Dayton OH FoodBlog: October 2015

Thursday, October 22, 2015

60% of WI disapproves of Walker’s job performance in WPR/St. Norbert poll

This comes from a poll with a small sample: 603. Notables: 57 percent of those polled say that Wisconsin is headed in the wrong direction. Russ Feingold leads against Ron Johnson. 51 percent to 40 percent. 60 percent of Wisconsinites disapprove of the way Scott Walker is doing his job. In fact, 40% of Wisconsinites more »

Facebook Implements Fix for iOS App Battery Draining Issues

Facebook's newest iOS update, out today, fixes a major battery draining bug that some Facebook users have been experiencing in recent weeks. Affected users were seeing large amounts of battery drain on their iPhones due to Facebook running in the background, something that happened even when background app refresh was toggled off in the Settings app.

While the latest Facebook app release notes don't include a reference to the issue, Facebook engineering manager Ari Grant wrote a post (via TechCrunch) explaining the issues behind the battery drain and what Facebook has done to fix it. According to Grant, there were several factors that contributed to the problem, including a "CPU spin" in the network code and silent background audio sessions that kept the app awake even when it wasn't open.

facbook battery drain

The first issue we found was a "CPU spin" in our network code. A CPU spin is like a child in a car asking, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"with the question not resulting in any progress to reaching the destination. This repeated processing causes our app to use more battery than intended. The version released today has some improvements that should start making this better.

The second issue is with how we manage audio sessions. If you leave the Facebook app after watching a video, the audio session sometimes stays open as if the app was playing audio silently. This is similar to when you close a music app and want to keep listening to the music while you do other things, except in this case it was unintentional and nothing kept playing. The app isn't actually doing anything while awake in the background, but it does use more battery simply by being awake. Our fixes will solve this audio issue and remove background audio completely.

When the Facebook battery draining issue first began circulating, MacStories' Federico Vittici hypothesized it was caused by silent audio running in the background, which turned out to be correct. Vittici believed Facebook used silent audio intentionally as a way to keep the app active in the background for tasks like pre-loading content, which he said showed "a deep lack of respect for iOS users."

Regarding today's comment from Facebook engineer Ari Grant, TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino also suspects there's a possibility Facebook's use of background audio might have been done on purpose, despite Facebook's claim that it was an unintentional bug.

So if you believe Grant, this is a simple bug. It could happen to anyone etc etc. If you don't believe him, it was a thing Facebook was doing to make their app work a way they wanted it to but Apple didn't and they got caught. I'm not gonna pass any judgments here -- bugs happen all of the time and it's not fun to get pilloried over a simple mistake. Either way, attention was brought to it and it's fixed now.

Grant says fixes have been implemented for both of the issues causing battery drain and Facebook users "should see improvements in the version released today." Facebook will also continue to improve the battery usage of its iOS app.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Apple Maps Adds Amtrak Routes in Northeastern U.S. and Transit Directions for Boston

As part of its efforts to add transit directions in iOS 9, Apple has recently updated Apple Maps to include multiple Amtrak routes in the Northeastern United States. Available mainly in the cities where transit directions have been implemented, the longest Amtrak route available runs from Chicago to New York.

Supported routes include the Northeast Regional, Acela Express, Keystone, Lake Shore Limited, Pennsylvanian, and Maple Leaf, many of which operate between cities in the Northeastern United States.

applemapsamtrak

The Acela Express, for example, runs between Boston, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC. Lake Shore Limited runs from New York/Boston to Albany to Chicago, while Maple Leaf runs from New York to Niagara Falls to Toronto.

Amtrak routes in the South, West, Midwest, and Northwest are not currently available in Apple Maps, but the information will likely be implemented as Apple expands transit information to additional areas across the United States. Transit directions are currently available in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and San Francisco.

Along with Amtrak support for several cities where transit directions are supported, Apple has also added transit information for the Boston area. Boston was initially added to Apple's list of supported cities earlier this month, but the page was later updated to note the feature wouldn't officially be working until a later date in October.

As of this morning, transit directions are available in Boston, allowing Boston residents to access directions by Amtrak, commuter rail, buses, and more. The next city to gain transit directions will be Sydney, which was also added to Apple's list of supported cities earlier in the month. While Boston transit information is live, it does not yet appear to be available in Sydney.

(Thanks, Alec!)

Sunday, October 18, 2015

How AP and the WI press does damage control for Governor Drunken Sailor

Yet again I get the impression that Associated Press does whatever it can to protect and/or repair Scott Walker’s image. Compare the headlines and stories on Walker’s recent FEC filing: From Washington Post (author – Jenna Johnson): How Scott Walker spent $90,000 a day to lose an election From U.S. News and World Report more »

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Everybody didn’t have access to the Democratic Party debate

The editor of Buzzflash at Truthout recently wrote that, “By offering the debates on television only to paid subscribers of television packages that included CNN and Fox News, the most important political interaction between candidates for president of the United States was, essentially, privatized.” If you’re living with a net-enabled digital device seemingly glued to your more »

Monday, October 5, 2015

Al Jazeera America feature on Madison, Wisconsin homelessness

A friend of mine had shared this story on facebook and I idly clicked it not knowing what I was in for. I saw the string of cars and vans along a curved street and thought, “Hey. That looks sorta like that area by Milwaukee Street.” Oh. That *IS* that area by Milwaukee Street. The more »