2019

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96 posts

Reflecting on the year 2019

Reflection on the year 2019, checking progress of the goals, and some numbers.

Journal

Tesseract

The day-night cycle and the cycle of the seasons have been an important part of human civilization for millennia.

Gems

Useful macOS defaults: Network Browser

Handy defaults write commands for com.apple.NetworkBrowser, controlling how your Mac discovers network devices.

Mac

AVSpeechSynthesizer

The article highlights the role of Swift’s AVSpeechSynthesizer, introduced in iOS 7 and macOS 10.14, in enabling speech synthesis for computer-assisted communication across languages, supporting over 30 languages with voices selected via IETF Language Tags.

Development

Monthly update #0355 • November 2019

Monthly update 355 • November 2019 • 2019-11-01 - 2019-11-30

Monthly Updates

Blue Moon by Lee Child

Blue Moon pits Reacher against rival Albanian and Ukrainian gangs in a city turf war after he helps an elderly man robbed for loan shark debts.

Books

What is installcoordinationd?

If you see installcoordinationd running on your Mac, here is what this installation coordination process does.

Mac

Asterix and the Chieftain's Daughter by Jean-Yves Ferri

It is the thirty-eighth book in the Asterix series. A teenage girl named Adrenaline arrives in the village. She is the daughter of a famous Gaulish chief.

Books

Swift Numerics

The Swift Numerics open-source project introduces a modular Swift package for numerical computing, filling gaps in the Standard Library with modules like Real and Complex.

Development

Monthly update #0354 • October 2019

Monthly update 354 • October 2019 • 2019-10-01 - 2019-10-31

Monthly Updates

SSWG Annual Update '19

The Swift Server Work Group (SSWG) has made significant progress in its first year, establishing an incubation process for defining high-quality Swift packages through community pitches, reviews, and acceptance.

Development

What is findmydeviced?

If you see findmydeviced running on your Mac, here is what this Find My device tracking process does.

Mac

Earth and Sun

The day-night cycle and the cycle of the seasons have been an important part of human civilization for millennia.

Gems

New Diagnostic Architecture Overview

Swift 5.2 enhances compiler diagnostics through a new infrastructure that uses 'constraint fixes' to pinpoint type errors more accurately, allowing the type checker to continue solving and report multiple issues with actionable guidance, unlike the old system's vague guesses.

Development

What is CoreAuthentication.daemon?

If you see CoreAuthentication.daemon running on your Mac, here is what this authentication process does.

Mac

What is storagekitd?

If you see storagekitd running on your Mac, here is what this storage management process does.

Mac

What is runningboardd?

If you see runningboardd running on your Mac, here is what this process lifecycle manager does.

Mac

Monthly update #0353 • September 2019

Monthly update 353 • September 2019 • 2019-09-01 - 2019-09-30

Monthly Updates

The Spy

The Spy is a French limited series. It aired on Netflix on 6 September 2019. Gideon Raff created it. Sacha Baron Cohen plays Eli Cohen, a real Mossad agent who went undercover in Syria during the early 1960s and rose to the highest levels of its government.

TV Series

Swift 5.2 Release Process

Swift 5.2 focuses on delivering significant improvements in quality and performance.

Development

Swift 5.1 Released!

Swift 5.1 advances Swift 5 by introducing module stability, enabling binary frameworks that work across compiler versions, alongside library evolution support for resilient APIs.

Development

Apple Push Notification Device Tokens

In iOS 13 where a change in NSData’s description format, from a full hexadecimal string to a summarised form, breaks push notification workflows that relied on string manipulation of deviceToken in application(_:didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:).

Development

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey (2019), directed by Michael Engler, continues the story of the Crawley family and their servants as they prepare for a royal visit from King George V and Queen Mary. Hugh Bonneville plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham.

Movies

Useful macOS defaults: Screen Sharing

Handy defaults write commands for com.apple.ScreenSharing, controlling the Screen Sharing viewer app.

Mac

What is uninstalld?

If you see uninstalld running on your Mac, here is what this app removal process does.

Mac