Luminary Blur

Ben Hinc

‘No Better Than a Chromebook’ — February 21, 2018

‘No Better Than a Chromebook’

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Brian Fagioli, writing at BetaNews:

When I first began using the Mac, I downloaded a bunch of software I thought I would enjoy. As a big Twitter user, I obviously installed the official app for that social network. You know what? It sucked. I tried to make it work, but ultimately, using a web browser was just a much better experience. On any desktop operating system, users are wise to use a browser. Let’s be honest — Twitter apps are best saved for smartphones and tablets. Twitter the company apparently agrees, as today, it officially kills the Mac app.

Later, he makes this profound observation:

Look, macOS is great for many things, but for accessing the web — including social media — it is no better than a Chromebook. Heck, from a security perspective, Google’s desktop operating system is arguably superior to macOS when surfing the web. And yeah, a computer running it can be had for $200. So?

Despite many routes I could take to assail Fagioli’s argument, I’ll begin with viewing social media as merely a web-based phenomenon. Is the Instagram experience better on the web? How about Snapchat? It’s true — both services started as apps. Twitter began as a bare-bones web service designed around the limitations of SMS messaging. In fact, I’m quite certain my first Twitter post was sent via SMS.

Should Twitter shutter its “much better experience” on the web to revert back to an SMS-focused model? Surely not, because how things begin isn’t necessarily how they should remain.

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Exactly How It’s Supposed to Work — February 2, 2018

Exactly How It’s Supposed to Work

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From an Exclusive Autosport press release:

The impressive pairing of Exclusive Autosport and Parker Thompson has delivered much success over the past three years, locking race wins in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, the F1600 Super Series, the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship in Ontario and the Formula Tour 1600 series in Quebec. Thompson drove to major home country wins for Exclusive Autosport in both F1600 at the F1 Grand Prix in Montreal and USF2000 in Toronto in 2017. This year, he will aim to extend this streak into the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Exclusive Autosport has signed the 19-year-old Canadian to lead their rookie charge into the series, which is the second rung of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires. Exclusive Autosport debuted in the USF2000 series in 2017 and promptly won three races en route to third in the Drivers’ Championship. With teams in F1600 and USF2000, Pro Mazda is the logical progression in their expansion and development and Thompson represents the first of two driver announcements for this level of their program.

This, as the title states, is exactly how it’s supposed to work.

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Messages in a Web Browser —

Messages in a Web Browser

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Juli Clover, writing for Mac Rumors:

As of iOS 11.3, Messages in iCloud is back and is available for “testing and evaluation purposes,” marking the official return of the feature. According to Apple’s release notes, once iOS 11.3 beta 1 is installed, Messages will prompt users to turn on Messages in the Cloud when it is first launched.

Messages in the Cloud is automatically enabled for users who have two-factor authentication and iCloud Backup enabled, says Apple.

The new Messages in iCloud feature will be a welcome change for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users who prefer not to delete their messages. Over the course of several years, Messages can take up a lot of space. That space can now be freed up with the bulk of older messages stored directly in iCloud rather than on-device.

As a paid developer, I’ve been testing iOS 11.3 since its beta release. Quick, reliable and trouble-free message syncing between devices is a feature I’ve longed for and — at least between the iPhone X and current-generation iPad that have the beta installed — it’s finally here.

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Luminary Blur — for Real This Time — January 31, 2018

Luminary Blur — for Real This Time

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Once upon a time, I kept a personal online diary. I called it Luminary Blur. I’ve since archived that and finally launched my own personal website with my name as the URL and Luminary Blur as the moniker.

If you’re interested in technology, racing, the mainstream media and particularly my thoughts on these topics, you may find it worthwhile to keep up to date with my writing here. Some of it will be super short, some of it will be mighty long, but all of it will be me.

With the launch of this neat little website, I intend to illuminate the blur that has been my thoughts on so many topics for so much time. Thank you sincerely for checking it out.