Post Category → not-labs

The Instagram Changes Are Not Enough

A few weeks ago Instagram announced some changes to accounts to further protect minors. Anyone under 18 who signs up for an Instagram account will be placed on a restrictive teen account, and those under 18 will be migrated over the next 60 days. However, the user’s age is reported by the user. So, minors can easily lie on the form to subvert these restrictions.

Teen accounts will be private by default. Private messages will be restricted so teenagers can only receive them from people they already follow, and some sensitive content will not be viewable. While it’s nice to see Meta put some effort into this, it’s not enough. Moreover, people have been asking for protections like this for years. Why now? My theory is that these partial restrictions exist because of the threat of looming regulation.

I think the solution to keep minors safe on social media requires a combination of social media companies, hardware companies, and parents. (Some regulation would also be helpful.) Your iPhone knows how old you are. And there are certainly better ways to confirm someone is a minor other than just asking them. Regardless, these changes are not enough. I’m just spit-balling here, but I’d have a two-step verification: one from the hardware device and a second confirmed by the social media company itself. If they can earn billions off these accounts, they surely can come up with a reliable age-verification system.

I recently read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and it confirmed my thinking about minors and social media. Specifically, that it’s harmful and dangerous.

Walt’s Flywheel

I recently saw a link to The Walt Disney Productions 1957 Strategy Diagram (via Kotke). I’ve seen this several times, and every time, it impresses me. Specifically, the Disney Company treats their movies as the source material for everything else they make, whether it be music, books, or theme park rides. When it all works properly, they had a virtuous circle where the movie characters generated interest in the theme parks, and the theme park visitors’ experiences generated interest back in the movies. If something doesn’t tie into the overall flywheel, then it probably shouldn’t be there.

I try to do the same thing with my tiny MacSparky empire, and this 67-year-old chart still makes a lot of sense to me.

Mac Power Users 765: Inventing the Internet, with Glenn Fleishman

Glenn Fleishman, freelance journalist, book author, editor, and comics and type historian, joins Stephen and me on this episode of Mac Power Users to share what he’s up to and some of his favorite workflows.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

  • Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code MPU.
  • Ecamm: Powerful live streaming platform for Mac. Get one month free.
  • KRCS: Apple Premium Reseller. Get free next-working-day delivery.

Dark Noise Update

the official app icon for sound-generator app dark noise from developer charlie chapman.

Dark Noise is one of my favorite applications. I first used it years ago as my go-to white noise generator. (I particularly like the thunderstorm sound.) Over the years, I’ve become friends with the developer, Charlie Chapman, who does all the right things with his application.

So it’s no surprise to me that he recently released a version that now gives you Dark Noise controls in Control Center. If you haven’t played with Control Center on iOS 18 yet, you really should. It gives us all of the stuff we’ve been asking for for years now. It’s fully customizable with multiple screens, and while I haven’t nailed down my Control Center strategy just yet, I’m having a great time figuring it out.

The More Repairable iPhone 16

The iFixit teardown of the iPhone 16 is interesting. Apple is continuing to creep towards better repairability each year.

A constant problem for folks who like to crack their phones open is glue. Specifically, there’s a lot of adhesive inside these devices, and getting rid of it to do any repair is time-consuming and messy. Apple solved that with the battery in the new iPhone by using electrically activated adhesive. You apply a low-voltage current to it, and the battery pops out. It’s an interesting technology that I didn’t even know existed.

If you’d like to learn more about what’s inside your phone, check out the full iFixit video below.

Looking Forward to iOS 18.2

Now that we’re officially in October, I can’t help but think a bit about the 18.2 beta coming to iOS later this month. According to the rumors, we’re going to get several new Apple intelligence features including Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT integration, and personal context awareness for Siri. We’re also supposed to get the auto-sorting feature in Apple Mail. These are big features and represent a step up over the Apple Intelligence features we saw with 18.1.

The next six months, in general, will feel like a slow burn toward Apple intelligence. Apple’s put a lot of wood behind the arrow about how important Apple Intelligence is for them but we still need to see the more advanced features work. This feels like a big bet for Apple, and I’m curious to see how it plays out. We’ll get our next big indication with 18.2 later this month.

Mac Power Users 764: New iPhones and Software Releases

Stephen and I talk about Apple’s new hardware on this episode of Mac Power Users. Then, we take a tour of macOS Sequoia, iOS and iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

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  • Things: The award-winning to-do app. Ready for iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. Download a free trial for your Mac.
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