Archive for October 30, 2023

Monday, October 30, 2023

Keyboard Maestro 11

Stairways Software:

Version 11 extends the editor by adding a New Macro Wizard and new Security preference pane, and enhanced searching and syncing.

The engine adds a new keyboardmaestro command line tool for triggering macros, modern JavaScript syntax, Apple Text Recognition option, a new palette to show active macro groups, enhanced scripting support, and more.

There is a new Space Changed trigger, and new trigger options for hot keys and device keys. Version 11 also adds support for using modifier taps in Typed String triggers.

There are lots of new actions including Prompt for Snippet, Create Calendar Event, Send Pushover Notification, Set Screen Resolution, Select Menu by Name, Remove Clipboard Flavors, Set Audio Device, Mute Audio Device, Get Location and more.

Stairways Software:

Same deal as usual, free upgrade if you purchase since March, $18 if you purchased version 10 before then, $25 if you’re upgrading from an older version and $36 if you are crazy enough not to already own me.

See also: the release notes.

Previously:

Code Signing Woes

Dirk Lemstra (via Hacker News, tweet):

Today [ImageMagick’s Windows] code signing certificate will expire. For many years LeaderSSL sponsored us with a code singing certificate but they are no longer able to do so. Since June of 2023 the CA/B Forum requires that OV code signing private keys be stored on a FIPS 140-2 Level 2 or Common Criteria Level EAL4+ certified device. This means we are no longer able to export our code signing certificate with its private key and use this in GitHub actions. We would now either need to have our own GitHub agent and hardware token or use a cloud solution (e.g. digicert). Our preference would be to use a cloud solution that integrates with GitHub. Digicert seems to be our only option now but a certificate there would cost $629 (tax excluded) for a single year.

Marc-André Moreau:

Windows code signing has one big problem: it’s too expensive 🫰 and difficult to deal with for most open source projects, where it’s often coming out of someone’s personal money, not from a business that can well afford it

Gerardo Grignoli:

TIL that Code Signing policies had changed for the worst. Signing is now more expensive, requires a physical device and no longer can be a automated step on build agents such as GitHub Actions. 😵‍💫

Marc-André Moreau:

Code signing now requires the private key to be stored in an HSM, but you can use Azure Key Vault for that, after which you can switch to AzureSignTool or one of the many alternatives that can call Azure Key Vault during the signing operations.

It sounds like code signing on Windows is even worse than on the Mac. We “only” have to pay $99/year, but then some percentage of our customers are scared away by spurious “‘App’ is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.” errors.

Previously:

Masimo v. Apple

Brian Merchant:

Kiani, an electrical engineer by training, had founded the Irvine company Masimo in 1989. Over the next three decades, he and his colleagues built Masimo into an industry leader in pulse oximetry, used to take readings of the amount of oxygen in a person’s blood — a crucial, sometimes life-saving, measurement.

[…]

Kiani and the Apple executives had long, involved, and, what felt to him, productive meetings. It even seemed that Apple was interested in acquiring Masimo. “They asked us, ‘Where do we see the market going?,’ ‘How does the tech work?,’ to share with them the regulatory pathways. All the leadership was there, saying, ‘whatever you need, we’re going to work this out.’”

[…]

According to the complaint in his case, unbeknownst to Kiani, back when the two companies started meeting, Apple hatched a plan, known internally as Project Everest, to obtain or emulate Masimo’s technology without paying Kiani a cent. Instead of acquiring Masimo, Apple could simply raid its brain trust. In at least one email exchange between executives, Apple referred to its strategy as “smart recruiting.”

There have been stories like this for many years, though I can’t seem to find the links at the moment.

Brian Merchant (via Hacker News):

It turns out the United States International Trade Commission agrees. It just sided with Kiani, issuing a ruling that the Apple Watch contains technology that violates Masimo’s patents, and handing down an exclusion order that, if it stands, would result in the devices being banned from import into the United States unless the infringing technology is removed.

The ruling upholds an initial finding in January that determined Apple had infringed on Masimo’s pulse-oximetry technology, which allows users to take readings of blood-oxygen levels. Earlier this year, a separate federal trial over whether Apple had profited from trade secrets stolen from Masimo, to the tune of $1.85 billion, ended in a hung jury.

Previously:

The Restaurant Nearest Google

Mia Sato:

Jirapraphanan is exactly the kind of customer Thai Food Near Me hopes to scoop up. The New York-based restaurant is named after a literal Google search, betting it can bring in customers with the power of SEO — the practice of making a business, website, or content more findable in search engine results. The restaurant is optimized for the digital platforms diners use to find places nearby, not for the person walking past on the street or getting a recommendation from a friend.

Chicago Tribune (in 1992, via Hacker News):

Are you willing to trust your business correspondence to a firm listed in the telephone directory as “A AAA Aability Secretarial Service?” Trust your car registration to the ungrammatical “A Attorney for DMV Matters?” Open wide for someone listed anonymously as “A Business Person’s Dentist?”

There’s no reason not to, unless you object to business operators trying to get an alphabetical leg up on their competition.

Update (2023-11-20): Nick Heer:

Google says this strategy does not work, and my testing seems to confirm that. There is a chain of businesses in Calgary called “Towing Near Me”, but searching both Google and Google Maps for that exact phrase does not surface that business. Instead, I see towing companies with locations near my IP address in central Calgary, which is what I would expect.