CurrentKey Stats

With CurrentKey Stats v1.5 Mac Spaces customization is now free (plus easy app-stats sharing) 💥

spencerdailey

Since launching CurrentKey Stats, the strongest reaction to the app has been around its workflow management features. To celebrate that: all Spaces customization features in CurrentKey Stats are now free 🧙‍♂️ (many were previously an in app purchase). (Spaces are what Apple calls Macs’ virtual desktops found in Mission Control). CurrentKey Stats allows you to… Continue reading With CurrentKey Stats v1.5 Mac Spaces customization is now free (plus easy app-stats sharing) 💥

product thoughts

Apple and Google Maps should let you lock their app’s UI in portrait or landscape mode, apart from the system-wide iOS setting

spencerdailey

You either use Maps in PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE mode. It’s a very polarizing issue, but one thing is universal: when the phone changes to your non-preferred orientation, it’s frustrating — and frustrating at the worst possible time: when you’re wondering if you should turn left or right, or keep driving straight. If a reading app… Continue reading Apple and Google Maps should let you lock their app’s UI in portrait or landscape mode, apart from the system-wide iOS setting

CurrentKey Stats · maker stories

Building my first Swift app, from a background of web app hacking

spencerdailey

Quick note/disclaimer: This blog post is from a historically introverted solo hacker, who – aside from personal-use command line tools – has exclusively shipped web app projects until this app. A long time ago I took a day in the library with my (still shiny new) mid-2011 Macbook Air and poked around Xcode with the… Continue reading Building my first Swift app, from a background of web app hacking

product thoughts

Apple, Google, Twitter: your products are broken. Here are 3 simple ways to improve them to handle scams, threats, and disinformation

spencerdailey

Google/YouTube: Make it possible for users on your platform to know if a YouTube video has been edited after it’s been posted. It’s insane that I can clip out chunks of a video and there is no record (as far is the public is concerned) of me having done so. Like, if you edit a… Continue reading Apple, Google, Twitter: your products are broken. Here are 3 simple ways to improve them to handle scams, threats, and disinformation

Uncategorized

Robocalls and spam texts deliver fake news silently, at scale, but won’t stop anytime soon

spencerdailey

… unless carriers like AT&T open up to researchers and improve their networks. While the FCC is applying pressure in this regard, any decent solution is likely years away, and may be hamstrung by net neutrality-esque message discrimination concerns. Nonetheless, fake robocalls and texts are a crisis. Borrowing from my last post: Right now, any… Continue reading Robocalls and spam texts deliver fake news silently, at scale, but won’t stop anytime soon

Uncategorized

In 2019, Apple needs to change iPhone’s call UI because robocalls are killing us

spencerdailey6 Comments

Right now, any robocall hacker in the world can instantly take over your phone’s screen, knocking you out of your mobile gaming experience, disrupting you as you check out at the store, or breaking your concentration as you try and type out an email. And disrupt they do, at a massive scale. Several billion fake… Continue reading In 2019, Apple needs to change iPhone’s call UI because robocalls are killing us

security

“Could you disable your [Mac’s] admin password?” asked by an Apple store employee before a multi-day off-site device repair

spencerdailey3 Comments

2021 Forward: Back in 2018, I encountered what I’d consider the cardinal sin of opsec by an Apple store employee. He asked me to disable my Mac’s password before I turned it in for a multi-day off-site repair. The casual manner in which he asked me led me to assume this was not the first… Continue reading “Could you disable your [Mac’s] admin password?” asked by an Apple store employee before a multi-day off-site device repair