One Fediverse App to Rule Them All?

A few days ago I said, “should one build an all encompassing Activity Pub app? I don’t think so because it would end up as a big confusing hot mess. Apps optimized for individual services are still the way to go  in my opinion.”

This was in reference to the different platforms like Friendica, micro.blog, and Pixelfed. I don’t think one app should be able to cover all of the platforms because it would be a terrible app – jack of all trades master of none, thing.

However, having used Akkoma, Takahe, and Misskey, it seems that while there are platforms that serve different purposes and functions, a lot of the fediverse platforms can be considered different versions of the same thing.

Like Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, and BrightKite (OMG, anyone remember BrightKite?), they all were meant to have the same core function but grew differently with different features because the founders each had different priorities and what they considered important. Twitter was probably the most basic of them all.

For all the platforms that share a large overlap like Mastodon, Pleroma, Akkoma, MissKey, CalcKey, etc., it might make sense for a single app like Ivory, Mammoth, or Ice Cubes, to accommodate them all or for the platforms to implement more shared API and increase interoperability. This should allow people who are on the overlapping platforms to use the same app and increase the market for the app.

Not sure about the technical requirements to have all the similar platforms be much more interoperable but it looks like it’s entirely possible.

dduane:

Okay, now I’m feeling vindictive

This is worse, in its way, than the pornbots.

Here’s something that turned up in my ask box just now.

…So. You’ve all seen these. Some of them are genuine. Lots aren’t.

Here’s where their message leads:

…Okay. The first warning sign: this account is about 3 days old.

But the second: searching on the details of the plea for help via Google, what do we find but…

…Poor Macaroni has repeatedly been hit by cars, and has repeatedly suffered busted femurs, since 2015.

“This,” as the saying goes, “starts to look like carelessness.” :/

Taking advantage of the kindness of strangers this way is vile… and plainly there’s no shortage of people willing to indulge.

So: yeah, I’ll be delighted to help the OP get some more traction on this! You betcha. By:

Blocking. Reporting. Reporting to PayPal as well. And dropping @staff a note, when I have a moment. Because allowing this stuff to prosper here just invites more people to try it on. :/

…Pass the news around, friends. (“And call it Macaroni.”)

The things online stores do

I bought two boxes of masks that were supposed to be delivered yesterday. They didn’t arrive.

When I remembered this afternoon to check for the masks, my brother told me there was a package earlier on the bookshelf. It was a sealed black plastic bag. Ok, not boxes, which means I needed to check the app and see where my order was because the package felt like they could be clothes inside, not boxes of masks. When I checked the app it said they’ve been delivered. But there were no boxes delivered today, just the one plastic bag.

So I went to open the bag. And as I was opening it, I wondered if they took out the masks and repacked them without the boxes. I mean, okay, maybe they’re being sus about it or just didn’t want to send the boxes to make it a smaller package and save money.

I poured the contents out and sure enough, four small plastic bags full of masks. Suspicions almost confirmed. Right? 

Wrong.

Inside the bag there were the two boxes the masks were supposed to be inside of. But they were flattened. THEY WERE FLATTENED!!! These two boxes were looking freshly flat as if they just came out of the goddamn box production line! 

Geniuses, fucking geniuses, these people. Save money on the delivery and making them easier to transport by unboxing the masks and flattening the boxes.

Props to the sellers, man.

Speaking of third party Mastodon clients…

Checking out phanpy.social, it looks amazing. So clean, very app like, adjustable text size and interface via browser control. It’s still in development but it looks like it’s ready for regular use if you’re looking for a visually pleasing and functional web app for Mastodon. Best used on mobile or tablet, IMO.

All the boosted posts are grouped together in a carousel, threads get highlighted with an automated count, replies have a different shade, content warning, post visibility, text description, language options, attachments, and polls are available.

Posts are shown either as the normal stack of text blocks or separated as cards depending on your browser’s zoom level, and you can launch the post composition field into a different browser window for much larger and clearer view.

It has dark mode and post detail opens up in a new sheet over the timeline in the same window. Love it!

PS: Here’s an actively updated list of clients and resources for Mastodon

A Twitterrific for Mastodon?

I’m heartbroken that Twitterrific had to die and I don’t suppose Iconfactory plans to build a Mastodon app. Twitterrific developer Craig Hockenberry mentioned in his blog post that the new Mastodon apps are excellent to help with the transition but they ignore the scale and possibilities of ActivityPub. 

I can understand that. I mean, Mastodon is clearly the flagship ActivityPub client right now but its nature means you can see status updates or posts from people posting using other environments such as Pleroma, Misskey, CalcKey, Friendica, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Takahe, micro.blog, etc which are not Mastodon and not fully compatible with the Mastodon API, but they kind of work similarly in some ways yet at the same time quite differently as well.

Should one build an all encompassing Activity Pub app? I don’t think so because it would end up as a big confusing hot mess. Apps optimized for individual services are still the way to go  in my opinion. I’m still hopeful that there’s an Iconfactory take that can accommodate the Fediverse because the team has always managed to come up with innovative designs and user experience. They’ve never been afraid of experimenting with different approaches to the same problem.

Maybe they have something in mind already or secretly have been building something, maybe they haven’t. Given the response they gave to being abruptly shut out of Twitter, maybe they’re going to take some time before deciding on their next step.

Right now there’s already plenty of upcoming third party Mastodon apps to choose from for iOS even if they’re still in TestFlight, not to mention existing ones as well as web apps that can work across platforms, but a buffet of choices never stopped new ones from appearing.

The death of third party Twitter apps

On Friday, 13 January 2023, Twitter turned off access to most third party Twitter clients. People who used apps like Tweetbot, Twitterrific, and Echofon were suddenly shut out of their apps, faced with a screen that told them there’s an authentication issue. 

It’s not the first time third party apps were given the shaft by the company but this time there were no warnings, no official statements acknowledging the matter, no explanations. It’s as if millions of voices were suddenly silenced.

While there had been internal discussions about the ban, it wasn’t until almost a week later that there was an official word and even then there was no public communication that third party apps are no longer allowed. Engadget found out by diving into Twitter’s developer terms which were only just updated yesterday.

Twitterrific developer Craig Hockenberry was rightly incensed about the move, and his Iconfactory colleague Sean Heber wrote about having to shut down the app after 16 years. It’s absolutely clear that Twitter is no longer the same company as it was a year ago or even six months ago.

Unlike companies such as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, or TikTok, Twitter had always been reliant on third party apps and solutions even near the beginning, which was why the 2012 API restrictions were met with massive backlash to which Twitter then relented. This time, though, no such luck.

The LVCC Loop is a Glorified Theme Park Ride

This is someone’s idea of a revolutionary rapid transport that’s supposed to beat the traffic. Sure, it’s currently only a prototype, just a showcase of an idea, but it looks very much as if the future of transport is a Disneyland ride or a glorified Uber pool. Other cities have much more efficient and safer versions called a bus route, a metro, or MRT.

You may have read about last year’s Tesla jam in the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop so there’s no question that it can happen again.

South Korea’s cyber security landscape is a nightmare

I’ve always known that South Korea has a weird fetish with Internet Explorer and that they were forced to scramble for solutions when other browsers became more popular and IE was losing support from Microsoft. I had no idea that a convoluted layer of security applications  was behind the fetish.

Banks in the country apparently require their customers to have multiple “security” apps just to be able to use online banking because they don’t want to use established digital security resources.

Nowadays, a typical Korean banking website will require five security applications to be installed before you are allowed to log in. One more application is suggested to manage this application zoo. And since different websites require different sets of applications, a typical computer in South Korea probably runs a dozen different applications from half a dozen different vendors. Just to be able to use the web.

Pure insanity.

With 2020 being the alpha release