★ Holy Hell, Trump Did Use Twitter Direct Messages, There Were ‘Many’ of Them, and the Special Counsel Now Has Them
daringfireball.net/2023/08/hol

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The situation with Trump and his extensive use of Twitter and how Twitter responded to the search warrant/court order confirms that leaving Twitter was one of my best decision in a long time. Twitter’s actions to protect Trump are disgusting (telling him that there is a search warrant targeting his use of the platform). I cannot, in good faith, be on such platforms.

Apple Should Introduce FlightPlay™

Recently, while on a flight with United from Tenerife to Newark, I played with the infotainment screen in front of me. These infotainment systems really improved in recent years. Screens are bigger, speed is much faster, and interaction has improved quite a bit. Some of these systems look like iPad-in-the-seat, literally. It occurred to me that Apple while offering CarPlay, could try to find a way to create a version for flight infotainment systems. Let’s call it FlightPlay because Flighty is already used, and AirPlay, too!

I want each plane to offer a complete set of flight data, ready to be consumed by my iPad or iPhone while in flight via a local wifi network. The iPhone or the iPad would then turn into a special StandBy mode where data would be visually presented dynamically, allowing for great interactions with the user. Modern devices have so much powerful CPU, the interaction would be much more fluid and enjoyable. The data provided would be based on a standard model and would provide speed, altitude, current destination, path, atmosphere metrics (temp, headwind speed, etc.), and so much more. The airplane company could directly provide TV shows, music, etc., to our devices. The same would be for games. But Apple could also allow consumption of locally stored content from the device itself. I can imagine Apple’s designers working on a great graphical dashboard.

Is anybody at Apple reading this? What are you waiting for?

Thought of the day: sometimes, what you decide not to do is as important as what you decide to do! For bloggers and writers, for me at least, writing is fundamental to my existence, publishing and sharing, a lot less. I have many unfinished pieces that probably will never be shared with the world. And that is ok.

👉🏻 Thought of the day: when people put responsibility for solving the climate crisis and the like on the governments and big companies, it’s a clever (or not so clever way) to NOT take responsibility as an individual. It’s too easy.

Governments & companies are made of and operated by people, for god sake! No willingness by the people, individually or in a government, produces the exact same result: no action. But what action can we take as an individual, you might ask? Revisit your consumption habits might eventually help. Less consumption = less need for recycling. Simple.

Meanwhile: the planet IS burning.

Speak up. When something doesn't work. When someone is being hurt. When you don't agree. Speak up. Someone has to. It's a burden to see more, it's a duty and a privilege. So take care and speak up. You would be surprised how many people think the same and are equally afraid to speak up. Someone has to be the first.

It’s not always easy to speak up, even more, if you’re the first. Good for you if other voices join yours. But if not, that’s ok too, even though some people might not like what you are saying.

This 👇🏻

The most prolific thinkers aren’t thinking with external brains. If you’re a photographer, take more pictures. If you’re a writer, produce more text. The tools will work themselves out. Source: RIP: The External 🧠

I don’t really like the idea of a “second brain”. My brain, the only one that I got, already requires all my energy. Why bother creating another “brain”?

On Articles Size & Twitter

Tweets on Twitter use to be 140 characters max. Later it was increased to 280 characters. Now, apparently, you can post a note with a maximum of 2500 characters.

Now, looking at MacRumors or similar sites, it seems we get shorter and shorter articles, almost the size of a note on Twitter. Isn’t it strange?

People are busy and their attention span has shrunk considerably. Twitter once was very popular and others tried to adjust to its modus operandi. The web is adjusting in unexpected ways.

Feeling Helpless About Climate

Due to Canada’s forest fires and easterly winds, bad air quality is returning to my town for the next few days. With all the bad climate-related news coming up from everywhere on Earth, trying to understand what is happening is essential, so we can better adapt our lifestyle. I like to read many things on a subject that I find interesting, but climate change topic is utterly depressing. The planet is clearly slowly burning. All indicators are going in the wrong direction. How can we not feel helpless? It’s hard to stay informed and keep faith in humanity. Prove me wrong.

We Must Do Something About Meta’s Monopoly

In my mind, every new platforms should start from 0 user base. Meta, just to name that one, have a monopoly of social graph. This is anti-competitive. Should Bluesky sue Meta? Should the open source community sue Meta? Yes. And yes.

Remember Microsoft and Internet Explorer back in the days? Remember Apple and the App Store?

We are not ready to accept this but here we are. Meta is a monopoly in my book. Time for regulation. I casted my vote: no Threads for me.