John Gruber has a great, succinct take over on Daring Fireball on this story about marketing firms using purchased location data to map out where fried chicken fans eat on Sundays when they can’t get Chick-fil-a.

It’s time to get scared. The sale of consumer location data between companies should be illegal. It’s a Pandora’s box; even if you only share your location once, you’ll never be able to track down all the companies that have access to the data you shared, much less know how they’re exploiting it. We need to call on our legislators to put an end to this.

#deletefacebook

Ugh. I waited a long time before writing anything about this, hoping my opinions would lighten up a bit, but they haven’t and I don’t think they will.

The Apple Card is one of the most un-Apple-y things Apple has ever done. I’m not one of those Steve Jobs idolizers who thinks that the company is circling the drain without him, and I’m not one of those people who, every time Apple does something new or different, starts shouting about how “STEVE WOULD’VE NEVER…” But I seriously can’t imagine Steve letting this out the door.

My only hope for the Apple Card was that Apple is good at disrupting industries, and the credit card industry is truly an industry that needs to be disrupted because all those companies are very predatory and generally bad news for consumers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Apple is actually doing anything different. Sure, the digital-first approach is neat, and the titanium card looks cool. Also, its nice that it doesn’t carry any fees and it encourages you to pay your balance off every month, and I’ll even say that the daily cash reward system is nice. But at the end of the day, what kills consumers in the credit card industry is the interest rates, and Apple hasn't done anything revolutionary here, despite having claimed to. The lowest APR offered, 12.99%, is not low. And the high end, 23.99%, is absurd. Also, Goldman Sachs: Is that the best they could do? Partnering with a company that asks if curing disease is a sustainable business model? Gross.

If Apple truly wanted to disrupt a financial industry, they would’ve set their sights on the checking account. They could’ve rolled it up nicely with Apple Pay Cash and given out a nice titanium card. They could’ve chosen to get rid of the absurd overdraft fees (taking $37 from someone who literally has no money is wrong and borderline criminal, even if they agreed to it in the fine print), and instead monetize it with a simple, flat, monthly account fee; I’d happily pay ten bucks a month for an Apple checking account with a cool titanium card. Best of all, it would’ve been something that they could’ve offered to all of their customers. Of course, they didn’t do this because it would’ve been more difficult to monetize than a credit card with ridiculous interest rates, and the Apple Card only exists because Apple is trying to expand their revenue from services.

The Apple Card feels extremely corporate and greedy. It’s elitist, and it’s the first Apple product that isn’t available to everyone for a price. Some people simply cannot have one, especially younger folks like myself who haven’t had a ton of time to establish a fantastic credit score. Apple products are supposed to feel premium but not elitist; there’s a line there, and Apple Card falls decisively on the wrong side. I am not a fan.

Anyone with eyes can see that iMessage is superior to SMS texting in just about every way imaginable. From an encryption/privacy standpoint alone, if you don’t use iMessage, I’m probably just not going to text you.

Samsung’s latest shitty marketing ploy is remarkably, well, shitty. Honestly, it’s pitiful, and it doesn’t even make any sense. If you’re an Android user considering using one of these GIFs, just go ahead and save some time by sending this one instead.

Well, this article from Tiffany FitzHenry is really something. There’s a lot of information to process here, and while FitzHenry does offer a lot more evidence to support her claims that Ellen is in cahoots with the C.I.A. than I would’ve believed possible, I’m still left with more questions than answers.

Maybe I’m the only one who wasn’t paying attention back in 2013 when this news first broke, but the fact that the C.I.A. has a $600 million contract with Amazon is terrifying. It’s allegedly for cloud services via Amazon Web Services, but still, Amazon seems quite eager to appease the C.I.A., and as FitzHenry suggests, we would be foolish to believe that the C.I.A. has no interest in the massive amount of data Amazon posses about their customers. I’ve long been skeptical of Amazon’s Alexa products, and my position remains firm: only a fool would put an Alexa device in their home.

Sad news broke today that Sony has decided to drag the Spider-Man character back under their sole control, as they’ve declined new contracts with Disney that would allow allow Marvel Studios to continue their run with the character.

This seems like very bad news for the goofy, young Spider-Man we’ve grown to love, Tom Holland. Each of the three modern live action Spider-Man series have had their strengths and weaknesses, but I think people tend to agree that the most recent iteration was the strongest, and a lot of that strength came from the already established Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Aaron Tilley, writing for The Information:

In an email to Apple CEO Tim Cook last Friday, the leaders of seven app developers outlined their concerns about the company’s new restrictions on location-tracking apps in a forthcoming version of the iOS operating system, according to a copy of the email reviewed by The Information. They accuse Apple of having a “double standard” for how apps can use location data in its new operating system.

This isn’t anticompetitive, it’s anti-abusive. Very few companies truly need access to your location all the time, and we should be extremely judicious when deciding whether or not to grant such permissions.

And of course, Life360, one my most despised apps on the App Store, is one of the seven companies complaining about this change.

Also on the list: Tile (this one has a reasonable argument for always wanting location access, but that still doesn’t make this move anticompetitive), Happn (a dating app with a unique approach but tiny user base), Arity (an insurance company who is in bed with the Life360 folks), Zenly (Snap’s location sharing app), Zendrive (a company that makes driver assessment apps) and Twenty (a social network for finding friends nearby).

Oopsie daisies.

This is the second time this has happened in just a few months. I’m not too many “accidents” away from deleting my personal Twitter account.

Netflix’s ”The Great Hack” is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. It explains what happened with the whole Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, and makes it easy to understand for those with little prior knowledge. They take a largely nonpartisan look at how these companies were able to influence the 2016 U.S. General Election, the Brexit Referendum in the U.K., and dozens of other elections in smaller countries.

It has never been clearer that the technology we all take for granted has been taking advantage of us; it is evident that data aggregated by Facebook and exploited by Cambridge Analytica has been used to effectively brainwash the public, and the tactics they’ve used were even more efficient and dangerous than the ones utilized by the propagandists of the Third Reich. Nearly all of the blame for the explosively divisive nature of those elections belongs at the feet of Alexander Nix and Mark Zuckerberg.

“The Great Hack” very well may be the most important film of the decade, and I urge everyone to watch it. Make a concerted effort to be open minded, and don’t immediately rule out the possibility that these companies may have pulled one over on you—it’s easy to dismiss their alleged wrongdoings on the basis of “well if anyone had convinced me to think one way or the other, I think I would know.” The problem is that many people do dismiss it on those grounds, but by the very nature of what they’ve done, nobody could know until it’s too late. These are companies with billions of dollars at their disposal and a team of scientists who possess deep knowledge of how the human brain works—there is no shame in admitting they may have duped you. They certainly got me. What’s most important is what we do now that we know what they’ve done.

I’ve been pounding the #deletefacebook drum since well before the scandal broke, and there has never been a better time to get out of their corrosive network: delete your Facebook account. However, even that isn’t enough at this point.

The safety and integrity of every democracy on earth depends on everyone understanding what these companies did and calling upon our representatives to finally limit the boundless power that big tech companies have over our data. If those things don’t happen, the world will never see another free and fair election.

#deletefacebook

See also: “The Social Dilemma”

Please help our nation move past the mass shootings and white nationalism. Please contact your legislators. Please.

Our country faces immense problems, and we’re only going to overcome them if we work together. We have to demand more of our leaders. We have to stop these senseless shootings, which seem to be a uniquely American phenomenon. We the people MUST stand up to corrupt politicians and the NRA, and demand common sense gun legislation that will put an end to the slaughter of innocent American citizens. Yes, we must insist on strict background checks and mental health evaluations. But the shooting today in El Paso was not a result of mental illness. The shooter’s manifesto was terrifyingly cold and racist, but most disturbingly, it was extremely measured, reasoned, and calculated. The shooter clearly was not suffering from mental illness.

We must go further than just demanding mental health evaluations. We must also end the sale of military grade weapons to civilians. We must also ban bump stocks and high capacity magazines. We must also criminalize and heavily punish the undocumented sale of firearms between individuals, close the gun show loophole, and demand national firearm registration and licensing systems. The notion that a good guy with a gun is the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun has been proven false time and time again. Nobody came to the rescue of the poor souls in El Paso, despite the fact that multiple shoppers were armed with weapons of their own during the shooting. More guns is not the answer.

We also have to put white nationalism firmly in the past where it belongs. Our President is capitalizing on racism and white nationalism for political gain, and the consequences are already deadly. It will only get worse. Everyone in this nation, but especially white people, have an obligation to stand up to racists and white nationalists, and constantly remind them that the flag they continue to pervert, the flag of the United States of America, stands for liberty and justice for ALL. We must not continue to tolerate their intolerance.

It’s not overselling it to say that everything our country was built on and everything we hold dear is at stake. Please call or write to your legislators. Please.

If you’re in North Carolina, use these links to contact Senator Burr and Senator Tillis. If you’re in NC-10, you can use this link to contact Rep. McHenry. If you’re somewhere else, use this tool to quickly find your representative and senators, and reach out to them.

UPDATE: 8/4/19, 10:34;

I am heartbroken to learn that another mass shooting occurred last night at a bar in Dayton, Ohio, where 9 were killed and 26 more were injured. Police say they were able to “neutralize the shooter in less than a minute.” Less than a minute, and he shot 36+ people. More guns is NOT the answer. Please contact your legislators and beg them to end this epidemic.

If you were afraid of Islamic terrorism after 9/11 but you aren’t afraid of white nationalist terrorism now, you’re a fool.

My color coded rankings (in rainbow order, with “poor” being red and “terrific” being blue) of each candidate’s performance in the second round debates.

The second round of debates was a little less exciting than the first, but there were a few good moments. As I said before the first round, they could’ve narrowed the field by half and had a much more productive debate.

The Candidates Who Should Really Stop Wasting Everyone’s Time:

John Delaney

Tim Ryan

Jay Inslee

Steve Bullock

Marianne Williamson

Michael Bennet

John Hickenlooper
 

The Candidates Who Have at Least Some Chance of Getting The Nomination:

O’Rourke: If he doesn’t want Trump to win, he needs to drop out and throw his support to a better candidate.

Yang: He actually managed to explain how his Freedom Dividend plan could possibly work, and he incorporated it into nearly every answer he gave.

Castro: Again, I think he gets a little more credit than he deserves, but he did have a couple of good answers.

Gillibrand: She still has a certain passion that a lot of the others lack and I quite like her attitude, but she just doesn’t seem to have enough support to get her to the Oval Office.

De Blasio: Again, had a few answers that impressed me, but I doubt he makes it too much further.

Klobuchar: Notably weaker performance than in the last debate. Surprisingly (and potentially devastatingly) forgettable.

Gabbard: Tulsi absolutely hammered Kamala Harris, and she did so with grace and strength. She had an incredible night, and she absolutely deserves to be the most googled candidate.

Candidates Who Aren’t Exactly Long Shots, But Definitely Aren’t Leading The Pack:

Booker: Cory Booker definitely stepped it up this time. He went toe to toe with Joe Biden and held his own. He’s not my favorite, and I think he’s a bit inexperienced, but he impressed me this time.

Buttigieg: Pete didn’t seem to have a great night this round. His answers were rather forgettable, and it didn’t help that he was having to compete with the moderators who wanted to focus on Sanders and Warren. I don’t think this debate was representative of his potential as a candidate.

Harris: Kamala Harris had a wild night. She threw a few punches but also sustained a few blows. Unfortunately for her, the most memorable parts of the night were when she was getting (deservedly) railroaded by Tulsi Gabbard.

Candidates Most Likely to Receive the Nomination:

Biden: He took a lot of hits from every direction, but he held up better than I would’ve liked. I think Crazy Uncle Joe needs to drop out ASAP, but if he continues to hold up to scrutiny like he did in the second debate, he’ll likely stick around for a while.

Sanders: Bernie did a lot better in this debate. I still don’t really love him, but he did better than I expected, and had quite a few shining moments. However, nothing he says will make him younger, and that’s one of the things I dislike the most about him. It’s time for a younger, more in touch President.

Warren: I think Warren’s performance this round was on par with her performance last time, which is to say, pretty damn strong. She’s got nerve, and she’s not afraid of stepping on toes to accomplish what she thinks is right.

My Current Top 3:

Buttigieg: I still really like Pete’s level headedness and I think he has solid policies. He didn’t really shine in this debate, but he didn’t have a ton of opportunities to do so; I think the moderators were more interested in pitting Bernie and Liz against each other. Hopefully he’ll really impress in the next debate.

Warren: She’s a top tier candidate, she’s got a ton of detailed policies, and she could absolutely wipe the floor with Trump in a debate.

Gabbard: I’m not a fool; I realize Tulsi Gabbard’s path to the White House is extremely narrow. That said, I love her attitude and her fearlessness, and I think she also has good policies. Plus, her background as a soldier and her focus on national security issues could help her gain traction with moderates and conservatives. As of right now, she’s my top pick, but she needs a little more help making it to the next debate. Check out her campaign site, and consider donating.

Nate Powell of Popula takes a deep look at the beginning stages and recent evolutions of some of the more common symptoms of the toxic masculinity that often accompanies southern white maleness, with an intriguing focus on the voluntary self-militarization of civilian men. A lot of people will feel targeted by his piece, but hopefully they’ll take the opportunity to ask themselves why they originally adopted some of the symbols to which they now cling.