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Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

caseyliss.com

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Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#51

Post by dwheeler »

oarsinsync wrote: post #42

Scanning the website, it looks like it depends on you having populated the user's Facebook, Instagram & Twitter profiles in order to use those services. If you have an email address, it'll use Gravitar, and if you have none of the above, I guess it does nothing? Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp) I'd really rather not spend the effort curating a more detailed database…

> Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp)

I recommend using web apps, not native apps, for things like Facebook. Your browser will not hand over your contacts list to the world, so preferring your browser is often a good move. Won't work for everyone, but it works for me.

You can also choose apps from orgs that care more about privacy. Signal works just fine instead of Whatsapp.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#52

Post by oarsinsync »

teddyh wrote: post #43
oarsinsync wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but it's the GPL that prohibits GPL licensed software from being redistributed in the Apple appstore, not the other way around. The Apple appstore doesn't facilitate GPL licensed software, and neither does the Google Play store. They don't prevent GPL licensed software from being distributed on their stores either, the GPL software authors do. As an example of this, see VLC making it onto the Apple appstore un…

Don’t take my word for it; read the FSF directly: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/more-about-the-app-store... The GPL has been in existence since long before the Apple app store, and the rules of the GPL are not meant to restrict appearances of GPLed programs in Apple’s or any similar app store; i.e. the FSF is not deliberately boycotting the Apple app store here. It is Apple , which, as part of their rules for a…

This is clearly very subjective and open to interpretation, because my reading of that very article shows it’s in agreement with my earlier post:

> These rules are exactly the kind of "further restrictions" that are prohibited by the GPL

I guess the middle ground is this line:

> That's the problem in a nutshell: Apple's Terms of Service impose restrictive limits on use and distribution for any software distributed through the App Store, AND the GPL doesn't allow that.

(emphasis mine)

Note that BSD licensed code is perfectly fine on the Appstore, because the BSD license is a permissive license.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#54

Post by oarsinsync »

dwheeler wrote: post #51
oarsinsync wrote: post #42

Scanning the website, it looks like it depends on you having populated the user's Facebook, Instagram & Twitter profiles in order to use those services. If you have an email address, it'll use Gravitar, and if you have none of the above, I guess it does nothing? Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp) I'd really rather not spend the effort curating a more detailed database…

> Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp) I recommend using web apps, not native apps, for things like Facebook. Your browser will not hand over your contacts list to the world, so preferring your browser is often a good move. Won't work for everyone, but it works for me. You can also choose apps from orgs that care more about privacy. Signal works just fine instead of Wha…

> You can also choose apps from orgs that care more about privacy. Signal works just fine instead of Whatsapp.

Network effects means that despite me being on iMessage and Signal, almost all my comms arrive on Whatsapp. I could remove myself from Whatsapp, but already abstaining from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn means my choices realistically are to either use IM platform as a selection criteria for my friends (which I've already done to a degree, and lost a lot of casual friends by not being on any of the above), or accept that there's no suitable alternative and give in to this particular beast.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#55

Post by oarsinsync »

icebraining wrote: post #48
oarsinsync wrote: post #42

Scanning the website, it looks like it depends on you having populated the user's Facebook, Instagram & Twitter profiles in order to use those services. If you have an email address, it'll use Gravitar, and if you have none of the above, I guess it does nothing? Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp) I'd really rather not spend the effort curating a more detailed database…

I don't know about iOS, but on Android, you can use Whatsapp without giving it access to Contacts. It'll refuse to show the user's name, despite having it (they show in the group conversations), showing the phone number instead, but it works fine.

This is true, but it significantly reduces usability. Which feels like a hilarious step to take in order to be able to use this app. Give up peoples names in a major IM application, in order to be able to have publicly available pictures automatically imported into my address book.

For me, that's not a net positive. YMMV.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#56

Post by scarface74 »

thomasfedb wrote: post #29

Having tried the app, some honest UX feedback: 1. This app doesn't have a good reason to depart from the usual Apple UI style, so don't. The gradient buttons in particular feel very Web 2.0, and out of place in 2019. 2. You need to persist content in the app when I close it, or switch between apps. Ideally the app would work away in the background while I do something else, but if not it should at minimum not need to…

Because of purposeful limitations on iOS. Except in special cases, an app can not run in the background for more than ten minutes.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#57

Post by scarface74 »

davidcollantes wrote: post #14
userbinator wrote: post #11

For some reason the idea of having pictures of people in my contacts just feels creepy in an indescribable way, even if it isn't my picture but those of others. Perhaps this is because it increases the "you are being watched" feeling. Yet the trend seems to be to plaster every single UI everywhere with the faces of users (and pestering them to upload "profile photos")... I do not need to see a picture of myself every…

I disagree. It bugs me not to have an image of the person together with its contact information. Vignette approach is way too plastic for my taste. I carefully curate my contacts and associate photos I take to them. Many people use avatars they do not reflect who they are, I can’t stand that on my contacts. That, mainly, and the fact that the app costs $5 (way too much in my opinion) are the only reason that will kee…

And this is why we have all of the crappy apps with ads, pay to play, loot boxes, subscriptions and other dark patterns.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#58

Post by scarface74 »

teddyh wrote: post #43
oarsinsync wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but it's the GPL that prohibits GPL licensed software from being redistributed in the Apple appstore, not the other way around. The Apple appstore doesn't facilitate GPL licensed software, and neither does the Google Play store. They don't prevent GPL licensed software from being distributed on their stores either, the GPL software authors do. As an example of this, see VLC making it onto the Apple appstore un…

Don’t take my word for it; read the FSF directly: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/more-about-the-app-store... The GPL has been in existence since long before the Apple app store, and the rules of the GPL are not meant to restrict appearances of GPLed programs in Apple’s or any similar app store; i.e. the FSF is not deliberately boycotting the Apple app store here. It is Apple , which, as part of their rules for a…

It can just as well be argued that the GPL is not allowing software to be used as “freely” as a more permissive license like BSD.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#59

Post by scarface74 »

starik36 wrote: post #32

I would like to buy this app but having hard time understanding why it requires iOS 12.1 or later. What new API call had to be in the app to justify this limitation? I am on iOS 12.0.1 and plan on remaining there for the foreseeable future because I like my jailbreak.

It makes no financial sense to waste time supporting older versions of iOS. Any phone introduces since 2013 can run the latest version of iOS - except for the 5C.

Re: Vignette: add photos to your contacts by searching public social media profiles

#60

Post by scarface74 »

hoistbypetard wrote: post #46
starik36 wrote: post #32

I would like to buy this app but having hard time understanding why it requires iOS 12.1 or later. What new API call had to be in the app to justify this limitation? I am on iOS 12.0.1 and plan on remaining there for the foreseeable future because I like my jailbreak.

Unless you very carefully preserve a stable of old devices with old versions of the OS, it's very challenging to test new software on older operating systems. That's one of my least favorite parts of the ecosystem. If a customer reports a problem on an iOS 12.0.x device, and I didn't go out of my way to keep one of my devices stuck on 12.0.x or to preserve the signatures from an old build, there is no way for me to g…

Especially now that it means supporting both 32 bit and 64 bit versions for the very small percentage of people who have pre-2013 devices.
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