NSLog();

Retailers are disabling NFC readers to shut out Apple Pay

So…

Retailers are banding together to:

• Keep more money for themselves
• Limit choices for consumers (you can still pay with your VISA, at no extra cost to the retailer, but you can't do it by waving your phone in front of a machine?)
• Directly withdraw payments from your checking account
• Decrease security for consumers (CC companies, and Apple, care about security. Retailers have proven they do not.)
• Force QR Codes (seriously, QR Codes???) on people

Again, NOT supporting Apple Pay is dumb. They will not be able to say "we don't take VISA" any time soon, so they're literally limiting you to SWIPING your card instead of the more secure NFC way of one-time numbers and sharing/storing no personal information.

I hope Apple and Google simply don't allow these apps to be sold. Not that it's a necessary move.

Shame on you, MCX and Wal-Mart, CVS, Rite-Aid, Best Buy, 7-11, etc.

Thoughts on Yosemite's Look and Feel

In the meantime, though, I find Yosemite lacking in polish, full of awkward decisions and unresolved tensions. Safari, in particular, seems to have trouble balancing theory—the idea that the same software on iOS and OS X should share a structurally similar user interface—with execution—its symmetrical arrangement of interface elements is not all that symmetrical in practice, and its buttons seem improvised and lacking in care.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 98); »

Worth the price ((Even if it was still $29)) of Yosemite alone.

Seriously.

Aperture import plugin now available. Step-by-step directions are here.

The plugin of course does not import ANY modifications to the images. It just imports the raw images right across.

I'm waiting to see what Photos brings. Apple has supposedly said they'd support Yosemite at least, and Aperture launches and works on Yosemite right now, so I'm waiting.

I'm still pissed, but I'm waiting.

None of my four credit cards (three are debit, one of which is PayPal) support it yet.

Bah.

Get on the ball, PNC.

Apple Pay: An in-depth look at what's behind the secure payment system

OS X 10.10 Yosemite: The Ars Technica Review

1. Safari Tabs - I preferred the old way. This "scrolling" view is stupid.
2. Safari Page Titles - Who needs 'em? Oh wait, I do. A tab is simply too small a space for important information like the name of the page (or an image's dimensions, etc.).
3. iTunes - Don't get me started. I prefer the much more "data-centric" over "pretty" view I could have in the old iTunes.
4. Color scheme - I've gotten used to it, but at first it's not appealing.
5. Change to "Grow" button - At least the option key allows me to have the old behavior…
6. Finder still loses open windows - I can repeat this with 100% accuracy. If I have a minimized window and I log out and back in (or reboot), the window is "lost" when I un-minimize it. Killing the Finder restores the window, and I've deleted the saved state, the caches, and everything else I can think of. 100% reproducible, and has been since at least 10.9.0, maybe even 10.8.0.
7. Time Machine goofed up - It showed, but didn't let me access, any of the old backups. So I deleted the entire volume and restarted a fresh Time Machine backup. Lame.
8. Continuity? - Seriously, the fact that it doesn't work on my 2012 Mac Pro is a freaking joke.
9. Slow Mail Inbox - Mail is incredibly, inconceivably slow, particularly to display my inbox. I can watch messages appear, dates change formats, and so on. Seriously, clicking my Inbox - with about 300 messages total in it - takes several seconds.
10. iMessages - It's still stupid with Group messages. It's still far too easily for someone to reply to a group message thread but have it create a NEW group message thread on other computers/iPhones/etc.

Continuity Fail: 'Continuity Activation Tool' Enables Handoff on Older Macs - Mac Rumors, Yosemite’s Handoff feature may not be compatible with all Macs and dokterdok/Continuity-Activation-Tool · GitHub

Some good things: OS X Yosemite: Tips, Tricks, and Details

Boring. Don't bother to see it if you've heard about the plot.

Seriously, not one interesting part.

And some seriously fucked up people. Who stays with that woman in the end? And why was the woman like that at all?

You can't relate to either of the main characters. Or even the sister.

The only person who makes any sense or is relatable at all is the police woman.

A comment here: Begemann's Backblaze Review

- I've replace Time Machine (which repeatedly failed and erased my history) with Crashplan for lokal backup as well as cloud backup. Very convenient. Even when I'm away from home the backup goes to my local backup at home. (And then there is the option to backup to friends on off site location, although I have not used it yet.)

Interesting.

I'm still a little annoyed that a developer for Code42 said that they would have a native (i.e. not Java) version of CrashPlan available for Mac OS X by the time Mavericks shipped, and yet here I am on Yosemite still running a barely updated version.

As much as John Gruber loves Backblaze, I'm quite happy having chosen CrashPlan given the many limitations of Backblaze.

The Core wireless speaker system

A buddy and I went in on this together.

I might not use a speaker very often, but when wandering around the house it may be good to use this instead of carrying my phone, and I can always use it with a Bluetooth microphone for a mini PA system. Plus, it's a speaker… I should be able to get 10 years or so out of it.

Many, many Apple folks seem to believe Apple should slow down and fully bake their OS X and iOS software released before releasing them to the world.

I concur.

Apple's Software Quality Decline

There are a few counter-arguments in the comments, including:

Software development is a process, not a product. Perfection is impossible. Why? Because it's written by people and people don't get everything right every time, and even when they do get it right, something else changes to break it. That's how it is.

Let's just look at a couple of comparable software development environments.

Android: unbelievably fragmented. Highly susceptible to security exposures. Almost impossible to update massive parts of the installed base. Riddled with tracking and advertising hooks designed to serve its owner, not its users.

Windows: Vista. 'Nuff said. Oh! And the world's biggest vector for malware.

It's right that Apple should be held to a higher standard. That's only what the company expects, and what we demanding Apple users expect. And there will be times when things go awry, especially as the depth and breadth of its software Eco-system expands. But let's not get carried away with the trope that this is something Apple isn't addressing and cannot improve.

Apple provides me and my team with a richly endowed, high productivity environment, with high security and does this all with panache and elegance. Sometimes we forget just how good this all is.

Could it be even better? Of course. Will it be? I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that one.

I agree… let's not be unreasonable.

Thinking about switching to iOS 8's new Family Sharing? Here's what you need to know

I didn't read that, but I did add Family Sharing to our accounts.

The bummer? My kiddo has $50+ in credits. Purchases will have to be made under her "account" in order to use that $50. So, anything that we want to buy as a family, we will buy through that for the meantime.

Plus, we created her account when Apple didn't let you set up children's accounts, and we can't change her birthdate. So according to her iPhone, she's an adult. 😛

iOS 8's Health App

I really like that iOS 8 can supply first responders with an "Emergency ID" card with your blood type, emergency contacts, allergies, etc.

I suggest everyone fill this information out right now. If you don't do it now, you'll probably forget.