Blog

I've been writing online at various sites since 2003, mostly about a wide variety of topics including web development, tech, food and whatever else I feel like writing and sharing.

Apple Terminated (then resinstated) Epic’s E.U. Developer Account

"We recently announced that Apple approved our Epic Games Sweden AB developer account. We intended to use that account to bring the Epic Games Store and Fortnite to iOS devices in Europe thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). To our surprise, Apple has terminated that account and now we cannot develop the Epic Games Store for iOS. This is a serious violation of the DMA and shows Apple has no intention of allowing true competition on iOS devices."

Yahoo lays off the leaders of Engadget

Engadget, which is operated by Yahoo, will lay off 10 employees, according to people with knowledge of the situation who say staff were “blindsided” by the decision. In addition to cutting staff, the editorial team will split into two sections: “news and features” and “reviews and buying advice.” The news teams will focus on traffic growth, while the reviews teams will report to commerce leaders.

Microsoft’s next big AI push is here after a year of Bing

A year ago today, Microsoft unveiled its ambitious plans for an AI-powered Bing search engine. It was the biggest launch in the history of Bing, helped push AI usage even further into the mainstream, and spurred a wave of dreams and panic about what AI could impact next. The launch was even successful enough to rattle Google, which was quickly seen as falling behind on artificial intelligence.

Mark Zuckerberg calls Apple’s DMA rules ‘so onerous’ he doubts any developer will opt in

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has added his voice to those criticizing Apple’s compliance with the EU’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation, which forces Apple to open up its App Store and allow developers to use their own payment systems, among other things. During Meta’s Q4 earnings call this afternoon, Zuckerberg responded to an investor question asking for Meta’s thoughts on the DMA by saying Apple’s new rules were “so onerous” that he would be surprised if any developer adopted them.

Apple Watch redesigned without blood oxygen monitoring to avoid import ban

Apple has developed a backup plan for if the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are import banned again. As it currently appeals the US International Trade Commission’s (ITC’s) ruling that its watches violate a patent owned by Masimo, Apple has come up with a software workaround that strips its current smartwatches of their controversial blood oxygen monitoring capabilities.

Adobe explains why it abandoned the Figma deal

Adobe just abandoned its $20 billion deal to buy Figma, and now we know why. In an interview on the Decoder podcast with The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, Adobe general counsel Dana Rao said that the company couldn’t prove to European regulators that the acquisition wouldn’t harm competition in the future — that is, that Adobe or Figma wouldn’t eventually do more to compete with one another.

Jason Lengstorf: "Why I'll choose Astro (almost) every time in 2024"

Astro has become my JavaScript framework of choice for web projects going into 2024. I always found myself struggling with feeling like I had a whole bunch of complexity I didn't need with frameworks like Next.js, but not enough power or flexibility with pure static site generators like Hugo. Astro's "just in time" approach to handling dynamic web apps — from a singly dynamic component to full-blown server-side rendering — has me convinced that it's the right default choice for most new web projects today.

Hell freezes over – Apple Plans to support RCS messages from Android phones next year

RCS or Rich Communication Services, a communications standard developed by the GSM Association and adopted by much of the Android ecosystem, is designed to universally elevate messaging communication across mobile devices. Even though Apple has been working with the group, it has until this moment steadfastly refused to add RCS support to iPhones. Now, however, Apple is changing its tune.