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The Too-Much-Control Edition Monday, January 2, 2017

Google Helping Mobile Publishing? Some Publishers Are Not So Sure, by Daisuke Wakabayashi, New York Times

Mr. Viticci’s experience underscores the ambivalent relationship that some web publishers have developed with what was supposed to be Google’s great boon for mobile publishing. When Google introduced Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP, in October 2015, it said the new format would help publishers with one of their biggest headaches on smartphones: Browsing mobile websites was so frustratingly slow that many smartphone users abandoned pages before they opened.

AMP has since delivered on its promise of faster mobile web pages. Even so, publishers — of smaller sites, especially, or individual bloggers — are beginning to worry about giving too much control to Google in exchange for zippier web pages. What’s more, Google’s approach to AMP has rankled some critics already suspicious of the company’s outsize influence on the internet.

The Watch As A Tool

Apple Watch, New Year’s Resolutions, And Losing 50 Pounds, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Apple Watch didn’t lose the weight for me — it took a lot of dedication and really changing my lifestyle — but the fitness tracking features and Apple’s Activity app helped quantify my effort without me doing too little or going overboard.

Apple Watch has absolutely been an effective motivational coach that has pushed me toward my goal of being more active. Below I’ll detail my experience and share some of what I’ve learned along my journey.

Bad UX: Apple Watch, by Marlon Wayne, Medium

Apple has essentially created a miniature, less efficient iPhone that lives on your wrist. The most efficient thing it can do is biometric tracking and notifications. I think if Apple were to go back to the drawing board, they’d recognize the benefit of those niche abilities. Imagine an Apple Watch that was more gesture and vibration based.

Notes

The Ridiculous Economics Of Real Racing 3, by Rob Griffiths

I have no problem paying for games. I have no problem paying $60 for $120 for an exceptional iOS game if its gameplay and features make it a console-worthy alternative. But in what universe is paying $3,664.61 to finish playing a game make any sort of sense at all?

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Can't wait for the iPod-shuffle of Apple-Watch.

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Thanks for reading.