Don't Buy Crystal. (If you did, uninstall it!)

In my previous post I told you that I installed the new ad-blocker, Crystal, on my iPhone and iPad. That was true. Today I discovered the maker of Crystal said he will accept money from advertisers to whitelist their ads. Read all about it at The Verge. This is unacceptable and I feel it is completely underhanded. Crystal's developer, a vermine named Dean Murphy entered an agreement with Eyeo GmbH to sell whitelisting to them. I guess the $79,000 he's already made from Crystal wasn't enough. Screw him and his app. After all, people buy ad-blockers to block ads, not just the ads who didn't pay-up. Its like this dirtbag is running an insurance scam on advertisers and using his customers as muscle. I feel like I've been completely scammed and I refuse to be his leverage. I know Crystal was only a buck, but it was MY buck. I've since uninstalled Crystal and emplore everyone who bought it to do the same and NEVER buy anything developed by this jerk! If Crystal has no install base, then Mr. Murphy has nothing to sell to advertisers.

Should You Install an Ad-Blocker? Unfortunately, the Answer is Yes.

In the past few days since Apple released iOS 9 with its ability to install ad-blocking software, a minor kerfuffle has ensued. All the ruckus seems to be centered on Marco Arment who, according to his web site is “a programmer, writer, podcaster, geek, and coffee enthusiast”. He is quite well-known in tech circles for his involvement with Tumblr and Instapaper. On August 11th he posted a very lucid, succinct article titled “The ethics of modern web ad-blocking” in which he makes several points about the many evils of modern web advertising, any of which provide ample justification for installing an ad-blocker. Taken in total they make you feel like all web advertisers should be imprisoned. As soon as Apple would allow it, Mr. Arment began selling an ad blocker he developed for iOS called Peace. All the hullabaloo started when, after just a couple of days in the App Store, Mr. Arment suddenly pulled the app and posted this, “Just doesn’t feel good”. He explains he still believes in all the reasons for an ad-blocker but he doesn’t want to be the arbiter. I can respect that. Especially when I realize what a butt-load of cash he’s turning his back on. Peace was the #1 bestseller in the App Store when he pulled it. Observing principal in action is quite refreshing, actually.

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Wallpaper o' th' Week (Why not? It don't cost nuthin'.)

I spend a large portion of most days working on one (or more) of my Macs. Some say I’m slightly (or not so slightly) A.D.D. Maybe that’s why I get bored with desktop wallpaper rather quickly. I’ve collected literally hundreds of hi-res images to adorn my 27” iMac and 15” MacBook Pro. I have four desktops configured on each, so that multiplies my problem by eight. Having different wallpaper on each desktop is a visual que to where I am.

Enough about my issues.

If you like to collect desktop wallpaper there’s a million places to find it, but since you’re here already you may as well have a look at the one I’m giving away this week. Just click the thumbnail at the top of the right sidebar labeled “MacTexan Wallpaper o’ th’ Week” to view my latest hi-res offering. If it’s to your likin’, just right-click to download it. I guarantee you won't find it anywhere else. Each and every one will be a MacTexan original. Now, I don’t pretend to be a great photographer, but I do travel to a lot of neat places and I like taking pictures. Besides, today’s brainy cameras make us all pretty good picture-takers don’t they?

I’ll be selecting some of my favorites and posting one every week so…

 …you’re welcome.

How To: Disable El Capitan's System Integrity Protection

After running Apple’s latest version of OS X (10.11, El Capitan) on a couple of my Macs for about two months, I’ve become completely enamored with it. Now that the “Gold Master” seed is out for developers I updated all my Macs including my main production machine.* Even though El Capitan contains a few new features, it is (by Apple’s own admission) a “stability release”. By every measure OS X 10.11 is rock-solid stable…

…and fast!

To further this notion of stability, Apple has introduced a new feature called System Integrity Protection that prevents changes to key OS components and critical applications like Mail and Safari even if you’re logged in with administrator credentials.

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