ldstephens

opinion

I’m a proponent of doing away with the clock changing. But I don’t agree with staying on Daylight Saving Time. Like Arizona, we should stay on Standard Time year around.

Paul LeBlanc, writing for CNN Politics Analysis: Permanent Daylight Saving Time isn't all sunshine

While there could be a debate in the House, there isn't one within the sleep expert community, which argues that permanent Daylight Saving Time is a bad idea.

​[…]

The Sunshine Protection Act? “You could just as well call it the Darkness Protection Act,” Dr. David Neubauer, an expert in sleep medicine at Johns Hopkins University, told What Matters.

“Nobody is creating more sunshine in this Act. It is simply stealing light from the morning, when we need it to reinforce our circadian clock, and adding it to the evening, when we really don't need it,” he said.

Neubauer isn't alone in his sentiment. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a statement following the Senate's passage of the Sunshine Protection Act warning that “making daylight saving time permanent overlooks potential health risks that can be avoided by establishing permanent standard time instead.”

The argument goes like this: During Daylight Saving Time, the clock moves an hour forward — so sunrise and sunset occur an hour later than before. This pushes the biological clock forward an hour as well. So, one might tend to go to bed later and have a harder time getting up in the morning.

​[…]

Bennett acknowledged the concerns of sleep experts, but called the potential shift toward permanent Daylight Saving Time “a worthy experiment — something we should try.”

“And if it doesn't work, we'll go back in two years.”

As I wrote in my last piece, ​“Congress tried a permanent Daylight Saving Time in the 1970s, but quickly reversed course on the move amid widespread public outcry over the switch. Maybe we should learn something from history.”“My thoughts on the Senate’s agreement on permanent Daylight Saving Time”.

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Alex Heath, writing for The Verge

A group of Facebook engineers identified a “massive ranking failure” that exposed as much as half of all News Feed views to potential “integrity risks” over the past six months, according to an internal report on the incident obtained by The Verge.

The engineers first noticed the issue last October, when a sudden surge of misinformation began flowing through the News Feed, notes the report, which was shared inside the company last week. Instead of suppressing posts from repeat misinformation offenders that were reviewed by the company’s network of outside fact-checkers, the News Feed was instead giving the posts distribution, spiking views by as much as 30 percent globally. Unable to find the root cause, the engineers watched the surge subside a few weeks later and then flare up repeatedly until the ranking issue was fixed on March 11th.

John Gruber:

It really does sound like a bug, and some bugs really are devilishly tricky to track down and fix. But it seems a bit odd that it took Facebook six months to fix this one, given how intense the scrutiny of the company has gotten for the very problem this bug made worse.

Nick Heer:

One of the things I think about a lot is why problems such as this one have basically no repercussions for the companies that create them. In this case, this bug was only made public because someone leaked the internal report, and its possible consequence was significant — Heath writes that it “impacted up to half of News Feed views over a period of months”. But it does not matter, not really. Facebook’s reputation is in the tank and it will not lose users because of this, nor will advertisers pull funds. It does not matter that Facebook increased the spread of bullshit instead of responsibly slowing it, apart from in all the subtle ways it does matter that its massive user base was increasingly misinformed.

Facebooks problem is not a failure of technology, nor a shortcoming in their AI filters. Its problem is its shitty business model. Profits chiefly from engagement and virility. Fuck Facebook!

#Linked #Facebook #Opinion

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You’ll either love it or hate it

Overcast has been around since 2013 and has a significant following. It has been my podcast player since 2015. On Friday, March 25th Marco released Overcast’s latest update (2022.2). “It brings the largest redesign in its nearly-eight-year history, plus many of the most frequently requested features and lots of under-the-hood improvements.”

Reading the iOS App Store reviews, folks either love it or hate it. I don’t love it or hate it, but I do prefer the old version.

#Opinion #Apps

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The pros and cons of iOS sideloading

Tim Hardwick, writing for MacRumors

European lawmakers have provisionally agreed upon a new law that would force Apple to allow user access to third-party app stores and permit the sideloading of apps on iPhones and iPads, among other sweeping changes designed to make the digital sector fairer and more competitive.

​[…]

The wording of the legislation has yet to be finalized, but once the language is in place, the European Parliament and the Council will need to approve it. The regulation must be implemented within six months after its entry into force. Digital competition chief Margrethe Vestager said today that she expected the DMA to come into force “sometime in October.”

Should the Digital Markets Act go on to become law, Apple will have to make major changes to its ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ platform to accommodate the requirement to allow for non-App Store apps. Apple said it was “concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users.”

Apple is also facing similar legislation in the United States, with U.S. House lawmakers in June introducing antitrust bills that would result in major changes to the tech industry if passed.

The pros and cons of iOS sideloading

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Anthony Adragna, Burgess Everett and Sarah Ferris, writing for Politico

A bipartisan group of senators has tried and failed, for Congress after Congress, to keep America on daylight saving time permanently. Until Tuesday, when their bright idea finally cleared the chamber.

Just two days after the nation’s latest stressful “spring forward” to the later sunsets of daylight saving time, the Senate unanimously and surprisingly passed Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) bill to lock the clocks. The quick and consequential move happened so fast that several senators said afterward they were unaware of what had just happened.

​I agree with doing away with the clock changing. But I don’t agree with staying on Daylight Saving Time. Like Arizona, we should stay on Standard Time year around. Here’s why. Living in the North East, staying on Daylight Saving Time would mean that us northern states will endure dark winter mornings under the new schedule.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: “How are people going to feel at 7 o’clock in the morning in December, when they put their kids out on the street to catch the school bus, and it’s dead, flat dark?” Hoyer said.

​Congress tried a permanent Daylight Saving Time in the 1970s, but quickly reversed course on the move amid widespread public outcry over the switch. Maybe we should learn something from history.

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Lee Peterson

Wow, I know the rumours were there but until it was announced I didn’t think that Apple would do an event given the war in Europe we are currently facing.

Apple pundits have been speculating whether Apple would hold an event next week in light of the war in Ukraine. They are and some folks think this is a mistake and I tend to agree.

As a European I really think this is a mistake. I for one will not be watching or reporting on this event. Not in protest but as in there’s bigger issues right now and consumerism isn’t one of them.

#Apple #Opinion

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Derek Sivers

My written words are my most precious asset. They are also a history of my life. That’s why I only use plain text files. They are the most reliable, flexible, and long-lasting option. Here’s why.

[…]

When you store your writing in one company’s unique format, then you need that program to access it. Then the economy takes a turn, they go out of business, and your work is trapped in an unusable format.

[…]

If you rely on Word, Evernote or Notion, for example, then you can’t work unless you have Word, Evernote, or Notion. You are helpless without them. You are dependent.

But if you only use plain text, you can use any program on any device, forever. It gives great flexibility and peace of mind.

[…]

CONCLUSION

Reliable, flexible, portable, independent, and long-lasting. Plain text files will be readable by future generations, hundreds of years from now.

Coincidentally, after reading Derek's post I came across this post in my Twitter feed.

Derek makes an excellent case for plain text. Up until a few months ago, I was keeping my notes, writing, ideas, thoughts, correspondence, etc in apps like Ulysses, Bear, or Apple Notes. In January I switched everything back to plain text files. The reason? For all the reasons that Derek gives in his post. As a result, I was able to eliminate my Bear subscription and I won't be renewing my Ulysses subscription in May.

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Tim Hardwick, writing for MacRumors

Apple says it will take a 27% commission on purchases made in dating apps through third-party payment options in the Netherlands, in compliance with a Dutch regulatory ruling.

In an update on its developer support site, Apple said it would collect 27% commission instead of its usual 30% on transactions made in dating apps that use alternative payment methods. Apple says the decreased commission excludes the value for collection and remittance of taxes that the company carries out.

Michael Simon, writing for Macworld

Apple was blasted by developers on Twitter who took issue with the exorbitant fee. Steve Troughton-Smith called the move “absolutely vile” and said Tim Cook and the rest of the executive team should be “ashamed.” Marco Arment wrote that you “can just FEEL how much they despise having to do any of this.” Others noted that it “defeats the purpose of the law” and that developers will still need to pay at least 3 percent to the payment provider, thus negating even the small savings.

[…]

While this system is limited to dating apps in the Netherlands, it’s a peek into how Apple will treat such orders around the world as the various regulatory cases are settled.

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