FLoC Blockers – Windows Weekly 720

Leo, Mary Jo, and Paul discuss Microsoft’s $19.7 billion Nuance acquisition, Surface Laptop 4 and new peripherals, the state of Timeline, and more.

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Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Block Google FLoC

The entire industry seems to be finally waking up to the fact that Google’s new anti-tracking technology is really Google’s new tracking technology. Here’s how you can protect yourself.

App pick of the week: Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac

Bring Windows (on ARM) to your M1-based Mac.

Enterprise pick of the week: WVD finally gets a much-touted feature

MSIX App Attach is finally here. What is this and why might it matter

Codename of the week: Bari

Back in 2019, when leaks about Microsoft doing a new webcam first appeared, Brad found the codename for this peripheral was Bari. (It also went by the codename Aruba.) I’m sure there have been more than a few codenames for these since then, but Bari is the OG codename for Microsoft’s new webcam.

Beer pick of the week: Torch & Crown Bat Flip

Torch & Crown’s Bat Flip is an IPA (technically) but also labeled as a “Spring Ale.” Very citrusy with Citra and Nelson hops, but really smooth and not too hoppy tasting. It’s 5.4% and meant to mark the return of baseball.

 

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Conversation 3 comments

  • justme

    Premium Member
    16 April, 2021 - 3:15 am

    <p>I have to generally agree with Leo's assessment – Pop_OS! or Manjaro for your Linux distro. My personal preference is Pop. As a PC gamer, things I have struggled with in the past , even on Ubuntu, just seem to work with Pop. Pop is stable, quick, and seems to me much more polished than vanilla Ubuntu – which is largely down to the support System 76 gives it. Ubuntu derivatives have a broader base of support than Arch based systems (at least from what I have experienced), though Arch-based distros have certainly gained in popularity. I'm more familiar/comfortable with apt than I am pacman, and I like the fact that Pop has System 76 support (like Windows has Microsoft). I also appreciate the stability of a Ubuntu-derived distribution – though the enthusiast in me must give a nod to Manjaro. You wont go wrong choosing either one.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      16 April, 2021 - 9:13 am

      Thanks!

  • nbplopes

    20 April, 2021 - 5:03 am

    <p>You know what? Apple will do Timeline right :)</p><p><br></p><p>The way I see it the ability to go to one place where we can quickly locate something that we have done, to what and when is really useful. </p><p><br></p><p>The problem of Timeline is that they mixed concerns. They mixed app switching along with an history of activities/tasks. These are totally separate concerns. It does not make app switching better and makes the second cumbersome. Furthermore it SLOOOOOWWWWW. Things aren’t immediate, at least a second or two for data to appear, where they should be really and there is no search? I mean really?</p><p><br></p><p>Its just badly designed and implemented.</p><p><br></p><p>You see, Task Switcher is totally unrelated to what people think of Tasks. Its a way for people quickly switch between the apps or tabs they are using in a particular moment, not a way for people to switch between THEIR tasks. They started with the wrong abstraction. This mistake is so junior.</p><p><br></p><p>I just used it for 5 minutes and thrown it to the forgotten features buck. </p><p><br></p><p>What is impressive is that the common justifications appeared. Oh, people don’t use it so … oh I’m happy they removed redundant features. </p><p><br></p><p>I bet that when Apple tacked the same problem domain as Timeline, probably in Spotlight, but done right, people will say … “Oh MS has done it before” … no they didn’t.</p><p><br></p><p>Cheers.</p>

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