At the President’s Request

Half a year into his presidency, I think Trump had a pretty good start. One only has to look at his most vocal opponents. If those characters are unhappy, then Trump must be doing a great job. Trump is also keeping his campaign promises. He picked Neil Gorsuch, a conservative successor for Antonin Scalia. (Also, good for the GOP in using the “Nuclear Option” to get the appointment through.) With a conservative majority in the Supreme Court, Trump’s travel ban was upheld. While the United States has a strong history of immigration, it is not obligated to take in everyone from everywhere. Bobby Jindal was right when he said, “Immigration without assimilation is invasion.”

That’s why Trump’s strong stance on illegal immigration is welcomed. The United States is a nation of laws – which protect our rights endowed by our creator. A significant percentage of people that live here are doing so illegally. Ultimately, this is bad for them and our nation. Since Trump’s inauguration, illegal immigration is down significantly. Getting the border wall built is not something Trump can do on his own, but there is some forward movement on that project. It’s disappointing that the GOP isn’t doing a better job in supporting Trump on key issues, such as the border wall.

Economically, things are looking up. The stock market is doing well. (This raises concern though, as it creates a lofty metric for the president to maintain.) Even though the President doesn’t directly control the stock market, Trump has created economic optimism – something lacking in Obama’s presidency. Also, I recently read that the national debt could be down by billions of dollars under Trump’s first six months of his presidency. If you want to combat Fake News, verify that fact and get that information out there. The mainstream media is obviously looking to embarrass Trump. Even Fox News showed horrible signs of bias.

Healthcare is still a mess, but that’s not because of Trump. The GOP campaigned on “Repeal & Replace”. But now that they can actually fulfill that promise, coordination is terribly lacking.

Obama and Hillary screwed up the middle east. Trump’s presidency is showing the beginning of an end to those horrors. Trump is working with Russia to stabilize Syria, not starting another costly and stupid war.

Trump was right to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accords. Humans should strive to be good stewards of the planet, but something about this “Climate Change” drama reeks of a scam. It’s OK for conservatives to – willingly – buy solar panels for their homes, or even drive electric cars, but the Paris Climate Accords admittedly did little but drain money from the pockets of Americans. The free market will solve this problem, as Tesla is doing great things in this area. Conventional companies will be forced to play catchup.

Trump’s trip to Poland was amazing – great speech. It’s refreshing to hear an Amercian President speak that way.

There are some issue though. I am concerned about the GOP and the President’s stance on Net Neutrality. Data should be treated equality, as we the people have already paid for it. The Internet has created tremendous wealth for this nation. It has also give average citizens seemingly magical powers. It’s important to protect that freedom. Big companies should not be able to unfairly compete small businesses. The big service providers are typically hated by customers. Some areas only have 1-2 broadband providers. This doesn’t promote healthy competition, which is essential for innovation.

Also, Trump’s use of Twitter is a bit of a double-edged sword. In the era of “Fake News”, Trump needs a way to combat the bias. He’s been exceptionally effective in doing so. (I even liked the Trump wrestling CNN tweet.) Although, Trump is unfiltered. Sometimes he says embarrassing things. But compared to what Hillary would have been, Trump’s tweets are a minor problem. It’s more entertaining than problematic. The GOP would be wise to support Trump, even when he stumbles a bit. That’s what the Democrats did for “57 states” Obama.

Trump put his family and his business at risk to work for the American People – and he isn’t even taking a salary. They might have to make space on Mount Rushmore if Trump stays on track.

Free Template Tuesday #12 – Tumult Hype “Passcode”

Thinking Emoji LockedBack in the golden age of 8-BIT gaming, the action could continue more than an average player could sit in one spot. Games were getting longer. Fancy games, such as The Legend of Zelda, had a battery backup to save player progress. But games like Metroid or Mega Man 2 had an alternative method – a passcode system. Players could enter a secret code to save their progress. Some Flash games in the late 90’s and early 2000’s also used this technique. Could the same be done with Hype?

Continue reading “Free Template Tuesday #12 – Tumult Hype “Passcode””

A Deadly Decision – Government Alerts

The biggest problem is how this alert just took over my phone. Again, I’m driving! While it is important to know that there’s a “Flash Flood Warning”, I already knew the weather risk. That’s why I was driving. So instead of helping me, the alert was impeding my safe travel.

Sure, there was no real danger, as I was using navigation more as a technological novelty. But if I was in real driving trouble, Apple and “The Government” worsened the situation. I could have missed my turn. I could have been in an accident related to distracted driving. I could have ended up dead. That alert was loud. I’m not sure what it would have done to someone suffering from a heart condition or panic attacks. Even if the alert doesn’t bother me. Even if I’m not using it. The car next to me might.

So, what can be done to avoid this from happening next time? That’s the “Deadly Decision”. By going to… Settings > Notifications > Government Alerts …the AMBER Alerts and Emergency Alerts can be turned off. I don’t feel good about this. If everyone simply turns off the alerts, because they’re terribly annoying, then the effectiveness of the system is lost.

Additionally, if I turn off the “Emergency Alerts”, then I’ll miss out on potentially life saving information.

What should happen instead? Here are some ideas.

  • Perhaps emergency alerts should be treated like a regular text message or an iMessage. Those notifications don’t take over my phone. And since I frequently check my messages, I’ll likely notice the message – but when it’s safe to do so. At least having the option would be nice. Instead of simply turning them off, I can just downgrade the notification level.

Do Not Disturb While DrivingAt the 2017 WWDC, Craig Federighi explains”Do Not Disturb While Driving” – a new feature in iOS 11. Perhaps that should apply to Emergency Alerts.

  • Perhaps Siri should read the message instead of displaying it. If I’m driving, I don’t want to read text on my iPhone. It’s simply not safe. Siri just previously told me about a traffic incident ahead, why couldn’t she read the emergency alerts while the navigation app was running?
  • Perhaps “The Government” should find another toy to play with. It must feel pretty powerful to send a text message to so many people… an unblockable message, with a custom alert sound. Do you want to use emoji too?! Yet, I received two of these messages while driving yesterday. It felt totally unnecessary. “With great power comes great responsibility.” I think the National Weather Service should reserve these types of notifications for something more dire.

Did Apple Just Solve Tesla’s Model 3 Problem?

Craig Federighi explains "Speed Limits" in iOS 11.

Around the 68:34 mark of the video, Craig started talking about the new Speed Limits feature in Apple’s Maps app.

…and of course we have more improvements to navigation. So now in the upper left you can even see your speed limit. I hope you’re paying attention to that.

I watched that spot of the video many times. Apple used the words “Speed Limits” and not “Current Speed”. While I considered using third-party software / hardware to create the Model 3 driving experience that I’ve been looking for, I didn’t expect that solution to come entirely from Apple. I don’t know if the Map app will include a speedometer. But if it does, a stock Apple iPhone could solve the problem of the Model 3. (It could also give new life to older cars.) An iPhone could be the screen I need. That means I wouldn’t have to buy any expensive gadgets. I could simply use my iPhone.

Tesla and Apple are not the best of buddies, evident by the lack of a Tesla logo on the CarPlay page.

Regardless, it seems that Apple is preparing to make the iPhone more useful in cars that don’t support CarPlay.

Now, we know in addition to navigation, people like to do with more with their phones sometimes while driving and our safest solution for doing this is CarPlay, let’s you keep your eyes on the road while you’re doing things like asking Siri to play music. Well we wanted to bring this same level of safety to everyone who maybe doesn’t have one of the 200 models of car[s] that currently support CarPlay and we’re building on Do Not Disturb, with a new feature that we call “Do Not Disturb While Driving” and it’s all about keeping your eyes on the road.

Even if Apple doesn’t fulfill their potential, and the lack of a Mac Mini update shows they’re prone to that problem, there are plenty of “speedometer” apps on the Mac App store. If the Maps app showed current speed, then I wouldn’t even need the giant screen in the Model 3. Apple’s Maps app already has turn-by-turn navigation – with traffic updates. If I want to play music, I can also use my iPhone.

Of course, there’s the problem of climate control. “How do I adjust the heat in the Model 3?” The reality is that a touchscreen interface is terrible for driving. There’s a disturbing lack of buttons with the Model 3, which is why I’m starting to lean towards a Ford Focus Electric. With a button or knob, I don’t even have to look. I can feel the contours of the dash to get what I need. Even just a quick glance is sufficient. Is the beauty of the Model 3 only skin deep? What’s it like on the inside? And the reality, isn’t that what matters most? I don’t need a status symbol. I need to drive without a lot of fuss – so that I don’t die.

Ford Focus Electric Speedometer

I haven’t pulled my reservation yet, but I’m seriously considering it. I’m waiting at least until Tesla’s “Final Unveiling” event in July, to see if the Model 3 is right for me. Is Tesla holding back some secrets? Tesla is in a precarious time. It can’t hype the Model 3 too much, or sales of the Model S and Model X could collapse. I’m not sure why Elon would be so glib about this issue – unless he knows something we do not. The only other option is arrogance, which is somewhat out-of-character for Elon. He might not always deliver on-time, but he frequently reaches his lofty goals.

Meanwhile, Apple is on the right track. While the WWDC keynote didn’t have earth shattering news, it did have important news. Apple focused on saving lives. That’s heroic. Good job Apple!

What do you think of the latest Apple Maps news? You don’t have to tell me. It’s probably more productive to tell Apple… https://www.apple.com/feedback/maps_ios.html …if you want the Maps app to have more driving friendly features – like a speedometer – that’s a place to let them know.

Free Template Tuesday #11 – Tumult Hype “Multilingual”

Emoji Flags from English speaking countriesOne of the nice things about Tumult Hype is the ability to customize my work. Instead of waiting for Hype 4.0, or whatever the next major version is called, I can simply create my own features. As an example, what if Hype had built-in Multilingual support? Instead of creating multiple scenes or multiple projects, wouldn’t it be nice to have just one layout? Well, you can. That’s what this week’s template is all about. It shows how to manage multiple languages from a single location in a Hype project – or an HTML5 project in general.

Continue reading “Free Template Tuesday #11 – Tumult Hype “Multilingual””