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Ashley Belanger, reporting for Ars Technica:

The government’s heavily redacted complaint laid out Adobe’s
alleged scheme, which starts with “manipulative enrollment
practices.”

To lock subscribers into recurring monthly payments, Adobe would
typically pre-select by default its most popular “annual paid
monthly” plan, the FTC alleged. That subscription option locked
users into an annual plan despite paying month to month. If they
canceled after a two-week period, they’d owe Adobe an early
termination fee (ETF) that costs 50 percent of their remaining
annual subscription. The “material terms” of this fee are hidden
during enrollment, the FTC claimed, only appearing in “disclosures
that are designed to go unnoticed and that most consumers never
see.” […]

Because Adobe allegedly only alerted users to the ETF in fine
print — by hovering over a small icon or clicking a hyperlink in
small text — while the company’s cancellation flows made it hard
to end recurring payments, the FTC is suing and accusing Adobe of
deceptive practices under the FTC Act.

Adobe is too good a company to push dark-pattern subscription schemes like this. They should concede, apologize, and eliminate every subscription that isn’t a simple straightforward annual or monthly plan.

 ★ 

Ashley Belanger, reporting for Ars Technica:

The government’s heavily redacted complaint laid out Adobe’s
alleged scheme, which starts with “manipulative enrollment
practices.”

To lock subscribers into recurring monthly payments, Adobe would
typically pre-select by default its most popular “annual paid
monthly” plan, the FTC alleged. That subscription option locked
users into an annual plan despite paying month to month. If they
canceled after a two-week period, they’d owe Adobe an early
termination fee (ETF) that costs 50 percent of their remaining
annual subscription. The “material terms” of this fee are hidden
during enrollment, the FTC claimed, only appearing in “disclosures
that are designed to go unnoticed and that most consumers never
see.” […]

Because Adobe allegedly only alerted users to the ETF in fine
print — by hovering over a small icon or clicking a hyperlink in
small text — while the company’s cancellation flows made it hard
to end recurring payments, the FTC is suing and accusing Adobe of
deceptive practices under the FTC Act.

Adobe is too good a company to push dark-pattern subscription schemes like this. They should concede, apologize, and eliminate every subscription that isn’t a simple straightforward annual or monthly plan.

Read More 

Mike Masnick, writing for The Daily Beast:

We put health warnings on things that are inherently harmful,
with little redeeming health value. That is, things that are
actually toxins: nicotine, lead, poisons.

The complaints here are with speech. […]

The American Psychological Association released a similar
report, concluding: “Using social media is not inherently
beneficial or harmful to young people.” Instead, it finds that
when young people struggle with mental health, their online lives
are often just a reflection of their offline lives.

Lots of other research has shown the same thing, yet Murthy’s call
for health warnings never mentions all of this research that
suggests social media is actually beneficial for many. Instead, he
cites a few anecdotes of children who were bullied online. But
bullying happened prior to social media, and we did not talk about
putting health warnings on telephones or notepads or other forms
of communication.

Just pure panic-driven ninny-ism. It’s like the whole nonsense with “trigger warnings”. Masnick brings up Reagan-era Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s nonsensical crusade against video games in the 1980s. I’m also reminded of Tipper Gore’s campaign for warning labels on music albums.

 ★ 

Mike Masnick, writing for The Daily Beast:

We put health warnings on things that are inherently harmful,
with little redeeming health value. That is, things that are
actually toxins: nicotine, lead, poisons.

The complaints here are with speech. […]

The American Psychological Association released a similar
report, concluding: “Using social media is not inherently
beneficial or harmful to young people.” Instead, it finds that
when young people struggle with mental health, their online lives
are often just a reflection of their offline lives.

Lots of other research has shown the same thing, yet Murthy’s call
for health warnings never mentions all of this research that
suggests social media is actually beneficial for many. Instead, he
cites a few anecdotes of children who were bullied online. But
bullying happened prior to social media, and we did not talk about
putting health warnings on telephones or notepads or other forms
of communication.

Just pure panic-driven ninny-ism. It’s like the whole nonsense with “trigger warnings”. Masnick brings up Reagan-era Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s nonsensical crusade against video games in the 1980s. I’m also reminded of Tipper Gore’s campaign for warning labels on music albums.

Read More 

Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy:

We approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical
problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and
scientific breakthroughs. We plan to advance capabilities as fast
as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead.

This way, we can scale in peace.

Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or
product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and
progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.

We are an American company with offices in Palo Alto and Tel
Aviv, where we have deep roots and the ability to recruit top
technical talent.

Sutskever was the chief scientist and cofounder of OpenAI, who launched a failed coup against Sam Altman earlier this year. I certainly hope they’re more safe than OpenAI is open.

(Via Techmeme.)

 ★ 

Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy:

We approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical
problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and
scientific breakthroughs. We plan to advance capabilities as fast
as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead.

This way, we can scale in peace.

Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or
product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and
progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.

We are an American company with offices in Palo Alto and Tel
Aviv, where we have deep roots and the ability to recruit top
technical talent.

Sutskever was the chief scientist and cofounder of OpenAI, who launched a failed coup against Sam Altman earlier this year. I certainly hope they’re more safe than OpenAI is open.

(Via Techmeme.)

Read More 

Speaking of Louie Mantia, back in 2011 he made a terrific wallpaper of the iconic hallway carpeting from the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. He just remade it, with even better color accuracy and texture. And to go along with it, a new wallpaper based on the carpet inside room 237. There ain’t nothing in room 237. But you ain’t got no business going in there anyway. So stay out. You understand? Stay out. But feel free to use the wallpaper.

 ★ 

Speaking of Louie Mantia, back in 2011 he made a terrific wallpaper of the iconic hallway carpeting from the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. He just remade it, with even better color accuracy and texture. And to go along with it, a new wallpaper based on the carpet inside room 237. There ain’t nothing in room 237. But you ain’t got no business going in there anyway. So stay out. You understand? Stay out. But feel free to use the wallpaper.

Read More 

Louie Mantia:

Apple’s announcement of “dark mode” icons has me thinking about
how I would approach adapting “light mode” icons for dark mode. I
grabbed 12 icons we made at Parakeet for our clients to
illustrate some ways of going about it. […]

Unfortunately, some icons appear to have lost or gained weight in
dark mode. For example, the Settings gear didn’t change size in
dark mode, but it appears to occupy less space because the dark
circle around it blends with its background. That makes it
appear smaller than the Find My icon, which now looks enormous
next to FaceTime. This is a remnant of some questionable design
choices in iOS 7 that have lingered now for the last decade.

That last sentence is the most diplomatic thing I’ve ever heard from Louie. What a splendid post this is — exemplary work to illustrate his advice.

 ★ 

Louie Mantia:

Apple’s announcement of “dark mode” icons has me thinking about
how I would approach adapting “light mode” icons for dark mode. I
grabbed 12 icons we made at Parakeet for our clients to
illustrate some ways of going about it. […]

Unfortunately, some icons appear to have lost or gained weight in
dark mode. For example, the Settings gear didn’t change size in
dark mode, but it appears to occupy less space because the dark
circle around it blends with its background. That makes it
appear smaller than the Find My icon, which now looks enormous
next to FaceTime. This is a remnant of some questionable design
choices in iOS 7 that have lingered now for the last decade.

That last sentence is the most diplomatic thing I’ve ever heard from Louie. What a splendid post this is — exemplary work to illustrate his advice.

Read More 

Interesting two-part interview, with far more information than we’ve heard about the demise of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. Part two is here; Overcast links to parts one and two; Apple Podcasts links to parts one and two.

Some nuggets:

The split seemed very much amicable. Stewart isn’t one to hold back, and he emphasized repeated there’s no hard feelings. He even professed to getting his morning news in Apple News.
Apple paid the show’s staff for all of season 3, despite cancelling the show before production began. That’s nearly unheard of in the entertainment industry.
Stewart himself admits that season one more or less stunk.

Well worth a listen.

 ★ 

Interesting two-part interview, with far more information than we’ve heard about the demise of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. Part two is here; Overcast links to parts one and two; Apple Podcasts links to parts one and two.

Some nuggets:

The split seemed very much amicable. Stewart isn’t one to hold back, and he emphasized repeated there’s no hard feelings. He even professed to getting his morning news in Apple News.

Apple paid the show’s staff for all of season 3, despite cancelling the show before production began. That’s nearly unheard of in the entertainment industry.

Stewart himself admits that season one more or less stunk.

Well worth a listen.

Read More 

“OatmealDome”, developer of an iOS fork of the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin:

Two weeks ago, Apple modified their App Store guidelines to allow
retro game emulators in the App Store. This week, Delta, a
multi-system emulator that was previously only available via
AltStore, was released on the App Store. Since these events
happened, we’ve been asked many times if we will submit DolphiniOS
(our fork of Dolphin) to the App Store.

Unfortunately, no.

Apple still does not allow us to use a vital technology that is
necessary for Dolphin to run with good performance: JIT. […]

Unfortunately, Apple generally does not allow apps to use JIT
recompilers on iOS. The only exceptions are Safari and alternative
web browsers in Europe. We submitted a DMA interoperability
request to Apple for JIT support, but Apple denied the request a
few weeks ago.

Swift Playgrounds is an exception too. Apple trusts itself to use JIT compilation safely, but not third-party developers. That’s not unreasonable — but I’m not sure it’s compliant with the DMA.

 ★ 

“OatmealDome”, developer of an iOS fork of the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin:

Two weeks ago, Apple modified their App Store guidelines to allow
retro game emulators in the App Store. This week, Delta, a
multi-system emulator that was previously only available via
AltStore, was released on the App Store. Since these events
happened, we’ve been asked many times if we will submit DolphiniOS
(our fork of Dolphin) to the App Store.

Unfortunately, no.

Apple still does not allow us to use a vital technology that is
necessary for Dolphin to run with good performance: JIT. […]

Unfortunately, Apple generally does not allow apps to use JIT
recompilers on iOS. The only exceptions are Safari and alternative
web browsers in Europe. We submitted a DMA interoperability
request to Apple for JIT support, but Apple denied the request a
few weeks ago.

Swift Playgrounds is an exception too. Apple trusts itself to use JIT compilation safely, but not third-party developers. That’s not unreasonable — but I’m not sure it’s compliant with the DMA.

Read More 

Michael Tsai:

This is confusing, but I think what Apple is saying is that, even
with notarization, apps are not allowed to “download
executable code.” Rule 2.5.2 says apps may not “download,
install, or execute code” except for limited educational purposes.
Rule 4.7 makes an exception to this so that retro game
emulators and some other app types can run code “that is not
embedded in the binary.” This is grayed out when you select “Show
Notarization Review Guidelines Only”, meaning that the exception
only applies within the App Store. Thus, the general prohibition
remains in effect for App Marketplaces and Web Distribution. But
it seems like this wasn’t initially clear to Apple, either,
because the review process took two months.

This also seems inconsistent with the fact that the Delta emulator
is allowed to be notarized outside the App Store. It doesn’t
make much sense for the rules to be more lax within the App
Store. I first thought the mistake was that Apple didn’t mean to
gray out 4.7 for notarization. Then everything would make sense.
But the clarification states that 4.7 is not intended to apply
to notarization.

The bottom line for me is that Apple doesn’t want general-purpose
emulators, it’s questionable whether the DMA lets it block them,
and even siding with Apple on this it isn’t consistently applying
its own rules.

Apple’s stance on this seems inscrutable and arbitrary: retro game emulators are, at long last, acceptable, but general PC emulators are not. Such arbitrary policy decisions related to the purpose of the app are fine for the App Store (legally speaking), but clearly not compliant with the DMA. That’s one of the few areas where the DMA is clear. Apple can, of course, ban (say) porno apps from the App Store, but can’t refuse to notarize them for distribution outside the App Store in the EU.

Apple has a security leg to stand on when it comes to JIT compilation, but the version of UTM (UTM SE) that was held up in review for two months, and ultimately rejected by Apple, doesn’t use a JIT. And because it doesn’t use a JIT, performance is poor; hence the UTM developers’ deeming it not worth fighting about. Apple goes into depth on the security challenges pertaining to JIT compilation in its documentation for BrowserEngineKit, the framework for developing non-WebKit browser engines for distribution in the EU. That’s ostensibly the reason why developers need a special entitlement to use a custom browser engine — JavaScript engines need a JIT to perform well but JITs pose a security risk.

In an earlier revision of this post, I suggested that Delta — Riley Testut’s excellent and wildly popular retro Nintendo console emulator for iOS — uses a JIT. There is a JIT in Delta’s source code repository, but Testut informs me that it’s currently only enabled through the version of AltStore distributed through sideloading. Delta’s JIT is removed from the versions of Delta in the App Store and AltStore PAL (the EU app marketplace), because of Apple’s restrictions on JIT compilers. No app with a JIT is going to pass review by Apple, including for distribution outside the App Store in the EU. That restriction might be permitted under the DMA on security grounds. But how the no-JIT version of UTM could be rejected for notarization, I do not see.

(Thinking about BrowserEngineKit makes me wonder: Now that over four months have passed since Apple announced its initial DMA compliance plans, has even a single browser developer announced plans to bring their own rendering engines to iOS in the EU? As far as I know the answer is no. It’s entirely possible Apple went to all the trouble of creating BrowserEngineKit for compliance with the DMA, but no one is actually going to use it because no browser developer deems the EU market worth forking their browser for, solely for distribution outside the App Store — while on the hook for the Core Technology Fee if such a browser becomes popular.)

 ★ 

Michael Tsai:

This is confusing, but I think what Apple is saying is that, even
with notarization, apps are not allowed to “download
executable code.” Rule 2.5.2 says apps may not “download,
install, or execute code” except for limited educational purposes.
Rule 4.7 makes an exception to this so that retro game
emulators and some other app types can run code “that is not
embedded in the binary.” This is grayed out when you select “Show
Notarization Review Guidelines Only”, meaning that the exception
only applies within the App Store. Thus, the general prohibition
remains in effect for App Marketplaces and Web Distribution. But
it seems like this wasn’t initially clear to Apple, either,
because the review process took two months.

This also seems inconsistent with the fact that the Delta emulator
is allowed to be notarized outside the App Store. It doesn’t
make much sense for the rules to be more lax within the App
Store. I first thought the mistake was that Apple didn’t mean to
gray out 4.7 for notarization. Then everything would make sense.
But the clarification states that 4.7 is not intended to apply
to notarization.

The bottom line for me is that Apple doesn’t want general-purpose
emulators, it’s questionable whether the DMA lets it block them,
and even siding with Apple on this it isn’t consistently applying
its own rules.

Apple’s stance on this seems inscrutable and arbitrary: retro game emulators are, at long last, acceptable, but general PC emulators are not. Such arbitrary policy decisions related to the purpose of the app are fine for the App Store (legally speaking), but clearly not compliant with the DMA. That’s one of the few areas where the DMA is clear. Apple can, of course, ban (say) porno apps from the App Store, but can’t refuse to notarize them for distribution outside the App Store in the EU.

Apple has a security leg to stand on when it comes to JIT compilation, but the version of UTM (UTM SE) that was held up in review for two months, and ultimately rejected by Apple, doesn’t use a JIT. And because it doesn’t use a JIT, performance is poor; hence the UTM developers’ deeming it not worth fighting about. Apple goes into depth on the security challenges pertaining to JIT compilation in its documentation for BrowserEngineKit, the framework for developing non-WebKit browser engines for distribution in the EU. That’s ostensibly the reason why developers need a special entitlement to use a custom browser engine — JavaScript engines need a JIT to perform well but JITs pose a security risk.

In an earlier revision of this post, I suggested that Delta — Riley Testut’s excellent and wildly popular retro Nintendo console emulator for iOS — uses a JIT. There is a JIT in Delta’s source code repository, but Testut informs me that it’s currently only enabled through the version of AltStore distributed through sideloading. Delta’s JIT is removed from the versions of Delta in the App Store and AltStore PAL (the EU app marketplace), because of Apple’s restrictions on JIT compilers. No app with a JIT is going to pass review by Apple, including for distribution outside the App Store in the EU. That restriction might be permitted under the DMA on security grounds. But how the no-JIT version of UTM could be rejected for notarization, I do not see.

(Thinking about BrowserEngineKit makes me wonder: Now that over four months have passed since Apple announced its initial DMA compliance plans, has even a single browser developer announced plans to bring their own rendering engines to iOS in the EU? As far as I know the answer is no. It’s entirely possible Apple went to all the trouble of creating BrowserEngineKit for compliance with the DMA, but no one is actually going to use it because no browser developer deems the EU market worth forking their browser for, solely for distribution outside the App Store — while on the hook for the Core Technology Fee if such a browser becomes popular.)

Read More 

Ina Fried, reporting for Axios:

To conduct the study, NewsGuard entered prompts asking
about narratives known to have been created by John Mark Dougan,
an American fugitive who, per the New York Times, is creating and
spreading misinformation from Moscow.

Entering 57 prompts into 10 leading chatbots, NewsGuard found
they spread Russian disinformation narratives 32% of the time,
often citing Dougan’s fake local news sites as a reliable
source.
The chatbots presented as fact false reports, originating on
those sites, about a supposed wiretap discovered at Donald
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and a nonexistent Ukrainian troll
factory interfering with U.S. elections.
NewsGuard conducted its research on OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4,
You.com’s Smart Assistant, Grok, Inflection, Mistral,
Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta AI, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini
and Perplexity.

Certainly worth researching, but I’d have been more surprised if these chatbots did not present Russian misinformation as fact. For chrissake they pass Onion articles, which are intended as parody, as fact. Russian misinformation is written with the intent of convincing the gullible that it’s legit; and LLMs are by nature gullible.

 ★ 

Ina Fried, reporting for Axios:

To conduct the study, NewsGuard entered prompts asking
about narratives known to have been created by John Mark Dougan,
an American fugitive who, per the New York Times, is creating and
spreading misinformation from Moscow.

Entering 57 prompts into 10 leading chatbots, NewsGuard found
they spread Russian disinformation narratives 32% of the time,
often citing Dougan’s fake local news sites as a reliable
source.
The chatbots presented as fact false reports, originating on
those sites, about a supposed wiretap discovered at Donald
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and a nonexistent Ukrainian troll
factory interfering with U.S. elections.
NewsGuard conducted its research on OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4,
You.com’s Smart Assistant, Grok, Inflection, Mistral,
Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta AI, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini
and Perplexity.

Certainly worth researching, but I’d have been more surprised if these chatbots did not present Russian misinformation as fact. For chrissake they pass Onion articles, which are intended as parody, as fact. Russian misinformation is written with the intent of convincing the gullible that it’s legit; and LLMs are by nature gullible.

Read More 

I use both a mouse and trackpad at my desk, but, for whatever reason, prefer “natural scrolling” with the trackpad, but reverse scrolling with the wheel on my mouse. Apple’s control panels for Mouse and Trackpad don’t allow you specify different scrolling directions per-device.

But that’s exactly what Scroll Reverser does. It’s a super-simple utility by Nick Moore that does one thing and does it really well. I’ve been recommending it for over 10 years. Free of charge and open source.

 ★ 

I use both a mouse and trackpad at my desk, but, for whatever reason, prefer “natural scrolling” with the trackpad, but reverse scrolling with the wheel on my mouse. Apple’s control panels for Mouse and Trackpad don’t allow you specify different scrolling directions per-device.

But that’s exactly what Scroll Reverser does. It’s a super-simple utility by Nick Moore that does one thing and does it really well. I’ve been recommending it for over 10 years. Free of charge and open source.

Read More