FeedCity: Daring Fireball

Daring Fireball
02 Jul 16:39 • John Gruber

MG Siegler Got Banned From WhatsApp for No Reason

spyglass.org/whatsapp-ban/

MG Siegler, writing at Spyglass: Yes, that’s right, for a third time in as many years, I’ve been banned by Meta. What for? Do you really have to ask? Nobody knows. My suspicion is that it’s directly tied to the claiming of usernames on WhatsApp, which Meta opened up yest...

Daring Fireball
02 Jul 16:09 • John Gruber

Hackers Stole Instagram Accounts Simply by Asking Meta AI to Give Them Access

404media.co/hackers-simply-asked-meta-ai-to-give-them-access-to-high-profile-instagram-accounts-it-worked/

Jason Koebler, a month ago at 404 Media: Over the last several days, Telegram groups for security researchers and hacking groups have been sharing videos and screenshots of the steps taken to steal an account, which appeared to be shockingly easy. One video shows a hacke...

Daring Fireball
01 Jul 23:30 • John Gruber

★ A Tale of Two Modems

Marko Zivkovic, reporting for AppleInsider regarding some of the data revealed by Tata Electronics’s massive data breach: For the U.S. variant of the iPhone 18 Pro, which will feature mmWave compatibility, Apple seemingly plans to use Qualcomm modem hardware. Multiple Qu...

Daring Fireball
01 Jul 19:57 • John Gruber

PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass Subscriptions

daringfireball.net/linked/2026/07/01/valve-on-subsidizing-hardware

Following up on my earlier post on Valve’s righteous objection to selling game console hardware at a loss, I should have noted that PlayStation Plus starts at $11/month (and goes up to $20/month) and Xbox Game Pass starts at $10/month (and goes up to $23/month). One draw of ...

Daring Fireball
01 Jul 18:21 • John Gruber

Valve Explains Why It Doesn’t Subsidize Its Hardware Platforms

theverge.com/games/952004/valve-steam-machine-price-not-subsidizing

Valve, in a statement to The Verge, explaining why it doesn’t sell its handheld Steam Deck or new Steam Machine gaming devices at a loss (gift link): While this might seem like an easy solution, it doesn’t align with our beliefs about how healthy ecosystems are built. If...

Daring Fireball
01 Jul 15:57 • John Gruber

The Talk Show: ‘Taking Drugs to Get Fat’

daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2026/06/30/ep-451

The great John Moltz returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s hardware price hikes in response to the global RAM/SSD shortage, and some spitballing on what we like about the UI changes in the MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta.

Sponsored by:

Coax: Defeat the tyranny of choice. Channel surf your Plex server. Relax with Coax.
Even Realities: Even G2, the everyday display smart glasses. Use promo code talkshow to save 10% off the R1 Ring and/or Even Clip.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.

Link: daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2026/06/30/ep-451

Daring Fireball
01 Jul 15:06 • John Gruber

404 Media: Vulnerability in iCloud’s ‘Hide My Email’ Reveals Peoples’ Real Email Addresses

404media.co/apple-hide-my-email-vulnerability-reveals-peoples-real-email-addresses/

Joseph Cox, reporting for 404 Media: 404 Media is not revealing the exact details of the vulnerability because it can still be exploited as of Monday, when 404 Media verified the issue with one of our own hidden email addresses. “Apple Hide My Email is leaking email add...

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 20:57 • John Gruber

Gnome

lexfriedman.com/gnome/

Gnome is a deceptively clever animated GIF app by Lex Friedman: The truest thing about animated GIFs is that they are a critical pillar of modern human communication, and yet getting one into a Slack message or an iMessage thread or an email reply usually requires openin...

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 20:33 • John Gruber

Supreme Court Agrees to Review Apple’s Petition Regarding Civil Contempt Finding in ‘Apple v. Epic Games’

supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/063026zor_3f14.pdf

Speaking of the Supreme Court’s end-of-term rulings, they today agreed to grant certiorari to Apple’s petition from last month, ordering: APPLE INC. V. EPIC GAMES, INC. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to Question 1 presented by the petition. Q...

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 19:45 • John Gruber

Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship in 6-3 Decision

talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-birthright-citizenship-decision-is-more-evidence-for-court-reform/sharetoken/e2bf9547-fa9b-468c-8af3-aa09e72ca698

Josh Marshall, writing at TPM (gift link): As you’ve seen, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of birthright citizenship by a 6 — or perhaps 5½ — vote margin. See Kate Riga’s report on the majority decision and Josh Kovensky’s piece on the dissenters’ goal of ...

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 19:06 • John Gruber

★ The Supreme Court Rules That Law Enforcement’s Use of ‘Geofence Warrant’ Was a ‘Search’ (But May Be Moot, Technically, Since 2024)

Amy Howe, writing at the ever-excellent SCOTUSblog: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that when law enforcement officials used a “geofence warrant” — a warrant that instructed Google to provide location data for cellphone users who were near a particular place during a s...

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 19:06 • John Gruber

Three Players From the Japanese Men’s National Team vs. 100 School Children

x.com/BallStreet/status/950382135969566720

I know there’s been a lot of exciting World Cup action this week, but this 2018 clip from Japan is the best soccer video I’ve seen in a long while.

Link: x.com/BallStreet/status/950382135969566720

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 16:39 • John Gruber

CMA Consultation on Mobile App Steering and NFC Access

gov.uk/government/news/cma-consults-on-new-requirements-for-apple-and-googles-mobile-platforms

The UK Competition and Markets Authority:

‘Steering’ — the ability for developers to engage with customers about off‑platform options — is currently banned by Apple and restricted by Google in the UK. Lifting these constraints would allow developers to bypass mandatory fees set by platforms.

The CMA’s consultation includes principles to ensure that the fees Apple and Google charge for steering are fair and reasonable. Using an evidence-based framework, the CMA would expect steering fees to be lower than current app store charges, with savings passed onto UK customers or invested back into the developers’ businesses to support future innovation.

Japan’s MSCA is a good model for this.

Link: gov.uk/government/news/cma-consults-on-new-requirements-for…

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 16:09 • John Gruber

U.K. Regulator Considers Requiring App Store to Allow Steering to the Web, and iOS NFC to Be Open

reuters.com/world/uk-regulator-proposes-easing-apple-google-app-store-payment-rules-2026-06-30/

Sam Tabahriti, reporting for Reuters: Britain’s competition regulator on Tuesday proposed allowing app developers to steer users to alternative payment options outside Apple and Alphabet’s Google app stores to cut fees and boost competition. The Competition and Markets ...

Daring Fireball
30 Jun 01:00 • John Gruber

Data Breach at Indian Supplier Tata Electronics Exposes iPhone 18 Pro Details and Photos

reuters.com/business/media-telecom/apple-iphone-18-pro-supplier-list-parts-photos-exposed-tata-data-leak-2026-06-29/

Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra, and Stephen Nellis, reporting for Reuters: Sensitive lists of components and suppliers, and photos of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models are part of files posted on the dark web by the ransomware group that stole data from the U.S. fir...

Daring Fireball
29 Jun 23:18 • Daring Fireball Department of Commerce

[Sponsor] Day One Journal

dayoneapp.com/blog/introducing-daily-chat/

Day One recognizes that many people struggle with journaling not because they can’t write, but because they don’t know how to begin or what a “good” journal entry about their day looks like. That’s why we built Daily Chat, a guided reflection experience that helps you talk through your day, organize your thoughts, and shape them into a journal entry.

Early testers commented: “Day One’s new Daily Chat is a true game changer for my daily journaling. The AI-powered chat makes capturing thoughts effortless and inspires creativity like never before. Writing my diary has never been this intuitive and fun!”

Try it for yourself, it will change the way you think about journaling.

Link: dayoneapp.com/blog/introducing-daily-chat/

Daring Fireball
29 Jun 01:45 • John Gruber

Auth.md — an Open Protocol for Agent Registration From WorkOS

workos.com/auth-md?utm_source=daringfireball&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=q22026

My thanks to WorkOS for sponsoring DF last week to promote Auth.md, their new open protocol for AI agent registration. (Who’d have thunk that I’d be getting paid to promote new uses for Markdown 22 years after releasing it?)

Sign-up forms were built for humans in browsers, so how do AI agents programmatically register with services? That’s the question Auth.md aims to answer. It’s a single Markdown file you host at your domain that tells agents how to register your users, which flows you support, what scopes you expose, and how credentials get issued. It’s like robots.txt but for agent registration.

Cloudflare, Firecrawl, and Resend have already adopted it.

An open protocol authored by WorkOS. Read the spec.

Link: workos.com/auth-md?utm_source=daringfireball&utm_medium…

Daring Fireball
29 Jun 01:24 • John Gruber

Daniel Agee: ‘Remembering Om’

glass.photo/highlights/remembering-om

Daniel Agee, an early member of the team at Glass, writing on the Glass blog: It’s not lost on us that Om’s photography, often taken in frozen lands in or around the arctic circle, was the polar opposite of his personality. While he focused on subtle shapes and hidden la...

Daring Fireball
29 Jun 01:21 • John Gruber

Matt Mullenweg: ‘All Roads Lead to Om’

ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/

Matt Mullenweg: Fundamentally, Om was a lover of humanity. He became a fast “regular” everywhere he went. He wouldn’t just buy coffee, he would also learn the name and story of every barista, the dogs and people in South Park. His deep curiosity and respect weren’t just ...

Daring Fireball
29 Jun 00:27 • John Gruber

The New York Times: ‘Om Malik, Whose Blog Shaped How Silicon Valley Saw Itself, Dies at 59’

nytimes.com/2026/06/26/technology/om-malik-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t1A.AyPT.p7GhDrDcJSfa

Clay Risen, writing for The New York Times (gift link): Mr. Malik started his blog just as the dot-com bubble burst, leading to a recession that also took down many of the journalism start-ups that wrote about tech, like The Industry Standard and Inside.com. He was among...

Daring Fireball
28 Jun 17:48 • John Gruber

PuffPal, an App for Accessing Cannabis Clubs, Leaked 1 Million Users’ Passports

theverge.com/tech/947157/passports-data-breach-cannabis-club-systems-nefos-puffpal?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IjdjV0Y5TTBuM0ciLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvOTQ3MTU3L3Bhc3Nwb3J0cy1kYXRhLWJyZWFjaC1jYW5uYWJpcy1jbHViLXN5c3RlbXMtbmVmb3MtcHVmZnBhbCIsImV4cCI6MTc4MzA5NDY0NiwiaWF0IjoxNzgyNjYyNjQ2fQ.7SjX6B8AAGhzsdrtD5asJWBwzQvTDUD31hWte7K1oec

Sean Hollister, writing for The Verge (gift link): If you’ve visited a cannabis club in Spain, [Sammy] Azdoufal says, chances are your photo ID was among them — and possibly your phone number, address, your favorite strains of cannabis, and how much you consumed each mon...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 23:36 • John Gruber

Micron Executive Sumit Sadana Tells Tim Cook to Stop Hitting Himself

wsj.com/tech/apple-raises-prices-on-macs-ipads-by-200-or-more-on-some-models-a7463f99?st=B1aQCP&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

From the bottom of Rolfe Winkler’s report for The Wall Street Journal Thursday, on Apple’s unprecedented price increases (gift link): Apple’s price hikes arrived the day after Micron Technology, the big American maker of memory and storage, reported blowout quarterly ear...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 23:24 • John Gruber

★ Bernie Sanders: Ideologue and Economic Ignoramus

Bernie Sanders, posting on Twitter/X Thursday (don’t complain to me that he doesn’t use his Bluesky account): Corporate greed is Tim Cook, the billionaire Apple CEO, claiming that hiking prices on Apple products by over $200 is “unavoidable” after it made $112 billion in...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 22:48 • John Gruber

Apple Faced Bipartisan Opposition When It Last Lobbied to Buy Chinese RAM in 2022

warner.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warner-rubio-urge-dni-to-review-risk-chinese-chipmaker-ymtc-presents-to-national-security/

From a September 2022 letter to then-Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, co-signed by Marco Rubio (then a Republican senator from Florida, currently secretary of state) and Mark Warner (Democratic senator from Virginia): We write to convey our extreme concern...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 22:18 • John Gruber

Microsoft Raises Xbox Prices, Drops High-End Storage Model From Lineup

news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/25/xbox-console-price-update/

Microsoft’s Xbox blog: Effective August 1, 2026, we will be updating prices worldwide. The price of XBOX consoles will increase by US$100 for 512 GB models and US$150 for 1 TB models. We will also be sunsetting our 2 TB model. Last October, we increased XBOX console pri...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 20:30 • John Gruber

FT Reports That Apple Is Lobbying to Buy Memory Chips From Blacklisted Chinese Company CXMT

ft.com/content/d72a25e2-7bde-4aa9-bd8d-0c4f3d6cb2cb

Demetri Sevastopulo and Michael Acton, reporting for the Financial Times (paywalled, alas): Apple is lobbying the Trump administration for clearance to buy memory chips from CXMT, a Chinese company that the Pentagon has put on a blacklist because of alleged connections t...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 20:06 • John Gruber

Grok Is a Generative Porno App

theinformation.com/articles/xai-bets-groks-racy-side?rc=jfy0lk

Grace Kay and Theo Wayt, writing for the paywalled-with-no-gift-links The Information: xAI launched an upgraded video model last week, highlighting how it’s pushing ahead with its own visual efforts even as it brings in outside help to compete with rivals in areas like c...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 20:06 • John Gruber

OpenAI Announces, But Is Blocked From Releasing, New GPT-5.6 Models

openai.com/index/previewing-gpt-5-6-sol/

OpenAI yesterday: We’re beginning a limited preview of the GPT‑5.6 series: Sol, our flagship model; Terra, a balanced model for everyday work; and Luna, a fast and affordable model. Terra has competitive performance to GPT‑5.5 while being 2× cheaper and Luna brings stron...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 20:06 • John Gruber

White House Grants Access to Anthropic’s Mythos Model to 100+ U.S. Institutions; Fable Still Shut Down

semafor.com/article/06/27/2026/us-releases-powerful-anthropic-model-mythos-to-some-us-companies

Reed Albergotti and Ben Smith, reporting last night for Semaphor: The decision, in a letter sent Friday afternoon to Anthropic, is a major de-escalation in the confrontation between the Trump Administration and one of the world’s most valuable private companies. Two week...

Daring Fireball
27 Jun 19:36 • John Gruber

The Steam Machine

theverge.com/games/952765/steam-machine-review?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6Illsb3pPdVlCSmQiLCJwIjoiL2dhbWVzLzk1Mjc2NS9zdGVhbS1tYWNoaW5lLXJldmlldyIsImV4cCI6MTc4MzAxOTM4OCwiaWF0IjoxNzgyNTg3Mzg4fQ.ksUd5qynurLxKTvjnCTD3mj4xzH9gdFgqAzFJ577ZcE&utm_medium=gift-link

Sean Hollister, writing for The Verge (gift link): Since the Magnavox Odyssey came out in 1972, game consoles have been built with the same basic goal: to effortlessly play proprietary games on a TV screen. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have spent decades essentially sel...