Bartender Mac App Under New Ownership

Published under Mango Paper, Jun 5, 2024

There is a Reddit thread about the new Bartender ownership situation.

MacUpdater, a Mac app that helps you track and update all your Mac apps, put a warning about the new Bartender release. u/CoreCode from MacUpdater has a very detailed explanation why they added the warning. Calling out two points:

This is concerning because 'App Sub 1 LLC' seems to be a dubious company publishing a few low quality iPad apps (https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/app-sub-1-llc/id1667982354) and with an equally dubious homepage (https://stepsforiphone.com/). why was their certificate used to sign Bartender releases?

On 15. May the final release of Bartender 5.0.52 was released and again it was not signed by the known-and-safe 'Surtees Studios Limited (8DD663WDX4)' but by a 'Bartender App LLC (24J875RH8J)' never seen before

u/Ordinary_Delivery_79, self-claimed as the new Bartender owner responded:

Hey everyone, new owners of Bartender here! Our team acquired Bartender from Ben S, the original developer, two months ago. As we prepare to roll out updates for Bartender, we needed to re-sign the app with Apple using our company's information, replacing Ben's. This led to a one-time certificate change.

Truth be told, we should have notated it on the release notes but, since we could not update them retroactively, we included this fact on our blog & shared it with users as they emailed us. We've collaborated closely with Ben to understand his vision for Bartender. Our goal is to implement many of the improvements he had planned and address any reported bugs from the past few months to enhance Bartender's performance.

But there are no other information and this doesn't reassure users.

Jason Snell on Sixcolors:

These things happen—no developer should be chained to their software forever—but it’s odd that (anonymous?) new owners could appear without any communication to existing Bartender customers beyond a note saying a certificate had been changed. It’s Apple’s rules around signing app binaries, and the attention of MacUpdater, that brought this out into the open at all.

A glance around the Bartender website does reveal that while Surtees celebrated 12 years of Bartender in a blog post announcing version 5, posts from 2024 read more like SEO spam, with “key takeaways” summaries at the top, followed by unrelated Mac tips, followed by a pitch for Bartender.

Juli Clover from MacRumors:

At this point, it does not appear that Bartender's new owners plan to inform customers about the change in ownership, but users should be aware that the app has been sold and is no longer being updated by the original developer. The new owner's intentions are not clear, but as Reddit users have pointed out, the situation raises some red flags.

Filipe Espósito from 9to5mac:

Even so, it still seems a bit suspicious that the new developers only introduced themselves after all the controversy. Some users said they didn’t trust the app’s new owners and uninstalled it. Bartender’s official website has no mention of the acquisition.

Craig Hockenberry:

The problem with Bartender is that you are giving Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions to an unknown entity. With Accessibility APIs you can control the Mac (including other apps). With Screen Recording APIs you can see everything that's happening. Both of those things require trust, and the new owners being silent about the matter does not gain that. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole until that communication happens.

Also remember that Bartender is not running in a sandbox, so it has a lot more access to the system than something from the Mac App Store. Like being able to establish network connections without entitlements. Or accessing data outside of the app's container. And since it's likely the app launches automatically and runs continuously, it's trivial to exfiltrate anything that's collected. At this point, it feels like someone bought a really nice back door.

Jeff Johnson:

I am doing fine, hope to be an indie dev forever, have no plans to sell StopTheMadness, and indeed never had an acquisition offer, but if someone totally mad offered me $millions for it, I absolutely would owe my customers an announcement.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s a sacred responsibility to run my native code on other people’s computers, and I take that responsibility seriously. Your customers trusted you, and any developer who violates that trust harms all other developers.

I personally don't use Bartender. My only need is to hide some of the rarely used menu bar items, and to make them available only when needed. The open source Hidden Bar app meets my exact need.

UPDATE on 2024-06-05: Ben Surtees, the original creator of Bartender, came out with a statement:

It's Ben Surtees, the original developer of Bartender. Twelve years ago, I embarked on a journey to create Bartender, a macOS app designed to help you manage your menu bar items. Over the years, it has been incredibly rewarding to see Bartender grow and become an essential tool for so many of you. Your support and feedback have been invaluable in shaping the app into what it is today.

After the release of Bartender 5, I came to the realization that supporting all the users and maintaining the app at the high standard I expect and you deserve was too much for one person. It required a dedicated team that could provide continuous support, innovate, and keep up with the fast-evolving macOS landscape. This realization led me to make a difficult decision.

This reads a genuine statement. Though the recent likely AI-written blog posts on Bartender's blog don't increase much of my confidence in the story.

UPDATE on 2024-06-06: According to u/pulsarsolar from a user support email with the new owner:

We've removed Amplitude from the latest test build (v5.0.53).

UPDATE on 2024-06-08: Adam Engst from TidBITS:

Instead, this was merely a case of botched PR. As a friend with a decades-long career in the field once told me, the goal of PR is to tell the truth and tell it first. Had Surtees and Applause announced the acquisition before making any technical changes, they could have avoided this online tempest and harm to Bartender’s reputation and user base. Now it’s up to Applause to mend the damage by focusing on transparency.

∞ Apple Held Talks With China Mobile to Bring Apple TV+ to China

Published under Mango Linked, Jun 4, 2024

Wayne Ma writes for The Information:

Apple was in talks last year to launch its Apple TV+ video streaming service in China via a deal with China Mobile, the country’s largest telecommunications provider, according to people with knowledge of the matter. If successful, the talks would make Apple TV+ the only U.S. streaming service to be available in China, one of the world’s biggest markets.

No wonder it was reported earlier that The Problem With Jon Stewart ended because of intended discussions with guests about AI and China.

PyCon US 2024

Published under Mango Paper, Jun 4, 2024

PyCon US 2024

PyCon US 2024, David L. Lawrence Convention Center Expo Hall B

This year's PyCon US is real special to me. Just 3 weeks before PyCon US 2024, I found out I had to find some other reasons going to the conference. One obvious purpose is to meet potential future employers and colleagues, and I did. But what ended up more important to me is a longer term discovery. PyCon has helped me to realize that I still want to continue my career working on this language thingy called Python.

I came to Python at work because of my technology interests 8 years ago. Now I'm staying for the Python community outside of work. One unique aspect of PyCon I keep experiencing is its welcoming and inclusive attitude. It's the community and amazing people that have trapped me in this realm and I just don't want to get out.

After the layoff, I have certainly thought about going independent and growing Mango Umbrella LLC. Not only it's a financially unwise decision, but also it turns out it wouldn't actually be my number one choice regardless of money.

Thank you, all the nice people I met at PyCon US 2024. I hope to see you again at PyCon US 2025.

P.S. I always find interesting and a learning opportunity from reading other people's experiences. So here are some of them I've found:

Wrote or found another post about PyCon US 2024? Please let me know!

∞ Apple may label iOS 18 artificial intelligence features as a beta preview

Published under Mango Linked, May 27, 2024

Benjamin Mayo writes for 9to5mac:

In the latest edition of Mark Gurman’s newsletter for Bloomberg, he reports that Apple’s highly-anticipated AI features for iOS 18 and its other operating systems may be released with a ‘beta’ or ‘preview’ designation.

This is perhaps another sign that Apple was caught off-guard by the AI revolution, and its planned features for this cycle aren’t yet reliable or good enough to launch unqualified, without a beta label.

Apple may be playing catch up, but I don't think labeling upcoming AI features as beta preview is a signal for that. None of the competitors' AI features today are up to Apple's standards, and that's just the reality.

∞ Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

Published under Mango Linked, May 13, 2024

Katherine Latham writes for BBC:

Back in our garden, we were visiting our mini ponds daily, excited to see what might have made its home there. We practiced patience – as Thomas advised – which was difficult as at first the ponds grew thick with algae. But then, in just a few days, the waters cleared again. In week two, we were somewhat surprised to find aquatic life – water fleas and mosquito larvae darting about under the surface.

On the Sunday afternoon of week three, I heard squeals of delight and my children came sprinting in from the garden unable to contain their excitement. They had found a fully grown common frog, which they affectionately named "Froggo". Now, we are on tenterhooks, waiting to see if we get any frogspawn.

I always wanted a pond in our garden. I should start executing on my idea real soon.

∞ Google Gets the Message, Launches Gmail

Published under Mango Linked, Apr 1, 2024

Happy 20th birthday, Gmail!

Published under Mango Shorts, Mar 16, 2024

Sure Apple, we now have https://apps.apple.com/us/vision.

But how about actually show all the categories available and give us the ability to browse non-featured apps?

There is still no way to find Mango 5Star 🤷🏻‍♂️

Indie App Sales, March 2024 Edition

Published under Mango Umbrella, Mar 12, 2024

Apps under the Mango Umbrella are participating indie app sales.

Indie App Sales is back again with a March 2024 edition! More than 250 indie apps are participating, and of course it includes the ones under the Mango Umbrella:

Head over to indieappsales.com to discover the rest of the apps.

Rest in Peace, Akira Toriyama

Published under Mango Paper, Mar 9, 2024

Goku, and Akira Toriyama

From Bird Studio's statement today:

Dear Friends and Partners,

We are deeply saddened to inform you that Manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st due to acute subdural hematoma. He was in age of 68.

Akira Toriyama's work has been a significant part of my childhood. May your soul rest in peace.

Update on 2024-03-10: App Store published a story remembering Akira Toriyama with a collection of apps and games featuring his works and characters: https://apps.apple.com/story/id1734943876.

Mango Is the King of Fruit - Phil

Published under Mango Paper, Mar 4, 2024

A great quote from the Netflix show Somebody Feed Phil

A great quote from Somebody Feed Phil.

I'm in total agreement with Phil. Also, his smile is so infectious!

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