Year: 2012

Google ‘Developing’ Maps App for NES

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Adi Robertson:

Google has been working hard on Maps lately, but some have questioned its decision to forgo developing for the extremely popular NES platform. Now, the company is looking to catch up with a custom cartridge that allows NES users to enjoy all the benefits of Maps in 8-bit form. After inserting the cartridge and connecting to the internet, users can search for destinations or get directions just as they would in the web version. They’ll even see some exclusive features, like using the microphone to search.

I know I’m hard on Google, but I am 100 percent behind this effort, even if tomorrow is April 1.

Why Do We Report Twitter Spam?

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Dr. Drang:

The spam reporting button I put into Dr. Twoot last month[1] was a demonstration that the process could be made much simpler and could be done directly from the timeline—no need to jump to the spammer’s profile. In fact, I now take great pleasure in reporting spammers. A quick click on the ∅ button reports the spammer, blocks him from appearing in my timeline again, and strikes through his tweet.

Ryan Irelan has even done research on what clients making marking tweets as spam easy.

All this has led me to think about why we take time and go out of our way to report Twitter spammers.

Do we do it as a favor to Twitter itself? The company clearly is playing cat-and-mouse with these accounts, as the ebb and flow of tweet spam changes over time.

Or do we just want to keep our neighborhoods nice? I know I hate seeing spam when I’m flicking through my replies, and will report it just to get it out of my face.

Maybe we just like being in charge of something.

Whatever the reason we report spam, I think everyone sees it as a problem.

Of course, not everyone reports spam. Here’s Marco Arment:

Twitter needs a far more aggressive, automated, proactive, heuristic-based anti-spam system. And if someone has trouble legitimately tweeting a link with no text to 100 people in a row who don’t follow them at precise 1-minute intervals, that’s just the price we’ll have to pay.

In the meantime, I’m never using the “Report Spam” feature again, because it just seems like I’m wasting my time.

Will Twitter apps start building in spam filtering, like Mail.app does? That’d sure be something.

  1. Read about it here.  ↩

What’s in my Menubar

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Today, I thought I would share what’s living in my Mac’s menubar these days. I’ll move from left to right.

1. Keyboard Maestro

You can see some of the things I do with this utility over here.

2. Dropbox

I collaborate with a lot of people, and Dropbox is the main way I do it. I have a Pro account with 50 GB of space.

3. TextExpander

If you type the same thing more than twice on your Mac, you’re wasting time if aren’t using this app.

I keep chunks of code, words I misspell often, email addresses and more in TextExpander. It really is like magic.

4. Cinch

While there are lots of window management options out there for the Mac, I like Cinch because it’s simple. It allows for easy window resizing by dragging it to the left, right, or top screen edge. It makes living with a dual-display setup much more pleasant.

5. 1Password

This is another invaluable Mac utility. I store website credentials, credit card information and more in 1Password.. I haven’t typed a password on my Mac in months.

6. Dropzone

Dropzone, while not well-known, is super powerful. It allows me to drag a file, URL or folder to the menu bar to do just about anything on it. I have S3 and FTP upload options, as well as quick shortcuts to print files, install apps and shorten URLs with my custom Bitly setup.

7. Evernote

While I’ve recently switched to Evernote,, it’s quickly becoming my hub while working on my MacBook Pro. The menu bar item is a fast way to add something to the Inbox and move on. It can also be used to take screenshots that will be imported upon taking.

8. Messages

I dislike having the Buddy List window open in iChat/Messages, so I just use the menu bar item.

9. Time Machine

I use Time Machine to backup my “Storage” hard drive to an external. If you don’t backup your files, you’re just asking for trouble.

10. Bluetooth

While I do use an Extended II keyboard, I keep Bluetooth on for my Magic Trackpad.

11. Battery

I have a portable. Duh.

12. Clock

As long as I’ve used the Mac, I’ve kept the clock on in the menubar. While working, its faster than looking down at my watch.

13. Fast User Switching

While I have only one user on this machine, this menu bar item gives me quick access to the Login Window, where I leave my Mac if I step away from my desk.

Update: I can’t believe I didn’t know about the “Lock” command in Alfred. Thanks, @philgetzen.

14. Spotlight

I’ve switched to Alfred, but Apple doesn’t let users get rid of this icon, so I’m stuck with it. (Alfred, by the way, can run without a menubar item, which is pretty sweet.)

Update: It seems this can be disabled. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

On Pre-Existing Conditions

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Julie Rovner at NPR:

After this week’s oral arguments at the Supreme Court, lawmakers and health policy experts are starting to ponder what had — until recently — been unthinkable to many: What if the court strikes down the entire Affordable Care Act?

Heading into the week, most supporters of the law had assumed that at worst, the court might find unconstitutional the requirement that most Americans either have health insurance or pay a penalty. And it might also invalidate a few key insurance provisions that are immediately tied to that, such as requiring insurance companies to sell to people with pre-existing health conditions.

[…]

One example, from Michael Cannon of the libertarian Cato Institute: If insurers didn’t have to cover pre-existing conditions for children, he says, “maybe some insurers would return to states” where they stopped offering coverage.

Screw Michael Cannon.

Without this law, my three-year-old son is uninsurable due to his pre-existing brain tumor.

RIM Announces Q4 2012 Earnings

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Right before the call, Jim Balsillie (former co-CEO and current Director of the Board), David Yach (CTO) and Jim Rowan (COO) all resigned.

The Loop has some highlights from the call:

  • Revenue of $4.2 billion, down 19% from the third quarter and down 25% from $5.6 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2011
  • BlackBerry smartphone shipments of 11.1 million in Q4, down 21% from Q3
  • 500,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets shipped. No number on how many actually sold

App Recommendation: 1-Bit Camera

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Most iOS photo apps are all about applying rich, heavy-handed filters.

1-Bit Camera is an exception. The 99¢ app shoots in 1-bit mode, leaving just black and white dithered images. There are options to select high or low contrast, and to use either Atkinson and Bayer dithering algorithms. You an share via Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr.

The best part? The UI is set in Chicago. The retro look and feel is outstanding, and really adds to the experience of using the app.