MyAppleMenu - Wed, May 6, 2015

Wed, May 6, 2015The Crazy-Workarounds Edition

How Worried Should Microsoft's Bing Be?

Apple Details New 'Applebot' Web Crawler Used By Siri And Spotlight, by AppleInsider

Apple has confirmed the existence of a long-rumored web crawling service — first noticed last November — and provided some details of its operations in a recently-updated support document.

About Applebot, by Apple

Applebot is the web crawler for Apple, used by products including Siri and Spotlight Suggestions. It respects customary robots.txt rules and robots meta tags. It originates in the 17.0.0.0 net block.

Software Is Hard

discoveryd Clusterfuck, by Craig Hockenberry, Furbo.org

It’s no secret in the tech community that discoveryd is the root cause of so many problems. There are even crazy workarounds. With so many issues, you’d expect some information from Apple explaining ways to mitigate the problems.

Nope.

Also:

Craig Hockenberry On discoveryd, by Marco Arment

discoveryd Is Garbage, by Russ Bishop

The Plan All Along?

Home Depot To Become Largest Retailer To Accept Apple Pay, by Matt Townsend, Bloomberg

The retailer is updating its systems and intends to offer Apple Pay after the upgrade is complete, Home Depot spokesman Steve Holmes said, without providing a timetable for the rollout. The chain, which currently accepts PayPal, also may add other kinds of mobile payment, he said.

Also:

Las Vegas: Cosmopolitan Hotel To Offer Apple Pay, But Not For Gambling, by Mary Forglone, Los Angeles Times

Stuff.

Dropbox For iOS Adds File Comments, Recents Tab, by Federico Viticci, MacStories

I've been trying both features today, and I can see how they're going to speed up the way I rely on Dropbox for personal and collaborative use.

Fix OS X Crashing When A Particular Folder Is Opened, by Topher Kessler, MacIssues

A Sweet App That Helps You Visualize Complex Rhythms, by Kyle Vanhemert, Wired

Darwin thought our ancestors used music as a means of courtship before the invention of language. Other experts have suggested that humming and stomping whipped early man into a communal “battle trance.” Whatever the case, rhythm has been part of the human experience for as long as there’s been a human experience. This app is meant to put you back in touch with that evolutionary birthright.

Make Incredible iPhone Photos With Specialized Apps, by Maurice Cacho, CTV

Twitterrific Update Makes Multi-Account Tweeting Easier, by Dave Caolo, Apple World Today

Apple Watch Face Off: Modular, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

If you really like complications and data on your watch face, Modular is the choice for you. When I first got my Apple Watch, I assumed this would be my face of choice. But I really dislike the emphasis of the central complication over the time.

Review: PopSlate Adds A Second Screen To Your iPhone, by Walt Mossberg, Re/code

If nothing else, it’s a cool form of self-expression that features multiple designs you can change at the press of a button.

Need To Manage A Peck Of Apple Devices? Get Bushel MDM For That, by Ken Hess, ZDNet

Develop.

Atomics In Objective-C, by Biased Bit

Atomics make for a very compelling alternative to hard locking solutions due to their wait and lock-free properties, which makes them very fast.

Death Of A Programmer. Life Of A Farmer., by Hello, World!

Japanese cola requires root privileges to open pic.twitter.com/1TdmQw8Pwm

— Christopher Stanton (@Stanto) May 5, 2015

Notes.

Apple And Microsoft’s Visions For The Future Are Delightfully Different, by Vlad Savov, The Verge

The future of personal technology is mobile, that much is uncontroversial. For Apple, mobile means mobile devices, whereas for Microsoft, it means mobile experiences that transcend devices.

One Day They’ll Understand Apple, by Ken Segall

Apple is actually one of the most consistent companies on earth. When you’re puzzled by its behavior in the present, it can be very clarifying to just look at the past.

Over A Week After Launch, Apple Watch Still Draws Long Line Of Buyers At Colette In Paris, by Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider

EU Delays Decisions On Tax Probes Into Apple, Amazon, by Tom Fairless, Wall Street Journal

European Union regulators delayed decisions on whether four multinational companies, including Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., may have benefited from illegal tax breaks, citing difficulty obtaining information to make their cases.

Arctuition’s ArcSite Modernizes The Early Stages Of Engineering With The iPad, by Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch

Arctuition is hoping to take advantage of the iPad’s portability, flexibility and range of input options to bring meaningful improvements to an area of CAD and engineering that has remained primarily low-tech.

Parting Words

Oh you are good @UNrefugees. You. Are. Good. pic.twitter.com/SZtiDxvvcl

— Tim Singleton Norton (@norton_tim) May 6, 2015

Thanks for reading.