It’s late January, so surely it’s about time you sorted out that box of unsorted cables once and for all? CC-licensed photo by Andy Melton on Flickr.
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It’s Friday, so there’s another post due at the Social Warming Substack at about 0845 UK time. It’s about all those tweets you wish you’d sent. (Sort of.)
A selection of 9 links for you. Ooh, RS-232. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.
Apple announces sweeping EU App Store policy changes—including sideloading • Ars Technica
Samuel Axon:
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To comply with European Union regulations, Apple has introduced sweeping changes that make iOS and Apple’s other operating systems more open. The changes are far-reaching and touch many parts of the user experience on the iPhone. They’ll be coming as part of iOS 17.4 in March.
Apple will introduce “new APIs and tools that enable developers to offer their iOS apps for download from alternative app marketplaces,” as well as a new framework and set of APIs that allow third parties to set up and manage those stores—essentially new forms of apps that can download other apps without going through the App Store. That includes the ability to manage updates for other developers’ apps that are distributed through the marketplaces.
The company will also offer APIs and a new framework for third-party web browsers to use browser engines other than Safari’s WebKit. Until now, browsers like Chrome and Firefox were still built on top of Apple’s tech. They essentially were mobile Safari, but with bookmarks and other features tied to alternative desktop browsers.
The changes also extend to NFC technology and contactless payments. Previously, only Apple Pay could fully access those features on the iPhone. Now Apple will introduce new APIs that will let developers of banking and wallet apps gain more comparable access.Developers will have new options for using alternative payment service providers within apps and for directing users to complete payments on external websites via link-outs. They’ll be able to use their apps to tell users about promotions and deals that are offered outside of those apps. (Apple warns that it will not be able to provide refunds or support for customers who purchased something outside its own payment system.)
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There’s a lot still to be found out about this. We don’t know quite what percentage Apple will take, what sort of modal screens it will throw up, what the workflow is going to be like. Also, does it apply to UK users? Probably not – which will be a relief to Apple if this undermines its Services business at all.
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Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees • The Verge
Tom Warren:
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Microsoft is laying off 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week. While Microsoft is primarily laying off roles at Activision Blizzard, some Xbox and ZeniMax employees will also be impacted by the cuts.
The cuts work out to roughly 8% of the overall Microsoft Gaming division that stands at around 22,000 employees in total. The Verge has obtained an internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer that confirms the layoffs:
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It’s been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.
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I mean honestly. What two-faced nonsense. If the business is growing, shouldn’t that mean you need at least the same number of people to get things happening? And a game that was planned has also been cancelled. So much for synergy in the Microsoft-Activision merger: as always happens, it just means job cuts and inefficiency.
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Publishers: ditch Google search addiction or die • Press Gazette
Matthew Scott Goldstein:
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what’s the playbook for publishers in 2024? The answer is straightforward, but the execution will be challenging.
Every publisher must single-mindedly focus on obtaining and growing front-door direct traffic. Imagine Google, the malevolent (yes, I used that word) monopoly, ceases to send you traffic. Like the banks – please conduct this stress test immediately – publishers are not too big to fail. Though Google is currently risk-averse and doesn’t need to blow up publishing right now so there may be a stay of execution.
Ask yourself the following questions:
• Do you still have a business if Google ceases to send you traffic?
• How do you make your homepage a machine for getting users to come back more often?
• How do you get users to visit more pages once they arrive?
• How is your desktop versus mobile homepage differentiated?
• How do you use generative AI to adjust your homepage?
• Will community/comments help to grow your front door traffic, getting users to come back more often?
• What content do you need to bring in more direct traffic?
• How do you work with Google and Open AI/Microsoft and other LLMs allowing them to train the model in return for traffic guarantees or start/join a lawsuit?The most important metric/KPI for publishers going forward is maintaining and attracting direct homepage users.
Of note, 2024 is a presidential election year and depending on the outcome my extinction prediction may be pushed back to 2025.
…There is hope. These publishers need to reinvent themselves and focus on homepage traffic.
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This came out on the day that multiple publishers in the US – Business Insider, Forbes, Time – laid off around 10% of their writers. Tech and games companies are doing the same, though, so it’s not just media. Who, exactly, is doing OK?
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The Sports Illustrated cover, a faded canvas that once defined sports • The New York Times
Kevin Draper and Benjamin Mullin:
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For sports fans of a certain age, the memory of running to the mailbox to see what was on the cover of the latest weekly issue of Sports Illustrated is indelible. For decades, the magazine’s photographers, writers and editors held the power to anoint stars and deliver the definitive account of the biggest moments in sports, often with just a single photograph and a few words on the cover. It was the most powerful real estate in sports journalism.
“When I was a kid and getting S.I., you didn’t have that immediate 24-hour news cycle just hitting you over the head,” said Nate Gordon, a former picture editor at Sports Illustrated who is now the head of content at The Players’ Tribune. “You would get that cover and you’d be like: ‘Man, this is what happened last week. That’s so cool.’”
To the extent any magazine had that power, it is severely diminished now. But the road has been particularly rough for Sports Illustrated, with its shrinking staff and reduced print frequency. Last week, most of the employees were either laid off or told their employment would be uncertain after 90 days, leaving the publication’s future in flux.
Sports Illustrated’s power to define sports discourse faded long before 2024, however. A combination of factors like growth of sports across cable channels, the presence of more team-controlled media and the ascendancy of the internet had been steadily eroding the influence of the magazine and its cover for years. But it is hard to overstate the power it once had.
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Choosing a single image which would be seen by millions was an incredibly powerful act. Though as the story points out, sometimes that backfired when the cover wasn’t complimentary, and an athlete would boycott the magazine literally for years.
Sic transit gloria mundi: this isn’t coming back, and we’re honestly poorer for it.
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Old’aVista: Home
Rewind to the web search of 1999 and see what it was like for us working then. Try a search on “ChatGPT”: turns up nothing. The most recent result I could get was from 2014, but the FAQ doesn’t say when the index runs up to.
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HPE discloses hack by Russian group behind Microsoft email breach • CRN
Kyle Alspach and Steven Burke:
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise disclosed that its cloud email environment was compromised in 2023 by the threat actor tracked as Midnight Blizzard, a Russia-aligned hacker group also recently blamed for an attack that compromised senior Microsoft executives.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, HPE said it was “notified” on Dec. 12 about the incident, which began in May 2023 and impacted a “small percentage” of staff email accounts.
In a statement provided to CRN Wednesday, HPE identified its impacted cloud email system as a Microsoft Office 365 environment, and said that the threat actor leveraged a compromised account to access the email environment.
“The accessed data is limited to information contained in the users’ mailboxes,” HPE said in the statement. “We continue to investigate and will make appropriate notifications as required.”
The hacker group behind the attack, also tracked under the name Cozy Bear, was earlier held responsible by Microsoft for the recent high-profile breach of multiple senior executive emails accounts, in the company’s disclosure last Friday.
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So much hacking of these big American companies. And speaking of the Microsoft hack..
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CrowdStrike CEO: Microsoft explanation for Russia hack doesn’t add up • CRN
Kyle Alspach:
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In a post Friday disclosing the latest hack, Microsoft said that the incident began with a late November 2023 password spray attack, which compromised a “legacy non-production test tenant account.”
Speaking on CNBC, Kurtz contended that this explanation for the hack by Microsoft does not really add up.
“I’m confused, because what Microsoft talks about is [that] it was a non-production test environment. So how does a non-production test environment lead to the compromise of the most senior officials in Microsoft [and] their emails?” he said. “I think there’s a lot more that’s going to come out on this.”
Kurtz also cited the timing of the release of the Microsoft disclosure, which was released Friday following the close of the stock market for the weekend, in his criticism.
In addition to the blog post, Microsoft discussed the incident in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, as part of complying with recently introduced SEC cyberattack disclosure rules for public companies.
“When you drop this on a Friday at five o’clock, and you have scant details, I think there’s more to come on it,” Kurtz said during the CNBC interview.
Microsoft declined to comment in an email to CRN Tuesday.
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Like Kurtz, I thought that the timing of the announcement was suspicious. And the escalation is also peculiar.
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How to organize your tech and purge that random box of cables • WIRED
Simon Hill:
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While it is an absolute privilege to lay hands on the latest tech, my home as a gadget reviewer often resembles a warehouse. Piled high with cardboard boxes and cables trailing everywhere, just getting to my desk is a battle on some days. Every surface is littered with chargers, security cameras, routers, and phones. To manage the flow of devices and preserve my sanity, I had to get organized.
I won’t lie to you. It’s not fun to purge your random cable collection, sorting stuff into labeled boxes, and letting go of old gadgets you no longer use. But you can benefit from my experience, and I promise it will make your life easier. It’s tough to start, but once you have a system, you will never return to the chaos.
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Purge my cables?? Actually, the organisation part is relatively straightforward. Look, it’s something to do on a January weekend. For fun, you could count up how many of each USB connector you have.
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Korea begs citizens to stop eating fried toothpicks for viral trend • Korea JoonyAng Daily
Moon Sang-Hyeok and Kim Ju-Yeon:
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The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety warned citizens against eating toothpicks made of starch as they are “not food” and not safe for consumption, after videos of people eating fried toothpicks went viral online.
“Toothpicks are categorized as sanitary products, not food, so they have not been confirmed to be safe for consumption,” the Food Ministry said in a news release on Tuesday.
The ministry’s announcement comes following a recent trend of “mukbang,” or eating shows, for “starch toothpicks” gaining traction on YouTube and other social media platforms popular among children and teens. Dozens of search results for “fried starch toothpick” pop up on YouTube.
“While watching mukbang on YouTube I saw a video of fries being made out of toothpicks,” a YouTuber says in one video, then proceeds to fry toothpicks in oil.
She then pours sauce onto the toothpicks and eats them on camera, saying the toothpicks are “very tasty.” The video has over 4.4 million views as of Wednesday.
Parents have taken to online forums to express concerns over children participating in the trend. “I heard there are children asking for toothpick fries after seeing it on YouTube,” one post on a “mom cafe,” or online community of mothers, read. “The problem is that children can replicate what they see on video,” another post said.
Starch toothpicks are made of either cornstarch or potato starch mixed with sorbitol, alum and artificial coloring.
Sorbitol is a type of sugar alcohol and alum is a chemical compound found in baking powder. They are not harmful when ingested in small amounts, but can cause vomiting, diarrhea and inflammation in cases of overconsumption.«
OK but they’re not toothpicks like people in the west would think of them. Those really would be a problem.
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| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
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The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say 