recall a year ago (or so) how Apple should add custom domain hosting, that there is an opportunity to focus on small to medium business etc. etc. only for it to all end up happening. Not that I’m saying that I have some insider knowledge but it’ll be interesting to see whether the custom domain hosting for iCloud+ is a precursor to rolling it out for education and Small/Medium businesses. Although there has been a upsurge in Mac sales with the gradual release of Apple Silicon based Macs (due to many holding back from upgrading for years) the long term positioning of Apple is around services – be it the cut they get through the store or simply selling something like iCloud+ which includes custom domain hosting, private relay, extra storage, unlimited disposable email addresses etc.

    It appears that in the US there is a bipartisan senate proposal to deal with the algorithms that Facebook, Twitter, Google etc use to ‘increase engagement’ by amplifying content that is known to retain users using their service for longer (link). At the moment what is proposed is an ‘opt in’ system but what I hoping is that in the long run that it’ll become the default setting for not just new customers but for all existing customers to be switched over as well. I’ve also said in the past that Facebook should change the default settings it so that when adding a friend it shouldn’t mean that you’re automatically signed up for timeline – the virality effect only works because of the networking effect of everyone being lined up with everyone else so when one person likes something the impact is reverberated through friends and then when those friends react then the friends of friends then get to see the reaction that amplifying then combine that with algorithms that then amplify based on reaction that is how troll armies make use of the system to spread disinformation.

    It is interesting that governments have started taking on the big tech companies – in part due to their realisation that they have the ability to large sways of people through algorithms that increase engagement which ultimately end up undermining the basis on which democracy functions which is an agreed on set of facts so then the debate is based on an greed set of facts but different solutions being proposed to address challenges that need addressing. I have a feeling that we’re going to start seeing a series of bills in the US and elsewhere with the focus on addressing individual issues rather than trying to push through a large omnibus piece of legislation. We’ve already seen countries as South Korea undermine the ‘in app’ payment monopoly that Apple has so expect that to to spread to include Google. I don’t see Apple losing the monopoly that the App Store has for distributing apps to iOS devices but I think it’ll attract a lot more scrutiny and regulation when compared to Android given that you can already side load apps onto Android. As noted in a prior post, there are robust arguments of why a monopoly may benefit a consumer but if you’re going to go down that route then it opens you up for greater regulation – the question is whether Apple see’s the additional regulation is worth the hassle or whether allowing side loading through some sort of two step ‘power user mode’ (to keep regular users safe while allowing side loading for power users) is worth doing if it means having more control over their App Store.