After reading Gruber’s article about Wavelength, I decided to try it. I’m not sure I require another messaging solution. Besides using Apple’s iMessage and Telegram to get news from Ukraine, the rest of my messaging app usage is anecdotic. So, what are my thoughts about this? The initial few moments with Wavelength are not what I call an honest onboarding experience. Well, I already shared my surprise at having to enter my phone number at the very first step of the application onboarding. Continue reading →

Apple pays $12.1 mln fine for alleged app market abuse in Russia - Antimonopoly Service

U.S. tech giant Apple has paid a 906 million rouble ($12.12 million) fine in a Russian antitrust case alleging abuse of its dominance in the mobile apps market, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Monday.

First, where is the money going once paid by Apple? The current situation in Ukraine mandates more scrutiny. Personally, I would have shut down the App Store altogether in this market. Plain and simple as well as give a middle finger instead of paying the fine. But that’s me.

365 days of destruction. 365 days of murdering. 365 days of looting. 365 days of terror. 365 days of raping. 365 days of horror. 365 days of lies. 365 days of absolute nonsense because of one man’s ego. Continue reading →

Attorney General Ashley Moody:

“We must ensure that consumers have the information needed to make informed decisions about their data privacy and security. The existing lack of transparency in app stores can create a significant risk for American citizens, and could cause their personal information to be exploited by foreign entities of concern. That is why I am calling on Apple and Google to bring more transparency to their app stores—so consumers know what products are owned or developed by nations that may pose a national security risk.”

I think this is a great idea. In challenging times, I want to know if an app is created or owned by someone who brings money into bad actor pockets. I do have internal debate about this issue from time to time, having such labeling in the App Store would certainly help in my buying or subscription decisions.

I walked today with my dear wife and quickly chatted about the Ukraine war. My wife asked me a question I didn’t expect: what if Western countries who had already sent armaments to Ukraine were sending soldiers with a promise not to attack Russia on their territory? Is this what should happen after sending fighter jets if we ever get there? I don’t recall Zelensky asking for boots on the ground. Continue reading →

I don’t know if it is a popular opinion or not, but Telegram is such a well-designed messaging app. It looks cool, and it has the right amount of gamification. Telegram.app feels native on all Apple platforms.

I use Telegram passively to subscribe to channels that publish news and information about the war in Ukraine essentially. Many of the publishers were on Twitter too, but I left this shitty platform. I don’t use Telegram for chatting with others.

I’m pondering about subscribing. there are things that I don’t like about Telegram (like insisting on getting access to my contacts and being owned by Pavel Durov). I don’t like the owner’s attitude toward Apple’s App store rules in general. He’s Russian with Ukrainian origins. Thankfully, is fled Moscow a long time ago to live in Dubai, a safe haven for many Russians these days. The fun fact is that Telegram is hugely popular in Ukraine and serves both sides in good and bad ways.

Are there any Telegram users here? Do you share my sentiment? Are you subscribing to the Premium tier?

Should Russians be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, France, next year? The question is out, and the debate is already raging. For me, the answer is simple and unequivocal: no. My reasons are multiple. Here are a few of them. First of all, we cannot pretend that Olympic Games are apolitical. Participation or non-participation in games can also have a political character. History has shown it on several occasions. Continue reading →

Some telling excerpt from a recent story in the Globe and Mail about a Canadian helping Ukraine:

“There’s a couple of shots I made that day that will be with me,” he said. One was a Russian in a T-shirt who was carrying a box of ammunition more than 1,800 metres behind the front line – a distance Teflon says was the longest shot he’s ever made. “He saw no threat, he thought he was safe. But it’s my job to ensure that they know that they’re not safe anywhere,” Teflon said. “The role of a sniper is to ultimately push into the minds of the enemy and make them question everything.”

And

“There’s allegations that all these Russians must be drugged. There’s no way. I think it’s just lack of training. Because they still act like human beings. I’ve watched guys cry and I’ve watched guys scream and I’ve watched guys try to pull their friends back when they get killed. They’re humans but they don’t have an ounce of training when it comes to fighting a war.”

And

“Sadly, it’s working. That’s why they’re doing it. We’re defending until we can’t defend that spot any more because they just destroy it with tanks. And they just keep sending another wave. It’s just relentless,” Teflon said. “So, they’ve gained 500 metres of dirt, but they just took over a completely destroyed position and lost hundreds of guys to do so.”

Finally

“The world deserves to hear the truth and after losing Joe and Greg, they need to understand we’re not stopping this work,” he said. “There’s no point me dying without telling my story.”

This a poignant story about a Canadian snipper “working” on the front line in Ukraine.

I’m super happy to see so many countries contributing to the war efforts. Kyiv has been asking for tanks for a long time. Finally, the last roadblock to a significant contribution has been lifted thanks to the German government, who seemingly found the light and made the right decision. Now for serious questions… Will those tanks, a few hundred of them, of all sizes, models and with various capabilities, really reverse the tide in favour of the Ukrainians? Continue reading →

Here are a few questions that pop up in my mind when reading the news about the war in Ukraine. How do they estimate Russian casualties? They are around 500-800 KIA per day. That’s a lot. Is this number inflated for propaganda purposes? Why is Putin not saying, “Any country sending arms to help Ukraine is, in fact, a declaration of war against Russia”? What would be the implications of such a declaration? Continue reading →

After I told my wife that the second-biggest jackpot had been won, she asked me what I would do with all that money. So here’s what I would do. First, after the usual and probably mandatory press conference, I would get home and patiently wait for the deposit. Once received, I would call my bank to set aside a few million for my personal needs (and for my immediate family, of course). Continue reading →

🇺🇦 There is one thing that I’m finding hard to replace from Twitter: all Twitter accounts I was following reporting about the war in Ukraine, from people on the front or close to it. This is critical information that goes beyond what the general media is saying. But things are starting to move in the right direction, as I have found many tweeps who are now on Mastodon. Yeah! 🙂

Poor Putin, now he complains that Ukraine is sending drones to their military bases to destroy military assets and make it hard for planes to take off in the direction of Ukraine to commit crimes on civilians. Poor little boy. Fuck him. He’ll wait forever for any kind of negotiation if you ask me. Continue reading →

We’re close to Christmas and getting closer to new years eve. I hope Ukrainians can get a small break during the holidays. News about increased military activities by Russia in Belarus, north of Ukraine, close to the frontier, isn’t encouraging. It’s like when Russia was preparing to break Ukrainian borders last February. Who knows what they’re up to? We shouldn’t trust them. Are these military exercises like they said? My fingers are crossed. Continue reading →

🇺🇦Russian’s top brass are complaining that Zelensky and Biden didn’t have a single word about Russia’s demands and their “quest for peace”. Ukrainians continuously ask for more weapons to defend themselves against the invaders. They complain that it’s not enough. Who started the war? Who’s hitting civilian structures 95% of the time? Who’s raping who? Who is stealing who? You tell me then I’ll make up my mind about who’s right to be complaining. Continue reading →

Earlier this year, back in May I think, I started a subscription to Write.as. Why? I was curious about this platform for writers and there was a special for a five-year subscription. So, why not! Then I started to write about my reactions to the war in Ukraine. I wrote maybe a dozen of posts on this subject. I had to let go my feelings. Then I stopped. But I still follow the news about this senseless war. Continue reading →

I recently wrote my satisfaction about Readdle’s Documents.app on-boarding experience on the iPad. Now I’m reading about Spark’s cleverness take on emails. Without being as opinionated as Hey.com, Spark is a serious professional email client. Readdle’s home is Ukraine 🇺🇦 too. I’m considering integrating both software in my toolset. All good reasons to show some support to them. Continue reading →

I read about so many people flocking to Mastodon, leaving Twitter behind. I actually started to see a definitive decline in my followers number. Something is really going on. I myself started to think about the possibility of leaving the platform too. Just like I did with Facebook, Flickr, and Tumblr, only to leave a place where my content is simply cross-posted from another source without a real and active presence of mine. Continue reading →

🇺🇦It is becoming clear that Russians are angry about the near collapse of their army in south and east Ukraine. The strategy now seems to bomb all over Ukraine, mostly civilian infrastructures, to terrorize the civil population, double down with Belarus, and get ready for another take from the north for a second time. They probably hope to disrupt the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south by diverting precious Ukrainian army resources back to the north. Continue reading →

🇺🇦 Putin is showing signs of being a loser (as if it wasn’t clear yet), because he is losing, slowly but surely. Sure we’d like things to happen quicker to save lives and infrastructures. But with yesterday’s “speech”, Putin is signing for more collaboration across western countries, hoping for reinforcements of support for Ukraine. Continue reading →