Gaby

seanismorris said:

I don’t think this warrants a lawsuit, but let me tell you a story.

1. I sent my iPhone 6s in for a battery replacement.
2. One day, I woke up and thought “I’m going to wipe my IPad clean”
     - Background: I actually do this several times a year, usually after a significant OS upgrade.  It also cleans of any games, junk, etc. that I    don’t really need.  I do this with the knowledge that I don’t use backup, but my contacts, calendar, shortcuts, passwords will sync back.  

I think you can see my problem.  My 6s has been gone 10 days at this point, and it took a full 2 weeks to get my phone back (bad Apple).

Anyways,  my wiped iPad boots up but I run into 2FA to set up the iPad.  I know everything I need to know (password to AppleID) but what I don’t have is my 6s.  (Apple sends the code to the 6s and there’s no alternative).

I also don’t know my email password because it’s saved in Keychain.

At this point, I also don’t know what happened to my phone.  It should be fixed (it was just a freakin battery) and as of the previous day I’d already reached the highest level of support. (There was no update on Apple’s site that they even received it).  The nice support lady, wanted to call me with an update... no phone.  So, we agreed on email... now no email.

Fortunately, I remembered that I removed the SIM card. So, I went to my T-mobile store and used a display phone to authenticate.  Got my IPad up and running and found my iPhone was found/done and being shipped back.

Moral of the story is 2FA is great, but I really want it tied to something other than Idevice, like a YubiKey.

So, the lawsuit isn’t entirely frivolous.  I also didn’t enable 2FA for my AppleID...  I do want 2FA to log into my devices, but that’s not currently an option.  I don’t care as much about my AppleID password it’s really really complex... as in come back in a few 100 million years (cracking it with today’s tech).

You can do it from your mac or even have verification code go to your Apple Watch I think. Additionally you can add a second trusted phone number for occasions such as yours when you don’t have your iPhone - even a landline, where you receive an automated call in lieu of a text verification. 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SCRUBBING (Jog dial) - People are doing it wrong. All you need to do is pause whatever is playing and then gently touch and hold the perimeter of the wheel without moving for about half a second or so, and the scrubbing indicator will appear and you can begin rotating. It took me a minute or so to figure it out but it works consistently if you do it properly. Although I don’t find it any more useful really than scrubbing by sliding left and right. Hope this helps 

Well mine arrived early this morning. I have to say that I’ve been awaiting them with a mix of giddy excitement and dread. Dread mainly because I was thinking that the price is largely unjustifiable for a product in this sort of category, but that if the sound and of course the ANC/features and build truly caught my attention that I’d likely keep them no matter what. For anyone interested in my thoughts on them....
I consider myself somewhat of an audiophile, and have owned and currently own several pairs of headphones and high end speakers. I recently bought the XM4 to compare with B&W’s PX7 so my first thought is that I’ll absolutely return those and quite possibly sell my PX7 if I keep them.  Up to now I can say undoubtedly these are superior in sound to the Sony, and are at the very least on par with the ANC. The XM4’s have some nifty tricks up their sleeves however which add to their allure - the adaptive ANC/transparency and EQ that can be customised based on ones current activity or movement, and if you don’t mind the potential privacy implications they can even change based on very specific locations and GPS coordinates. Now the AirPods max could theoretically be updated to provide some of that functionality depending on how well patented it is and if Apple can and indeed does wish to get around it. The AirPods possess a few tricks also which almost put them in a category all of their own in terms of integration with iOS - which most of you will be familiar with. On top of that I can say that the spatial audio implementation here is a cut above that on the AirPods Pro and quite engaging - likely helped by their being over ears coupled with the high quality custom transducers. They’re by no means light headphones, which whilst adding to the sense of luxury, is potentially problematic for some with smaller noggins, though they fit remarkably well and stay in place once seated correctly. Moreover they almost give the impression of floating on the crown of your head thanks to the mesh canopy. Once you find what suits they stay put quite nicely, and they have just the right amount of grip. Coming back to price, yes without a doubt for many they are eye-wateringly expensive, perhaps prohibitively so, and though they sound excellent, the law of diminishing returns surely applies here. But I do think there’s a market for them, and in my limited testing so far they definitely have something about them! For Apple’s first attempt at a proper set of over ear cans, I give them credit where it’s due! And in typical Apple fashion they are something to behold as well. For anyone into quality cans, they absolutely deserve an audition. I’ll keep testing and make my mind up in a couple of weeks but they certainly get a thumbs up so far.... even if I may have to live in a tent in order to keep them 😂 

Well you’d have to be pretty stupid to use a google VPN. Though in truth I’m dubious about all modern VPNs. There was one that came with Ironkey’s more premium device years ago that I used when necessary. Of course they have their uses but I’d advise anyone only to activate for the bare essentials. If it’s browsing related, Tor is the more secure option. It’s certainly one way of them solving the problem of all the valuable data they have been losing over the last couple of years, and smart/sly to boot. They ensure that one way or another they’re creating detailed profiles on vast swathes of the population - again relying on the average person’s lack of understanding. Of course with schemes such as these they can perpetuate the notion that they are becoming more privacy focused by slowly deprecating cookies etc thus increasing user trust in them. 

The thing that is bugging me about this - and I accept the environmental argument in and of itself, and anything that we can all do to make a difference in reducing e-waste really helps, but even as an admitted Apple (cringes) “fanboy” I have to say that this has been an additional benefit for Apple, but primarily about the revenue in my opinion. At least that’s what the optics suggest.  And if not then it’s been poorly thought out and executed, however knowing Apple, I find it difficult to believe they would make a mistake this large but I digress... The point is the more that these types of details crop up the more It supports that they are being greedy. You can’t say that you’re not providing the new 20W chargers  (which are the new standard) because there are two billion was it? chargers already in circulation, and that this is good for the planet when those adapters are 90% + old 5W adapters that cannot charge even the new iPhones efficiently let alone support the new accessories. So either way people must buy even more adapters contributing yet more e-waste. I think it would have been prudent to offer credit for returning old gear or offering discounted/gratis 20W based on a similar principle. Ultimately reducing all the countless worthless old and unused plugs, and headphones.  It would also be wise to ensure that these new adapters and standards remain capable and consistent  for as long as possible so we don’t have this same issue again in a few years. In any event it’s safe to say this has been handled rather poorly. Personally I would have liked an option to swap out a lightning-usbC cable for a MagSafe. One can dream....

urahara said:

 Lightning connector - why???

I would argue that a person who would buy such headphones would more likely to have a MacBook Air/Pro and/or iPad with USB-C than not to have such devices (thus have the charger and cable for it). And the use case would be to use this headphones primarily at home or while traveling.  And more likely to use AirPods (Pro) just outside their house on the streets or for jogging.

I was waiting for Apple to release this headphones.
But because of the lightning connector and price difference I would go with Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.

To really cut down on these infringement cases by PAE/NPE’s, I think the law should be changed so that a statute of limitation requires a company to file a notice of suspected infringement with the offending party within 12 months of the release of the infringing product or feature, and a maximum of 3 years total from shipping date with which to begin a lawsuit. These non practicing entities leave it as long as possible so that the products/features sell in vast quantities and or are adopted by multiple product lines - particularly where Apple et al. are involved. Anyone has a right to protect their IP, but suing for profit absolutely should not be permitted to be a commercial practice in and of itself.  You should also have to prove that you are currently or intend to develop a shipping product in order to be able to assert claims in court. I think that’s the only realistic way of getting this issue under control. 

GeorgeBMac said:

AppleInsider said:

The Microsoft Exchange hack and many other attacks were caused by gangs working with the Chinese government, the Biden administration and NATO claim.

Actually, NATO didn't claim that.   Aside from the usual crowd of the U.S., Britain and Canada, others are saying that Chinese hackers did some bad things -- but they are not attributing it to the Chinese government.

From Reuters:

"While a flurry of statements from Western powers represent a broad alliance, cyber experts said the lack of consequences for China beyond the U.S. indictment was conspicuous. Just a month ago, summit statements by G7 and NATO warned China and said it posed threats to the international order.

Adam Segal, a cybersecurity expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, called Monday's announcement a "successful effort to get friends and allies to attribute the action to Beijing, but not very useful without any concrete follow-up."

Some of Monday's statements even seemed to pull their punches. While Washington and its close allies such as the United Kingdom and Canada held the Chinese state directly responsible for the hacking, others were more circumspect.

NATO merely said that its members "acknowledge" the allegations being leveled against Beijing by the U.S., Canada, and the UK. The European Union said it was urging Chinese officials to rein in "malicious cyber activities undertaken from its territory" - a statement that left open the possibility that the Chinese government was itself innocent of directing the espionage."

With the U.S. in full attack mode on China, it puts their allegations / assumptions into question.

Apparently there was a hack and also a release of information to others on how to exploit it.  But there does not seem to be a consensus that it was initiated and supported by the Chinese government.

But, regardless, if the hackers were operating independently in China, it is up to China to shut them down -- at least.
Or, as the EU put it:
"The European Union said it was urging Chinese officials to rein in "malicious cyber activities undertaken from its territory""

The fact remains that in such a country as China that is so authoritarian, and with such strong firewall and censorship capabilities these cyberattacks are unlikely. When you consider that every byte incoming/outgoing is monitored, and that people are rounded up and arrested for so much as sneezing in the wrong direction, let alone for a crime so grave as expressing an opinion that doesn’t toe the party line.  It is almost impossible for even an individual to commit these crimes and harvest so much data, let alone for innumerable groups to engage in these activities and remain unknown. Which is why it’s dubious that anyone could manage without the state being actively involved. Not to mention the type of IP and tech they’re stealing is clearly beneficial to the government.  As for other countries not calling them out specifically, for one it’s called diplomacy, and secondly they’re scared shitless of being on the receiving end of china’s ire themselves. And reading between the lines of what nato and the E.U said, it’s fairly obvious that they acknowledge the Chinese state to be involved. If this were anywhere other than China or Russia, it would have been declared an act of war and they’d have gone in guns blazing. In truth sadly, I think that’s the only language they’ll understand. Because they keep nipping at people to see how far they can push and it’s not going to stop. 

rob53 said:

EU is a dictatorship, plain and simple. At this point Apple needs to seriously tell the EU to GTH. The US needs to triple import duties on EU goods effectively shutting the EU down. The US should also reduce exports to the EU and cut off any financial support. 

I live in Europe (UK) and I completely agree with you. Why they want to homogenise everything makes no sense to me. Companies should have every right to differentiate. Being as ideas in themselves cannot be patented and more and more frequently tech companies  as an example copy one another any way they can, differentiating through developing specific hardware and implementations is one of the only protections left. Granted there are huge problems with concentrated wealth but this is not the way to solve this issue in my opinion 

For anyone that’s interested, after first charge and use I got 48% charge on my 12 pro max from zero.  I’ll update if there’s any further increase after a couple of uses if anyone wishes.