Reflecting on the year 2016
Reflection on the year 2016, checking progress of the goals, and some numbers.
Journal
2016
62 posts
Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People
Today we’re building another world-changing technology, machine intelligence. We know that it will affect the world in profound ways, change how the economy works, and have knock-on effects we can’t predict.
Gems
Useful macOS defaults: Software Update
Handy defaults write commands for com.apple.SoftwareUpdate, controlling how macOS checks for and installs updates.
Mac
What is parsecd?
If you see parsecd in Activity Monitor and wonder what it is, here is what this macOS process does.
Mac
Swift 3.1 Release Process
Swift 3.1 aims to maintain source compatibility with Swift 3.0 while adding minor language enhancements, improvements to the Swift Package Manager, better Linux support, and general fixes to the compiler and standard library, with a planned release in spring 2017.
Development
Monthly update #0319 • November 2016
Monthly update 319 • November 2016 • 2016-11-01 - 2016-11-30
Monthly Updates
Night School by Lee Child
Night School revisits 1996, with Reacher in Hamburg teaming with CIA and NSA agents to stop a jihadist selling a nuclear weapon.
Books
What are the mdmclient processes?
If you see mdmclient processes running on your Mac, here is what these Mobile Device Management processes do.
Mac
What is deleted?
If you see a process called deleted in Activity Monitor, here is what it does and why it is there.
Mac
What is WirelessRadioManager-osx?
If you see WirelessRadioManager-osx running on your Mac, here is what this wireless radio management process does.
Mac
Monthly update #0318 • October 2016
Monthly update 318 • October 2016 • 2016-10-01 - 2016-10-31
Monthly Updates
Server APIs Work Group
Swift grew popular for server use after its Linux port, sparking frameworks like Kitura, Vapor, Perfect, and Zewo.
Development
What is boswatcher?
If you see boswatcher running on your Mac, here is what this boot and shutdown monitoring process does.
Mac
Whole-Module Optimization in Swift 3
Whole-module optimisation boosts Swift code performance by compiling all files in a module together, which allows the compiler to inline functions, specialise generics for specific types, and remove unused code across files.
Development
Use Touch ID to authenticate sudo in Terminal
You can use Touch ID instead of typing your password every time you run a sudo command in Terminal.
Mac
Spam iCloud calendar invitations
If your iCloud calendar is filling up with spam event invitations, here is how to deal with them and stop them from coming back.
Mac
What is logd?
If you see logd running on your Mac, here is what this unified logging process does and why it matters.
Mac
Monthly update #0317 • September 2016
Monthly update 317 • September 2016 • 2016-09-01 - 2016-09-30
Monthly Updates
Quiet
Quiet is a content blocker for Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Projects
How to Fix “xcrun: error: invalid active developer path” after upgrading macOS
After every major macOS update (including the recent macOS Tahoe), many people open Terminal and try to use git or any other command-line tool.
Mac
Swift 3.0 Released!
Apple released Swift 3.0 as the first major version since the language became open source. This update brings big changes to the core language and standard library through many Swift Evolution proposals, but it does not work with code from Swift 2.2 or 2.3.
Development
Remembering Omi
Omi, the mother of my father, died today. She was born in April 1942 and lived to the age of 74 years. She was the fun grandma that everyone in the family loved.
Remembering
Useful macOS defaults: Time Machine
Handy defaults write commands for com.apple.TimeMachine, controlling backup behaviour.
Mac
What is wifianalyticsd?
If you see wifianalyticsd running on your Mac, here is what this Wi-Fi diagnostics process does.
Mac
Monthly update #0316 • August 2016
Monthly update 316 • August 2016 • 2016-08-01 - 2016-08-31
Monthly Updates