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jon889

435 karma · joined July 12, 2017

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jon889··on Xcode 26.3 – Developers can leverage coding agents directly in Xcode
It keeps asking if I want to run the app after building it. I reply yes, and then it says it can't do that, tries to build again by command line and gets stuck... (even with approving the command)
jon889··on Why is the Oral-B iOS app almost 300 MB? And why is Colgate's app even bigger..?
I recently bought an oral-b toothbrush with the AI app thing, and it’s worked really well. Something about making the little dots disappear mean I’m now cleaning my teeth properly for 2m30s. Wish I’d had it a lot earlier and maybe I wouldn’t have so many fillings. (I swear this isn’t an ad, I bought it on prime day thinking I’d probably return it).

Also I doubt it’s AI, just doing something fairly basic with the accelerometer data

jon889··on Apple: Privacy requirement for app submissions starts May 1
Looks like they've weakened the requirements by only requiring it for apps that add the dependency after May 1.
jon889··on The failure of self-checkout technology
Why don't you just scan the alcohol last then?
jon889··on Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)
It’s questions like these that made StackExchange worth visiting and browsing. When they decided to be super strict about being on topic it made the quality of the sites go downhill a lot. Now there is much less reason for experts to hang out on the sites and while there provide answers to new questions.
jon889··on There's something off about LED bulbs
When the transition started the first LED bulbs were awful. They have come a long way since then.
jon889··on There's something off about LED bulbs
Ok but in the UK (and Europe im guessing) we had the ban on the old bulbs ages ago and yeah it was weird at first and the early LED bulbs were awful blueish white. But the bulbs are the correct color, the packaging has what tint the bulb is. Some people have smart bulbs that can change color completely and dim from apps and voice assistants.

The idea that the old bulbs shouldn’t be banned is ridiculous. You only have to look at other countries than the US to see yes it can be done and yes the world doesn’t end.

jon889··on I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one
Says it's a perfectly functioning phone and then lists how it's not because it's old and got worn out. apps requiring later versions is an issue but the % of people on old iOS versions is really quite small. It makes no sense to waste development time on implementing something for <1% of customers on iOS 14, when you could use a newer API in one line of code.
jon889··on Tell HN: I stopped caring about personal development in tech after seeing GPT-4
They don't have to be sentient. It doesn't need to be better at creating software than humans. It needs to be cheap and good enough. Most apps and websites are pretty similar, eg, blogs, storefronts. We have whitelabel apps and websites already, they're about to become a lot more customisable by a lot more people.

It's the same as IKEA, it's not as good quality as a handcrafted table from the 1800s. But it works well for most situations and most people.

jon889··on Rotating Sandwiches – That's It
I can't see how this is correct. The spinning dancer works because there's no details on it.
jon889··on What makes Git so hard to use?
When I realised that branches were just labels pointing to a commit, instead of a an actual "branch" ie a group of commits, then everything made a lot more sense. I still kinda wish branches were more groups of commits, so that if you have multiple branches on top of each other they can automatically/more easily keep up to date.
jon889··on The Brilliance of “nil” in Objective-C
I don’t see how it’s that different to Swift? All that would be needed is a ? after `dict` and a direct comparison to true.

dict.containsObjectForKey[@"a"]

Becomes roughly

dict?.containsObjectForKey(“a”) == true

jon889··on Show HN: Lunar XDR Brightness control
Literally was looking for this software about 5 hours ago because of this..
jon889··on Show HN: Prodscape.net – Map your mobile app
I would love this so much, but uploading the IPA would be a bit of an issue :/ it would be impossible at my previous company (a large supermarket) and now I’d have to get justification. It would be good to get a little bit more info on how it works or rather have the results of a demo app that can be accessed :)
jon889··on Why Apple’s new M1 chips are essential for rapid iOS development
I've actually found SwiftUI previews work fairly well, have to admit they get better with every Xcode version, and I don't understand why sometimes they need to recompile. Using them I generate snapshot tests automatically, and an app for our designer to see the various UI components on device through TestFlight. Currently only for our UI components library, but I'm hoping to expand the automatic snapshot testing to the app at some point.
jon889··on Namecheap: Russia Service Termination
Genuinely curious, how does he see the US, UK, EU etc helping Ukraine? Does he think all those countries are ruled by neo-nazis as well? Or does he not know the country he currently lives in is helping Ukraine because he only consume Russian media?
jon889··on Chris Lattner left Swift core team
I’d much rather have a language specifically for creating apps than another generic language. It’s actually my opinion that Swift got worse since they started wanting it be used for more things like the server side.
jon889··on What do you really get from IDE-driven development?
Just because you’re using an IDE doesn’t mean your should read the documentation, and know what’s available, what’s in the latest versions and what’s coming up. The IDE is just a tool to make typing faster wherever that’s through code completion or refactoring tools.
jon889··on Meta is not threatening to leave Europe
if WhatsApp goes people would move to signal or telegram.

Instagram is a bit trickier, but I'm fairly sure people would start making a new one immediately. You could even relatively easily transfer everything and everyone across using the zip you can get thanks to GPDR.

jon889··on Apple unveils contactless payments via Tap to Pay on iPhone
Weird that this is US first when in the UK it’s extremely rare not to be able to use contactless. (I only say UK as I live there, but definitely there are other countries that are heavily focused on contactless)
jon889··on The 4-day week is flawed – workers still want it
I know I could do the same amount of work in less time, which is where the 4 day work week comes in. It's not about the same amount of hours in a week...
jon889··on AirPods don't “just work”
It would be nice if audio from all your devices played at once through AirPods instead of it trying to switch by guessing which one you want to listen to. In exactly the same way you can hear all your devices at once if not using headphones, the advantage being only you can hear them and not anyone else.

Eg if watching TV on a laptop with headphones but you get sent a TikTok or short clip on your phone it plays over the TV and you just tune out the TV for a few seconds like you would if your were at home watching TV while using your phone.

jon889··on AirPods don't “just work”
Wired headphones took forever to put on though. You’d have to untangle them when taking them out your pocket. And when commuting I’d tuck the wire down my shirt so it didn’t flap everywhere and get caught on things, but that meant taking your phone out your pocket pulled on it.

I misplaced my AirPods for a bit a while ago and switched to wired headphones and couldn’t believe I had put up with it for years before I got AirPods.

jon889··on Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022
I doubt this. Apple could charge an activation fee with a normal SIM already and yet they don’t. And any money gained from this would be insignificant to their other revenue streams. People don’t change SIMs that often
jon889··on Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022
There’s already an app called Airalo that lets you buy eSIMs in different countries. You don’t have to visit a shop to get a SIM which is better because in many countries the SIM shops will rip tourists off and/or there will be a language barrier issue.
jon889··on Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system
When I was at uni a few years ago, I ended up skipping most of my lectures and watching them online instead, worked better for me in that I could watch them at a time that suited me better, watch at 2x speed, go back and rewatch things I didn't understand. Compared to cramming into a lecture theatre with 200 other students in some cases.

That said tutorials and labs being in person were pretty essential, I wouldn't have liked to do that remotely.

Probably a combination that varies for different people is the best.

jon889··on UK and EU agree Brexit trade deal
yes technically we left 11 months ago but all the rules etc stayed the same for the transition period, its only next year and in the following years that we'll start to notice the effects (like having to get ETIAS to go to Europe in 2022, or having to get health insurance because EHIC isn't a thing for us anymore, and here's hoping the mobile operators are nice and don't reintroduce roaming charges)
jon889··on London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain
Boris just says stuff day to day. best just to ignore him completely because the next day he’ll be saying something different.
jon889··on Pompeo tells Congress Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China
We’ve been too busy with Brexit and now the Coronavirus not exactly being handled well.
jon889··on Coronavirus Is Making Universal Basic Income Look Better
No one ever says this about m/billionaires or their children. There are always going to be a few people taking advantage of a system, that shouldn’t be a reason to punish everyone else.
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