ToothFairy 2.8.5 is a maintenance update of my Bluetooth menu bar utility. It fixes a bug where sometimes ToothFairy wouldn’t auto-launch at login.
An interesting bug was:
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ToothFairy uses SMLoginItemSetEnabled(), which, instead of launching the app directly, launches a helper app that can launch the main app. Originally, it did this using NSWorkspace.launchApplication(_:), but then Xcode reported this as deprecated, so I updated it to the new API, openApplication(at:configuration:completionHandler:). There seemed to be no need to report errors in this case, so I just passed nil for the completion handler. The documentation says that the method “Launches the app at the specified URL and asynchronously reports back on the app’s status.” What I didn’t realize, and seems contrary to the documentation, is that it doesn’t just report the success or failure asynchronously, but it seems to also do the launching asynchronously. Sometimes the API would return, the helper app would quit, and this would derail the launching. The fix is to keep the helper running until the completion handler has been called.
Cocoa Mac Mac App macOS 15 Sequoia Programming ToothFairy
Amazon (Hacker News, MacRumors):
The all-new Kindle Colorsoft brings color to Kindle without compromise. It has everything customers love about Kindle today—high contrast, fast page turns, an auto-adjusting front light, and weeks of battery life. It adds color that is vibrant yet easy on the eyes. Now, you can browse covers in color in your Kindle Library or Store; see book photos and images in color; or add color highlights that you can easily search later.
It’s $279.99 with a 7-inch display (wireless charging dock extra). Color is 150 ppi vs. 300 ppi for monochrome.
The all-new Kindle Scribe combines all the benefits of Kindle with a powerful notetaking device. The display has new white borders, and the screen has a smooth, paper-like texture that makes it look and feel like you’re writing on a sheet of paper. Plus, at 300 ppi, text looks crisp and clear when you’re writing or reading. The Premium Pen is finely crafted to deliver just the right heft and balance, so it feels like holding an actual pen, and the new soft-tipped eraser feels like a pencil—you’ll think you have to brush the screen clean after erasing.
[…]
The new Kindle Scribe offers a first-of-its-kind in-book writing experience and a more powerful notetaking experience. With Active Canvas, you can write your thoughts directly in the book when inspiration strikes. Your note becomes part of the page, and the book text dynamically flows around it—if you increase the font size, change the font style, or the book layout changes, the note remains visible exactly where you want it so you never lose any meaning or context. Coming soon, you’ll also be able to write your notes in the side panel and easily hide them when you are done.
It’s $399.99 with 10.2-inch display. I guess it doesn’t work with the wireless charging dock.
Since its debut in 2012, customers have made Kindle Paperwhite our best-selling Kindle—and the all-new Kindle Paperwhite is our fastest yet. Scrolling through your Kindle Library or Store is snappy and responsive with 25% faster page turns. The display uses an oxide thin-film transistor, which gives it the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle, so text and images pop off the screen. A larger, 7-inch display is a first for Kindle Paperwhite—and yet, it is also the thinnest Kindle Paperwhite ever with up to three months of battery life.
The regular edition is $159.99, and the signature edition (double the storage, wireless charging, front light sensor) is $199.99.
Weighing in at just 158g, the new entry-level Kindle is small enough to fit in your hand or carry in your back pocket—and it’s packed with premium Kindle features. It has a 300 ppi, glare-free display, now with faster page turns, higher contrast ratio, and a front light that is 25% brighter at max setting—as bright as Kindle Paperwhite.
This is $109.99 for a 6-inch display.
Sadly, the Kindle Oasis was not updated and is, in fact, discontinued. This was my favorite design, as it had physical page-turn buttons, a more comfortable shape to hold, and the lightest weight (131g without the cover).
Jason Snell:
The writing was on the wall, but it’s still sad. Amazon has apparently decided that there’s no place in the Kindle line-up for an e-reader that still has physical page-turn buttons.
Regular readers of this site will know that I am an ardent supporter of physical page-turn buttons on e-readers, because they allow you to rest a finger on the button and turn the page with a simple squeeze, while touch-only readers require you to constantly reposition a finger, tap, and the move the finger away. Not exactly torturous, but decidedly less optimal.
See also: M.G. Siegler and Andrew Liszewski.
Previously:
Update (2024-10-21): Riccardo Mori:
Now that the new iPad mini and the new Kindles are out, I can tell you that they both have one thing in common: they have sold me on the previous generation of their respective models or product lines.
[…]
I imagine that, from a manufacturing standpoint, devices with physical buttons may be annoying because they have parts and components that are subject to stress and wear. But physical buttons in ebook readers — especially when well placed — are crucial and make for a much more pleasant experience; they’re exactly where your thumbs rest while holding the device, and turning pages becomes a frictionless action; you click the button instinctively, without having to constantly move your hand away from holding the device to tap on the screen (hopefully in the right place). Amazon should have kept at least one Kindle with physical buttons instead of going touch-only across the whole lineup. Last week, at the local second-hand electronics shop I frequently visit, I’ve seen a Kindle Oasis at a good price, so I guess I’ll go with that.
Kirk McElhearn:
In my experience with Kindles and other devices, automatically adjustable brightness never works. When using it on Kindles, they suddenly darken or brighten, and I’ve always turned this feature off.
[…]
One note about brightness. Amazon says that all these devices have 94 nits maximum brightness. I compared my Kindle Oasis – 2019 model – to my iPad Pro, which maxes out at 1,000 nits. The brightest setting on the Oasis matched about 60% of the highest brightness on the iPad Pro. So I’m not sure what 94 nits actually means. It’s true that Kindles don’t need to be bright, because their e-ink displays are reflective, so when reading outdoors you can generally turn the brightness all the way down, saving on battery.
[…]
Many Kindle users hold onto their devices for a long time, if Internet forum comments are any indication, so getting people to upgrade isn’t easy. Amazon does offer a 20% discount on trade-ins for these new Kindles, along with whatever they offer for the trade-in devices, and runs this offer from time to time. […] Note that you’ll get 20% off regardless of how much your old Kindle is worth, so if you have a very old one, trade that in to get the discount.
Update (2024-11-04): Kirk McElhearn:
The device is aptly named: its colors are, well, soft.
[…]
Both of these devices are set to the same brightness and warmth, and I had to tone down the exposure and highlights to get the right contrast in the above photo. One thing you may notice is a moiré effect on the Colorsoft; this is an artifact of the extra layers in the display. These layers darken the display, and are especially obvious when comparing the two devices with their backlights off, under a bright reading lamp.
[…]
If you read comics or graphic novels, if you read books that have illustrations and photos, or if you just like to highlight your books in different colors, it’s a nice addition. But Amazon seems to have made an own goal here. Either they didn’t know how bad these displays were, or they figured people wouldn’t complain, but this is a bad look for a device this expensive.
Update (2024-11-05): Kuro TimeDesign:
[The] tech used is not very good and is quite famous for its shortcomings. They pretend they tweaked the backplane and the light system to achieve better results. But it is still the same quite disappointing technology and generation than most other color devices …
[…]
Just compare a color page and the real paper book. There is a reason why brands never show pictures comparing an actual book to the same book on their e-readers. It’s because colors and contrasts are so bad that nobody would buy these devices.
[…]
Many units exhibits a yellowich tint on the bottop of the display. Amazon is investigating this and says it’s a software issue which will be solved with an update.
[…]
Download and transfer via USB is not available anymore with the new line of Kindle device, making it more difficult to backup you books on your computer. You still can install the Kindle PC app to download your books and retrieve the files for backup, but it’s a step towards an even more closed ecosystem.
Color E Ink Hardware Kindle
Thomas Claburn (Hacker News):
Digital River has not paid numerous merchants since midsummer for software and digital products they sold through its MyCommerce platform.
[…]
“Astonishingly, Digital River continued to take sales from our loyal customers until we removed them from the order system. It now appears they have no intention of making payments and may be entering a liquidation process under a new CEO who has been involved in similar situations before.”
[…]
The privately-owned, Minnesota-based business appears to have laid off a significant number of employees, presumably the result of what its UK subsidiary describes as cost reduction initiatives implemented in late 2022.
[…]
In a post to LinkedIn three weeks ago, Lorant Barla, CEO of Romania-based Softland, said, “Digital River is automatically ‘pre-signing’ contracts in your MyCommerce account without your approval. The new MSAs [Master Services Agreements] stipulate additional platform fees and payments delayed for up to 60 days (we are still waiting for the payment from July).”
It’s so sad to see them fall apart. eSellerate was great back in the day.
Previously:
Update (2024-10-18): See also: Hacker News.
Business Layoffs MyCommerce Payments Sunset Web
