steveau

bestkeptsecret said:

AppleInsider said:

"The Court declared the mere fact that an iPhone or iPad had been repaired by someone other than Apple did not, and could not, result in the consumer guarantees ceasing to apply, or the consumer's right to a remedy being extinguished."

That sounds like some silly shit to me. Get it broken fixed by some third party and expect Apple to clean the ensuing mess.

The point is that the devices were correctly fixed by a third party repairer and Apple then applied a software update that bricked the devices (error code 53) AND THEN said that they could not repair the devices because of the initial third party repair. The Federal Court has determined that this was essentially a lie, and lying to a consumer is illegal in Australia, as it should be in any civilised country!

seanismorris said:

No comment.  I hate malls...

Making me walk past a bunch of stores that I have no interest in, to get where I need to go, is a waste of my time.

They probably also have parallel parking... shudder.

The site isn't in a mall, its in a public "square". It's not actually square (not even a rounded rectangle - RIP Steve Jobs), but that's modern architecture for you. However, it is fronted by galleries and restaurants and currently has no shops, so that's really the big issue for Melbournites, not the architecture. As to parking, there's a parking station on the other side of the art gallery from the proposed Apple store location, but very few people will drive there, Melbourne is a very walkable city, the main rail station is a 1 minute walk away and there are about a dozen tram routes all operating at a couple of minutes frequency along both frontage roads.

GeorgeBMac said:

Australian's can swipe their health cards?   Wow!   So, that makes the transition to the Apple Wallet fairly straight forward.

Here in the U.S. I have never had a medical card that could be swiped --- even Medicare who just spend millions to put out new cards a couple years ago put out mere pieces of non-swipable plastic.

And, even if Apple did load medical ID cards into Apple Wallet here, medical clerks would be befuddled because they all ask for the card and then run it through a copier.   Without a piece of plastic they would turn you away.

So, like with credit cards, other nations appear to be well ahead of the U.S. in technology.

The US is also way behind in health insurance generally. In Australia Medicare (the free*, universal health care service) covers everyone for:

• GP visits;
• some specialist visits;
• visits to a public or private hospital emergency department;
• out of hospital x-rays or other scans;
• out of hospital blood tests or other pathology tests; and more.

Most private health insurance, such as those mentioned in this article, provide:

• Additional hospital cover for things like accommodation and theatre fees;
• General treatment cover for services like dental and physio;
• The option to choose your own surgeon or other specialist;
• The option to have treatment in a private hospital or as a private patient in a public hospital; and more.

*"Free" means that people who pay income tax pay for it through a 2% Medicare levy, but the cost of private insurance is tax deductible. Rich people who don't have private insurance (for heaven's sake why?) pay an additional levy of 1.0%, 1.25% or 1.5% according to assessable income.

In a 2013 Bloomberg study on the Most Efficient Healthcare Systems in the World, Australia ranked 7th overall, with a per capita cost about half of that of the US system.

SoundJudgment said:

Only 66 released out of 323 made?? The Ad Agency should release some more of them (I am sure they kept them all) as the 'Lost Collection.' It will help remind everyone what made Apple great at one time.

Great idea! Bundle them in 10-12 an episode and add an interview or two and release the series on Apple TV+. It would be better than most of the product so far!

StrangeDays said:

spice-boy said:

Apple should pay for every American's healthcare. 

Er, no. We need to separate our healthcare from our employers. My healthcare should have nothing to do with who I work for, yet it does.

But something must change. In today's episode of This Shit Is Out of Control -- I have plantar fasciitis from my physical activity so I visited the doc. He prescribed PT. At PT, the guy looked at my foot and had me do some stretches. The bill from the single PT session alone? $560 for -- $410 for the PT's "evaluation", and $150 for the stretching. My insurance took $250 off, leaving me with $310. What...a fucking...crock. 

Our system is beyond broken. The prices from doctors and hospitals are fake, intended to be marked down via insurance provider negotiations. But even still the out-of-pocket is unreasonable for the non-wealthy and getting worse. I'm an enterprise software dev well into middle-class and this shit is too much. Our healthcare is completely broken, and we can thank the current system and the fat cat hospital & insurance executive class. Something has to change. 

Apple paying for universal health care in the Us is a totally ridiculous proposition, but so is much of the rest of the argument above (Roadracerkev excluded).

Health care in Australia is not free. Everyone who pays income tax pays a  Medicare levy of 1.5% of taxable income (with an additional surcharge of 1% for high-income earners without private health insurance). If you are not a high income earner and choose to have private health insurance (giving you shorter waiting times for elective surgery, more choice in terms of doctors and hospitals, a private room, etc.), then you get a partial rebate via an income tax deduction. All of this is independent of your employer and doesn't bankrupt you if you have a major uninsured accident or a life threatening illness. In return for such a wonderful system a tiny, tiny fraction of my 1.5% goes towards paying for the healthcare of the unemployed and the elderly, That tiny, tiny fraction is much less than the extra I would have to pay in deregulated system if Medicare did not exist (yes, I remember what it was like in Oz before 1975). Also, the current life expectancy in Australia is 82.5 years, whereas in the US it is 78.9, so I guess the system is doing something right.

It's not difficult to set-up a logical, efficient and effective system, but first you have to defeat the vested interests who deliberately confuse the general public by setting up think tank propaganda machines and paying for advertising, lobbyists, etc. who deliberately stifle change by promoting divisive arguments based on irrelevant 'ism's.

Imagine if two engineers at Apple argued over a motherboard design because one said that parallel processing was communist. That's what the US arguments over health care sound like to someone who lives elsewhere.

PS. I love visiting the US, seeing new places and hanging out with my many great friends, but I always get full travel insurance. 

Hell hath only one fury worse than an Apple user scorned! I cancelled my NAB cards and got an ANZ Visa Card instead, just so I could use Apple Pay. I understand that many thousands did the same. Even if NAB follow CBA and come on board, I'm not going back.

Looks like more "switchers" heading over to Apple TV. I don't have Netflix and never miss it.

My top pick for 2023 is "Slow Horses" series 3. First across the line by a full length   

Japhey said:

tzeshan said:

i am curious. What are his contributions after leaving Apple decades ago? Giving advices to Apple? 

Also, why does he continually refer to Apple as “we”?  Is he currently connected to the company in any way, official or not?
And also, why does his beard look pink?

According to this report: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/18/steve-wozniak-still-on-apple-payroll-jokes-he-still-reports-to-jobs.html, the Woz is still on the payroll. Without him the Woz there would be no Apple. Without Steve Jobs there would be no Apple. It needed both of them. Also, his total net worth is reportedly around $100 million, so I'd rather listen to him than trollers with a net worth of much, much less than that.

ElCapitan said:

To be successful they need to produce for a much wider and diverse (international) audience. For that to happen they need to stick their heads outside the US centric, political correct, California box it is currently stuck in, and discover there is a whole planet out there with cultures, ideas and lifestyles that often will fly right in the Apple corporate face, but still are rich, fascinating, dramatic, often violent, have great love stories and heroism, and have histories centuries longer then the American. 

Agree completely! They should send out scouts to all of the countries that have a film/TV industry of note. Remember House of Cards is an adaptation of the 1990 BBC miniseries of the same name. Also, why can't I just buy AppleTV+ shows direct, one-by-one. Many Netflix, HBO, Disney, etc. shows are available to buy in iTunes/AppleTV.