At this years MacSysAdmin conference, Sal Soghoian (the king of automation) talked about his new role at the Omni Group, and work that they have been focussing on.

The talk was titled “OmniJS: Automation Magic comes to iOS and macOS”, and you can guess everything from that. There’s a bunch of demos from Sal, showing off the new scripting possibilities (on iOS and macOS), and it’s really impressive.

You can find the video, presentation slides, and information on the entire conference at the MacSysAdmin 2017 page.

This is just brilliant.

Craig Hockenberry writing at Furbo.org (Back in 2013):

I started started using Twitter at the beginning of December. Like John Gruber and my colleagues at the Iconfactory, I loved our new “water cooler for the Internet.” I was, however, unhappy with using Twitter via the website or Dashboard widgets.

While taking a shower in the middle of December, an idea struck me: it wouldn’t be hard to hook up Twitter’s new API to the Cocoa networking classes and display a table with tweets. So I dried off and started prototyping: the next day I had the world’s first Twitter client running on my Mac.

A few days later, I checked all my code into our repository and Twitterrific was born:

r174 | craig | 2006-12-20 17:54:11 -0800 (Wed, 20 Dec 2006) | 1 line`
Initial import

Read the full post.

It’s a great story about the beginning of Twitter, and how Twitterrific came about. It certainly seems that everyone involved at the early stages, were super influential on the end product that all of us use today.

Twitter launched on the 15th July 2006, and the initial release of Twitterrific was on the 15h January 2007. So it didn’t take long!

I joined Twitter in July 2009, so even though I feel like I was relatively early to the service, I can’t imagine how cool it would of been to use it in it’s earlier days. I would imagine, something similar to App.net, as that was very enjoyable to use. But sadly didn’t make it.

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In related news, Iconfactory have been working on Twitterrific 5 for Mac for a while, becuase of a hufgely successful Kickstarter campaign. And it will go live on the Mac App Store on the 10th October!

How do you get the general public to update to the lates version of iOS?

Easy:

Hundreds of new emoji, including more emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, clothing options, food types, animals, mythical creatures and more, are coming to iPhone and iPad with iOS 11.1. – Apple Newsroom

So in the next update to iOS, you’ll find mermaids, wizards, hedgehogs, giraffes, vampires, brocolli, and some more!

There’s a new Pokémon movie coming out (the 20th actually), and it’s by far one of the most significant they’ve ever made.

Instead of continuing the timeline of Ash and his many companions, they’re using it to celebrate all the adventures between Ash and Pikachu, that have happened across the tv-series and the other movies.

I won’t spoil too much about the film, because it’s probably best to just watch the trailer, and let it all come flooding back in. All I will say is, it starts right back at the beginning! And it contains so much stuff, I seriously don’t know how they will fit everything in.

Trailer:

Extras

As always, there’s a few benefits you get from going to see a Pokemon movie. You can get a code for Pokémon Sun/Moon to allow your Pikachu to wear Ash’s hat. Or for Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, you’ll receive a QR code that will grant you a Pikachu wearing the hat that Ash wears in the movie.

However, there’s something else that’s just brilliant. They will give you a special edition card for the Pokémon TCG!

Maybe that isn’t a big deal on it’s own. But I remember when I saw the first Pokémon movie at the cinema. I came out after watching the film, and was presented with a free poster, and a Pikachu trading card! To be honest, I don’t know where the card is anymore, but I still want this one.

I’m now a happy owner of a Series 3 Apple Watch! It arrived today, and I’m very happy with how shiny and new it is! This isn’t a review though, or any big piece about that specific new watch, but rather a new idea that I’ve had now that I now own two watches.

My other watch is a Series 0, and was coming to it’s death anyway (it’s even got part of the glass missing). But I’ve still got an idea of how it can fit into my life.

And that is by using my Series 0 to track my sleep, and then my Series 3 for normal watch stuff! I now have two chargers, so one could be permanently placed on my desk, and I can transport the other when necessary. Although I don’t imagine it being so.

The Watch Set-ups

So the first thing you do when you get a new product, is to set it up, and add all the apps, download all the things, etc. But on the new watch, I’m keeping it pretty default for the beginning. Purely so I can find out what I really use, but only installing when necessary. But that’s a story for the future.

This just leaves my original watch, and because I’ve had it for such a long time, there’s a ton of apps on it. And to be honest, I don’t know the last time I opened an app on my watch, or at least on purpose.

So, I did a kind of un-set-up (maybe a set-down?), which meant getting rid of most things on the watch.

I started by removing all the apps, turning off the features like handoff, bedside mode, notification indicators, and activity monitoring.

Then it was the watch face, so they were all deleted, apart from a modular face. Which I have customised to have the time in the top right as usual, and the middle complication is the alarms. Everything else is blank. Because what else would I ever need to see if I’m in bed? Hopefully I’d be sleeping.

There’s also a few more little settings that will make the sleep-watch experience better. For example, the brightness is the lowest it can go, the text size is a bit larger, and it will be on Do Not Disturb, Silent, and Theatre modes, all the time.

So it now does nothing I guess?

Oh except, I installed AutoSleep on it. Because that’s the app I use to monitor my sleep on my iPhone, and I’m not sure if this needs to be installed to track it, or if it uses data taken from the sensors automatically. Either way, it’s quicker than researching it.

More Thoughts

This is a bit of a random idea I’ve come up with, and although I’ve heard people using multiple watches like this before, or even using one watch but charging throughout the day, it is more effort. And the ability to track sleep is a nice thing, and won’t really benefit me in anyway. But it’s data, and it’s fun! (Or at least I guess it will be for the early stages).

I’ll probably write an updated post, when I have an idea of how it’s working. But for now, I need to start working on my MultiWatch lifestyle.

Many people will have hear in the news that Transport for London (TfL) has informed Uber, that their current private hire license will not be extended, and therefore expire on the 30th September.

This was posted by the London mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter, and also any nearly every other local news outlet.

You can read full statement from TfL, but here is the main bit:

Transport for London (TfL) has today (Friday 22 September) informed Uber London Limited that it will not be issued with a private hire operator licence after expiry of its current licence on 30 September. TfL’s regulation of London’s taxi and private hire trades is designed to ensure passenger safety. Private hire operators must meet rigorous regulations, and demonstrate to TfL that they do so, in order to operate. TfL must also be satisfied that an operator is fit and proper to hold a licence.

TfL has concluded that Uber London Limited is not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence.

TfL considers that Uber’s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications.

Uber can of course appeal this decision, and while the appeal process is ongoing, they will still be able to operate under their current license. So there’s a great possibility that the 30th September will not be the last day of Ubers in London in any scenario.

I wasn’t going to post too much about this story though, as it’s been quite widespread, and I think everyone knows the gist of it.

But I’ve received two emails from Uber about this, and I don’t particularly like the way they’re going about it. We all know that Uber as a company, isn’t the best example for good public relations, but I think their emails sound a bit stupid.

The first which was sent on the 22nd September, titled “Save your Uber in London”:

Dear Chris,

As you may have heard, the Mayor and Transport for London have announced they will not be renewing Uber’s licence to operate in our city when it expires on 30 September.

We are sure Londoners will be as astounded as we are by this decision. By trying to ban the app from the capital, the Mayor and Transport for London have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice.

Not only will this decision deprive you of the choice of a convenient way of getting about town, it will also put more than 40,000 licensed drivers who rely on our app out of work.

We will be immediately challenging this decision in court.

If you want to continue using the Uber app in London – and to defend the livelihoods of 40,000 licensed drivers – please sign this petition urging the Mayor to think again.

Okay, so they’re trying to tell everyone that TfL and the London Mayor have decided to “ban” Uber. I don’t personally see it as an attack on their company, or in fact the drivers or customers of Uber. Sure, the Black cabs have a bit too much power in London, and I’ve noticed non-Uber taxi drivers dislike towards Uber. But these are small problems, and to be honest, I don’t quite care for them.

Uber as a service, is a great idea, and in my eyes I can only see the benefits. But they seem as a whole, quite stroppy.

I noticed this even more in their email they sent today (24th September) titled “Help keep your Uber in London”:

Dear Chris,

Since we emailed you on Friday about the decision not to renew Uber’s licence to operate in the capital when it expires on 30 September, we’ve been overwhelmed by the public support shown – thank you.

More than 600,000 people have signed a petition to keep our app in London and we’ve heard thousands of stories from people who want Uber to remain in our city.

If you don’t support this decision and haven’t yet added your name to the Save Your Uber in London petition, you can do so by clicking the link below.
 
So apparently a petition will change TfL and Sadiq Khan’s mind on Uber renewing their license.

We do a lot of petitions here in the UK, mostly about minor, insignificant things, but even after there was an online petition to stop Trump from entering the UK became popular, it still didn’t change anything.

Plus anyway, I don’t think a simple count of public opinion is relevant. We all know how stupid the general public can be.

I’ve seen things about how Uber is safer for women, and people of colour, and now they’ll have to get a night bus, and be “alone in the dark”. I don’t care. These are issues of their own, and emotions should not be involved in a decision like this.

I won’t be signing the petition to “Save Uber”, but that also doesn’t mean I want to see Uber being banned from operating in London.

I think that Uber should understand that Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London, and TfL are the local government body responsible for transport system in London. And therefore, have to abide by all the rules given to them.

Then, and only then, can they complain about any unfair behaviour. Because there’s most likely a bit of bias on either sides. But it doesn’t mean people being “outraged” at a certain decision should mean it should be reversed.

A lot of people would like Safari to show favicons in the tab bar, just like Chrome does. And it’s been the subject on various blog posts, and podcasts. But it was a post by John Gruber, that got Timing developer Daniel Alm interested.

He then went on and made an app called Faviconographer, that doesn’t exactly add that feature to Safari, but instead analyses Safari and the current tabs, and overlays the relevant favicon where it should be.

It’s not perfect, but it does make Safari much better. I just can’t believe it’s still not an official feature.

You can download Faviconographer, and also read more about how it works, the current limitations, and also some other information on the app on the Faviconographer website.

I’ve been wanting (not exactly looking for) a better way to quickly deal with screenshots on macOS for a while, and while looking over Product Hunt today, there was an app called ShotBox climbing the ranks.

It was free, and it looked interesting, so I gave it a shot. I was very pleased with what I found, and it’s such a simple utility, but it’s exactly what I need.

It’s similar to the new screenshot feature in iOS, in that when it detects a new screenshot, it opens up a small window in the bottom-left corner, so you can quickly edit and share.

There are actually only two things you can do in that window, and they are preview and edit. And of course when you close the window, you get the option to quickly delete the screenshot, or to save it.

I initially didn’t think it would work properly on my Mac, as I have Hazel move my screenshots into a separate folder, which I then have rules on archiving. So therefore they don’t just sit on my desktop. However, ShotBox lets you select a folder to watch, so this wasn’t an issue!

You can find out more information on ShotBox, and also download it for free using these links:

• ShotBox Website
• ShotBox on the Mac App Store
• ShotBox on Product Hunt

Brad Moon, writing for Forbes:

With Apple’s September iPhone event –and the official release of its latest operating systems– just days away, Apple continues pushing out public betas of iOS 11. A lot of people are downloading this software and loading it on their iPhones. But why?

When you install the iOS 11 public beta, you are essentially testing the software for Apple. Using your own hardware, apps and data. For free.

You don’t even get a tee shirt. Apple spikes this point out on the website for its Beta Software Program: “This program is voluntary, and there is no compensation for your participation.”

Because getting early access to upcoming software can only be a bad thing?

Heck, even by the time the company puts out the official annual iOS release in September, there are usually significant bugs still remaining. That’s why I wait for the first revision to be released before installing it on my devices.

It simply sounds like he’s had a bad experience, and that should apparently affect you too.

He goes on to point out a few sections of the beta agreement, which he has to expand on further that they “even use all caps”. The agreement states that the devices may not be able to be restored after using beta software, Apple will not be liable to any problems with using the software, and general stuff that you’d expect.

It’s not a final piece of software, and like all their public betas (which come after the more buggy developer betas), they are to be used at your own risk. And completely optional!

I just don’t see the issue. But I think his trust issues go further than the stability of the actual software:

If you have a spare iPhone or iPad lying around and you’re curious about the direction Apple is going, that’s also fair game, although not risk-free (and you’re still working for free for a company that made a profit in excess of $45 billion in 2016).

Contributing to beta testing, to help make the software and overall experience better can only be a bad thing. Especially when you don’t even get a t-shirt.