Adding Context to Other Tech Writers' Apple Pay Takes
Regular disclaimer: I am a designer at NMI, a major payment gateway processing billions of transactions per year, and I hope to bring that expertise into any conversation that intersects with tech (this site's focus) and payments (my career). NMI does not know I'm writing this, opinions all all my own.
Apple Pay's Continued Niche in Retail (and e-commerce to the rescue)
Apple Pay's retail presence isn't where you might think. Is that a problem?
Desktop Apps Ain't What They Used to Be
Quick story time…
I use a Mac app called Mimestream at work to manage my email. It's fast,
video
Glass is the Best Instagram Replacement I've Found
I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I do love to take pictures. Years ago I
meta
My Own Personal Claim Chowder
One year ago today, yours truly:
Save this for later, but I would be absolutely shocked if we don’t see major changes to either the App Store or non-App Store install options by this time next year, I’ll be shocked.
Well, well, well, wasn't I surprised when this showed up
ios
What I Like About the New Safari
I've written my fair share about what I don't like about the version of Safari releasing
After Dark, Flying Toasters, and the Weird Internet
Hello and welcome to another Friday! This week we’ve got flying toasters, which I always see as a good start to the day. As always, you can subscribe to get this in your inbox every Friday morning.
The Big Link
After Dark in CSS
Younger readers may not be familiar, but After Dark was
Vivaldi Offers a Usable UI when Matching the Web's Colors
One of the key features in Safari 15 coming this fall is the fact that the browser will theme itself based on the website you're currently visiting. Here's what it looks like when viewing this site:
A couple things come to mind.
1. It's a little hard to tell
The Emotional Value of Having a Camera Around
Greg Morris - Having A Camera
A week where I had mourned not having a camera around, and not been able to do what I enjoyed. It was strange how not having one thing in my possession pulled on my strings that I ever anticipated, and felt somewhat embarrassing to admit to publicly.
Smartphones take amazing
Links
If You Dislike Chrome, You Should Hope for a More Aggressive Safari Team
Safari is behind other web browsers in a few key ways, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the new IE, nor does it mean that all of those things are due to security.
🔥 Alabama’s governor coming in hot! (Birch Bark #77)
Just a reminder that you can get this newsletter delivered to your inbox every Friday morning by subscribing to Birch Bark on Substack for free!
Hello and welcome to a surprise two-email week! I hope you enjoyed the music yesterday, and the links today. Have a great weekend!
The Big Links
Apple Business Model:
A Sketch Template for Creating Beautiful Book Reviews
Download the file here (4.4MB Sketch document).
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me post
That Pfizer Shot
I got the Pfizer vaccine and there is new data out today on how it's holding up so far:
Overall, the vaccine was 91 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 over six months. It was the most protective in the stretch starting seven days after the second dose and running for two months:
goodie
Moodz: Premium Wallpapers for your iPhone, iPad, and Desktop
I'm happy to announce my biggest wallpaper pack I've ever made: Moodz (buy the full pack
Not a Good Look, Toyota
Hiroko Tabuchi writing for The New York Times:
“Toyota has gone from a leading position to an industry laggard” in clean-car policy even as other automakers push ahead with ambitious electric vehicle plans, said Danny Magill, an analyst at InfluenceMap, a London-based think tank that tracks corporate climate lobbying. InfluenceMap gives Toyota a
Google Went Down a Safari 15 Road Once Too
Chris Lee, a former Googler on when Chrome tried something similar to iOS 15's Safari:
Chrome Home lives on as a lesson for both myself and the whole Chrome team about the intentionality needed to innovate within a product of massive scale. Some might argue that we never should have tried such a
