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FEATURE
Beware of Intelligence
"Intelligent" features are coming, but if the past is any indication, I'm not too hopeful
Issue: 22.6 (November/December 2024)
Author: Marc Zeedar
Author Bio: Marc taught himself programming in high school when he bought his first computer but had no money for software. He's had fun learning ever since.
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 17,745
Starting Page Number: 21
Article Number: 22604
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Excerpt of article text...
There's a dangerous trend in software that has emerged over the last decade that worries me. The idea is that programs can be intelligent, anticipate our needs, and provide convenient shortcuts.
As a simple example, Apple Mail can notice when you're frequently filing emails into a particular folder and then offer that folder as a suggested destination right from the "Move" menu (see Figure 1).
When this works, it's great. When it doesn't, it's a problem. With the folder suggestion, Apple only offers a single choice, which isn't too bad. It either is what you want or it isn't.
Far more common, however, are situations where more than one "recent" choice is presented. For instance, Apple's "Share" button, shown on iOS and Mac, will populate with frequent contacts with whom you share items (see Figure 2).
This
sounds good. If you regularly share links or pictures with half a dozen close friends, they're right there in the list.But in practice, Apple has goofed this up. The list is dynamic, meaning that it is always changing. Every time I use this menu, the list of icons is in a different order. It's based on frequency, so someone I just shared with might be the first icon, while the person I texted last week might be at the end.
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