Catching up on 2022
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Hey folks,
It’s been a little while since the last newsletter. I hope you’re keeping safe, well and 2022 has got off to a good start for you: no mean feat given world events.
I plan to get this newsletter back on a semi-regular cadence, so this edition is somewhat of a catch up and we’ll get back to a regular format soon enough.
Dave
Absorbing
Interesting links from the web.
This is an absolute bumper collection for this newsletter – a lot has happened since December!
Amazon + Google misrepresenting small businesses
“A lobbying group funded by Amazon and Google claims to represent thousands of U.S. small businesses as it opposes legislation that would clamp down on the tech industry’s giants. But dozens of those small businesses say they’ve never heard of the Connected Commerce Council.”
One of the business owners said, “I signed up for what looks like a webinar and now it seems like they’re using my name like I’m for their policies.”
AirBuddy
This great little app lets you manage your Bluetooth devices beautifully on macOS. You can switch between devices easily, check battery health and set alerts for battery levels. A big improvement on default options.
Google Fonts deemed illegal in German court
After Max Schrems’ case shattered the illusion of the Privacy Shield, judgements like this were only a matter of time. It’s somewhat of an uncertain time for those looking to do the right thing in regards to data protection as the fallout of cases like this touches almost all parts of the internet: hosting, analytics, CDNs, SaaS, etc. Fathom have a good blog post that digs into the background of these rulings, framed around the recent judgement on Google Analytics’ illegality in Austria.
MaskerAid
This great little app lets you quickly add emojis to faces in photos – no need for Instagram! Lots of positive use cases for something like this.
Swiss Typefaces
This foundry produce several beautiful typefaces that feature regularly on sites like Typewolf. It gets a mention here largely because of the foundry’s ‘easy’ license, which gives designers/developers all formats (web and desktop) of a font in a single, reasonably-priced license. Refreshing to see.
Quad9 open + recursive DNS
If you’re concerned about privacy and haven’t changed your computer’s DNS settings, I’d recommend taking a look at this. It only takes a couple of minutes and is a quick privacy-boost. If you want to learn more about the how and why, there’s a great Surveillance Report episode that covers the basics.
Bionic eyes obsolete and unsupported
What happens to users of medical implants when the tech company behind it runs out of money or otherwise closes its doors? This unsettling account is likely a sign of things to come.
Tabbing in Firefox + Safari on macOS
File this under ‘good to know’. If you’ve struggled to use keyboard to tab through websites in Firefox and/or Safari on macOS, change these settings to have a much more predictable experience.
Building Scruples
Things have been incredibly busy for Scruples since the last email, which is partly (only partly) to blame for the gap between newsletters.
Here’s a quick rundown of Scruples updates:
- We redesigned and launched a new site for the Center for Social Media and Politics in New York: it was a real honour to be a part of this.
- This week, we’ve started offering Website Reviews. These let you tap into our expertise without committing to a full project.
- We’ve added a page to talk about our process and show some recent work examples, too.
We’re booking projects from June and discovery calls can be booked directly through our site.
Below Radar
This community has started to really flourish. Over 200 people have joined the Discord and we’ve started hosting occasional meetups to discuss things in-person (online).
A new website on the way to open up the ability to add resources and articles about related topics. If your business has taken steps to go Facebook-free, Google-free, done anything to step away from the surveillance capitalist business model or reduce tracking/data collection of users/customers, it would be great to feature your story on the new site. Hit reply and we can discuss.
Unoffice Hours
Unoffice Hours have continued into 2022 with a slightly adjusted schedule. Calls are now available every two weeks on Wednesdays.
The next availability is on May 18th, so now’s a good time to book if you’d like to have a chat.
If you run an Unoffice Hours, you might want to join the Unoffice Hours Webring.
If you have related links that might be of interest, or thoughts on any of these topics, I’d love to hear from you: just hit reply.
Until next time,
Dave