31
The New Apple Advantage
On the dearth of Apple-caliber products from companies other than Apple.
John Gruber
Commentary on Apple, technology, design, politics, and more.
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- #4 personal
Visit daringfireball.net → RSS feedOn Hacker News Jun 2008 – Aug 2026
Tech Industry & Business 146Web & Frontend 64Society, Policy & Culture 61Life, Learning & Writing 17Design & UX 17Security & Privacy 12
32
Safari to Include DuckDuckGo as a Built-In Search Option
Link to: http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/apps/
33
Tynt, the Copy/Paste Jerks
Regarding Tynt, a service that breaks copy-and-paste on websites.
34
App Store Rejection of the Week: Dark Hours
My disdain for astrology is so utter, and my esteem for Godier’s previous work so high, that it simply never occurred to me that he might have actually made and submitted to the App Store an astrology app, let alone that he’d then feign surprise and frustration that an astrology app was rejected for being an astrology…
35
Apple Notes Will Gain Markdown Export at WWDC, and, I Have Thoughts
It’s quite gratifying that Markdown has not only become so popular, but after 21 years, continues to grow in popularity, to the point now where there clearly are a lot of people who seemingly enjoy writing in Markdown more than even I do. But I think it would be a huge mistake for Apple to make Apple Notes a “Markdown…
36
Retraction: The App Store Rejection of the Week That Was a Correct Rejection
My disdain for astrology is so utter, and my esteem for Godier’s previous work so high, that it simply never occurred to me that he might have actually made and submitted to the App Store an astrology app, let alone that he’d then feign surprise and frustration that an astrology app was rejected for being an astrology…
37
Resigned
Steve Jobs’s greatest creation.
38
Reddit API Pricing Would Cost Apollo Developer $20M per Year
Link to: https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_call_with_reddit_to_discuss_pricing_bad/
39
Heavy is the Head that wears the AirPods Max
“Oh, that’s a nice button. It has a good click.” “Is it a $550 click?” I asked. He clicked it a few more times. “It’s not *not* a $550 click.”
40
Apple now censoring dictionaries in the App Store
Apple requires you to be 17 years or older to purchase a censored dictionary that omits half the words Steve Jobs uses every day.
41
OpenAI’s board, paraphrased: ‘All we need is unimaginable sums of money’
OpenAI is to this decade’s generative-AI revolution what Netscape was to the 1990s’ internet revolution.
42
Microsoft, Past and Future
Whatever course it takes, Microsoft’s future under Satya Nadella will not resemble its past.
43
Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
Apple isn’t blocking the ability for Facebook to personalize ads, in any way. Apple is just providing *users* with control over their own privacy.
44
Sweet Jeebus, macOS 27 Golden Gate Removes the Dumb Icons from Menu Items
This is my favorite news from all of WWDC this week. I mean that. In a small way I mean it because I so loathe this aspect of MacOS Tahoe. But in a large way I mean it because it’s proof that the rot has been rooted out of Apple’s software design team.
45
Metro
A version of Windows 8 with nothing but Metro looks like an excellent design for an iPad rival.
46
Dickhead of the Week: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri
Link to: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/11/instagram-pushes-back-on-apples-ios-ad-tracking-change.html
47
How Popular Is “Sign in with Apple”?
Link to: https://benpackard.github.io/blog/2020-01-28-sign-in-with-apple/
48
The 2020 iPhone SE
The iPhone SE is an excellent value if you’re fine with the smaller display and Touch ID instead of Face ID. It’s an astoundingly good value if you flat-out prefer the smaller form factor and familiar Touch ID experience.
49
Bloomberg’s ‘The Big Hack’
One way or the other, there is more to come on this story, and either Bloomberg’s or Apple’s and Amazon’s credibility is going to take a significant hit.
50
Medium and the Scourge of Persistent Sharing Bars
When people click a URL and see that it’s a Medium site, their reaction should be “Oh, good, a Medium site — this will be nice to read.” Right now it’s gotten to the point where when people realize an article is on Medium, they think, “Oh, crap, it’s on Medium.”
51
The Chair
Technology is not enough.
52
Daring Fireball: The Kids Are All Right
Somehow I don’t think young Mr. Kaplan — a 13-year-old with an iPad app — sees the iPad as hurting his sense of wonder or entrepreneurism.
53
Amazon's Spending on 'Melania' Is a Barely Concealed Bribe
Link to: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/business/media/amazon-melania-trump-film-critics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IFA.R85v.5ZtNe8FttfaD
54
On the Timing of iOS’s SSL Vulnerability and Apple’s ‘Addition’ to NSA’s PRISM
Putting on my tinfoil hat.
55
Bad Dye Job
It might have made some sense to bring someone from the fashion/brand world to lead software design for Apple Watch, but it sure didn’t seem to make sense for the rest of Apple’s platforms. And the decade of Dye’s HI leadership has proven it.
56
Apple’s Rejection of Hey from the App Store for Not Using In-App Purchases
I’m not trying to be coy, but what is the iPhone itself? A business device or a consumer product? Using *or* instead of *and* as the conjunction there is clearly laughable.
57
Safari Should Display Favicons in Its Tabs
It might sound silly if you’re not a heavy user of browser tabs, but I am convinced that the lack of favicons is holding back Safari’s market share.
58
Another Day Has Come
If you agree that Apple itself was It’s hard to imagine a more orderly, confidence-inspiring, exciting-but-not-at-all-surprising, this-feels-right way to do this.
59
The Apple Tablet
If you’re thinking The Tablet is just a big iPhone, or just Apple’s take on the e-reader, or just a media player, or *just* anything, I say you’re thinking too small.
60
Telegram, Apple, Belarus, and Conflating ‘Irrelevance’ with ‘Inconvenience’
I’ve said it before and will adamantly say it again: it is *prima facie* wrong that one of the rules of the App Store is that an app is not allowed to explain the rules of the App Store.