Aral Balkan @aral@mastodon.ar.al
Admin
Cyborg rights activist, designer, developer.
Joined Apr 2017
Gnomit 1.0.4
https://ar.al/2018/10/19/gnomit-1.0.4/
There’s a new version of Gnomit, my little commit message editor for Linux, thanks to the initiative of @bugaevc who sent me a patch a few weeks ago. Sergey’s patch updates Gnomit to use a standard window instead of the dialog window I was using and moves the Cancel and Commit buttons to the new window’s header bar.
Thanks, Sergey! 
‘Surveillance capitalism has led us into a dystopia’
https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/surveillance-capitalism-has-led-us-into-a-dystopia/p06p0tdy
The BBC will be releasing this short BBC Ideas piece tomorrow morning but you get a sneak peek because you’re on the fediverse ;)
PS. Note to self: learn to stare less intensely at the camera and blink more.
How much thought or work could go into a minimalist interface anyway? Well… :)
Sipping some lovely Hefeweissbier Dunkel from a thousand-year-old brewery (since 1040).
Canadians were treated to an announcement involving the leaders of all three levels of government gushing and fawning about an enlightened urban partnership with a foreign company whose business model is built exclusively on the principle of mass surveillance … Eric Schmidt, Google’s former executive chair, said they had realized their long-running dream for “someone to give us a city and put us in charge.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-sidewalk-toronto-is-not-a-smart-city/
PS. I love @alt_text bot :)
@mastohost Hey Hugo, any idea why rel="me" validation doesn't seem to be working for me on https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral for https://ar.al ?
With the transition to a cashless society, millimeter wave body scanners, stop and search, WiFi and Bluetooth scanning by default, and G4S everywhere, the construction of the Dutch surveillance state seems to be on schedule for completion in time for the swearing in of prime minister Wilders in about ten year’s time.
Where Apple Maps thought the burger joint I wanted to go was vs where it really is. Fun times.
Has discovered Brunchroom. Is happy :) #Amsterdam
On the left, Morning Sun, an apple-pear-ginger-cinnamon juice, on the right… wait for it… “Call me Rose”, a latte with rosewater, chocolate sauce, and crushed pistachios. YUM!
FREEZE+PRESS
This is a fascinating article and an inspiring approach to the process of authoring and publishing in the digital/networked age using bash, markdown, etc.
Because we’re dickheads.
This just popped up on my Apple TV:
“Your playback, searches, and device trust score are used to personalise your experience, improve that of others, and prevent fraud.”
What the fucking fuck, Apple? No, this is not OK at all.
Better Blocker: thank you for our best week yet!
https://ar.al/2018/09/25/better-blocker-thank-you-for-our-best-week-yet/
@laura and I want to thank those of you who purchased @better last week. Thanks to you, we had our best week ever and sold over 2,500 units. That’s quite something given that we have sold just over 20,000 units in total over the last two years.
The Better Blocker macOS app became the #1 paid app overall in the Netherlands and Guatalama App Stores, entered the top ten in 14 countries, & was in the top 100 in 27 countries.
The new, radically simplified, Better Blocker for macOS is now out in time for today’s release of macOS Mojave :)
(And it supports Dark Mode. In case you care about such things.)
Here’s another sweet little game: Get Comfortable by McLean (@mcccclean@twitter.com)
Been looking into the indie gaming scene on itch.io, etc. – so very awesome. Exactly what we need in the non-gaming side of tech also (including platforms that let independents make a living… which is why Elementary’s store is so great…)
Anyway, just stumbled on this tiny game called Afterlife, made with the Construct 3 engine (you’ll finish it in a few minutes). So cute! :)
Yay! The radical redesign of @better for macOS Mojave (to match the iOS 12 redesign) is now waiting for review.
Once it is approved, we will be releasing it alongside macOS Mojave itself on Monday at the new lowest-tier price ($0.99/£0.99/€1.09…) to match the iOS version.
(You can read more on our reasoning around the design and pricing in my earlier blog post: https://ar.al/2018/09/14/better-simpler-and-more-affordable/)
Now, Laura and I are off to get some lunch and celebrate 
🎉
Code freeze on Mojave version of @better – the plan is to submit the update to the App Store tomorrow barring any major niggles following more testing in the morning.
Really happy with how it’s looking and the new Dark Mode support :)
Admin
Cyborg rights activist, designer, developer.
Joined Apr 2017
