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An Apple Watch Jailbreak is Probably the Worst Idea Ever

Matt Birchler:

9to5Mac has a good breakdown of what this jailbreak entails, but I will reiterate that you should not even think about finding this jailbreak. One, I don’t think that watchOS is really in need of a jailbreak community to push it forward right now, but two, this is an incredibly high risk jailbreak! – BirchTree

I completely agree with all the sentiments here.

Mimeo Photos Offers All Apple Photo Products, Formats & Themes Globally

If you were upset about Apple’s photo printing service no longer being available from the Photos app, you’ll be glad to know that the partner they used, Mimeo, now offer these identical services themselves.

“This is a real opportunity for us to expand our successes as a prominent Apple Photos extension since the beginning,” said John Delbridge, CEO, Mimeo. “We are really excited to see an increase in demand from countries like Australia and Japan in addition to our strong US customer base.”

It’s no longer integrated into the Photos app by default, but there is now the Mimeo Photos app, that will make the service available from Apple’s Photos app.

Growing Up Jobs

Lisa Brennan-Jobs (Daughter of Steve Jobs) has released an excerpt on Vanity Fair from her book, Small Fry.

It’s a long read, probably just over 10 minutes, but it’s yet another perspective at Steve’s life that not many would know about.

I can’t quote any single piece from it, I would end up including everything. All I can do is say – make sure you read it in it’s entirety.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: iPhone or Android?

Neil deGrasse Tyson talks with Brian Tong about his new series Cosmos: Possible Worlds and settles the world’s greatest debates! iPhone or Android? Kirk or Picard? Millennium Falcon or Enterprise? BB-8 or R2-D2?

A few things about Neil deGrasse Tyson you probably didn’t know before.

Why I Don't Use the Pixel!

For now. Things change. A lot. And they’re hard to predict. – MKBHD

A very interesting video by Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), about why the Pixel 2 HD is no longer his daily Android phone, and also some opinions on how hardware can degrade over time.

Native UI

I’m working on an app at work where I’m regularly implementing new sections/views. And I’ve become really fond of the “native” design look.
It’s something I’ve tried to do with TextCase and Slate, but it’s now spreading to my actual job.

I think it’s down to two facts:

  • I like Apples design for apps.
  • I don’t think users should have to “learn” a user interface.

There’s also a whole bunch of benefits you get from using native controls, such as accessibility support, and standard designs for certain contexts. An example of that is a system alert, where you specify if an action is a “cancel”, “destructive”, or “default”, and then the formatting is applied.

I’m not doing this as a way to make the apps feel more generic though, as I’m making use of accent colours, and in some cases, fonts, to make sure the “branding” still comes through.

Slack is buying, and shutting down, HipChat and Stride

Greg Kumparak, writing for Tech Crunch:

HipChat, the workplace chat app that held the throne before Slack was Slack, is being discontinued. Also being discontinued is Atlassian’s own would-be HipChat replacement, Stride.

I’m so happy about this. I use HipChat at work, because the company is invested in all of the Atlassian ecosystem. I’d much rather use Slack.

John Voorhees: The Way Apple Succeeded May No Longer Be Possible at Its Current Size

John Voorhees, the developer, podcast, and editor, has done an interview over at iPure. I must say it’s very fascinating, and there’s a sneak peak of something I’m sure a lot of people have been looking forward to.

How to get from apps development to writing for one of the best-known blogs about Apple? How works international team located over several continents? Who could replace Tim Cook? Our second interview with foreign speaker – John Voorhees, editor of MacStories.net and a passionate podcaster.

Buying a Hammer

Matt Birchler at his finest, turning a subject such as buying a hammer into a thought provoking piece about making judgements upon people’s tech purchases:

You’re certainly not going to shop around from store to store for the best hammer deal. You’re not going to watch YouTube videos demoing an array of hammers, and you’re not going to read reviews for the top 5 hammers this season. You’re certainly not going to check to see if Craftsman is going to release a new hammer in the next few months that will be better than what’s on the shelves now.

Nope, you’re not going to do any of that, you’re going to go to the store, pick one that seems fine (they all seem fine, don’t they?), make sure it’s one of the cheaper ones available, and get on with your life.

Quickly Toggle Hidden Files/Folders in Finder

I’ve just come across a rather helpful tip on Reddit, and it’s a simple key combination to toggle hidden files and folders in Finder.

It’s just:

CMD + SHIFT + .

It also works in the Open/Save dialog windows.

Via u/CompiledSanity on Reddit.