kimberly

thinkman100000000 said:

welshdog said:

s.metcalf said:

What she describes sounds (unfortunately) typical of most corporates and is very believable.  I can imagine working for an employer that has such a comprehensive—even overwhelming—employee monitoring capability, and an internal crack squadron of “ threat officers” (the so-called Apple Police) would be stressful, even without employer problems.  You’d want to consider that when negotiating a salary with Apple, that’s for sure.

Not convinced airing your grievances on Twitter is the right approach, however.

I worked for Apple a total of 5 weeks as an iOS At Home Advisor (phone tech support). Four weeks of that was training which was great. The actual work was too stressful and I had to quit. One factor was the shocking amount of monitoring they did on me while I worked. One time after a call, I was doing the cleanup (notes etc.) and I heard a voice calling my name. A window opened on my iMac and my manager appeared wanting to know why I was taking so long. I was not used to that sort of oversight. Every employer I had ever had in my life gave me the responsibility to get the work done without someone standing over me. There were a lot of rules including shutting off the iMac  when done working and not using it for anything until the next shift. Even if it was related to my work, like checking my schedule for example, was not allowed. Plus then there was this whole complex system of demerits you got for being late, or going to a doctor's appointment or anything else related to life in general. None of this is unique to Apple of course, but it is alien to me. At age 64 and retired, I do feel very sorry for people stuck in this sort or corporate gulag. I could not do it and won't even entertain the thought of working for a large corporation ever again.

You certainly have a lot to say after one whole week on the job. I've used Apple support for nearly 3 decades and without exception, all support personnel spent however much time was necessary (sometimes days!) to resolve my issue. During this time it wasn't unusual for me to have casual conversation with them. Given how many of them sincerely loved their job at Apple (many of whom had worked there for ages), I have to wonder about this one-week-wonder.

ihatescreennames said:

kimberly said:

JWSC said:

Even for Facebook, that’s gotta hurt.

You are kidding mate .. Facebook's revenue for the first quarter of this year was $US15.1 billion.

What was their profit? That payment isn’t coming from the revenue. 

luke hambly said:

BxBorn said:

Clearly Australia needs better Bow and Arrow control laws...

I guess it’s funny to joke about thousands of senseless deaths? 39,773 gun deaths in USA in 2017. That’s 4.54 people, every hour of every day of the year. I’m embarrassed for you. 

frank777 said:

I'd honestly forgotten MYOB existed. That can't be good for the company.

Accounting has largely moved to SAAS models allowing for multiple OS environments and distributed offices. Intuit Canada has long ignored making Quicken Home and Business available to Mac users. The leaders here are Quickbooks Online, Xero and FreshBooks. Wave Accounting is free. The Mac App Store has a whole page of Accounting software options.

In this environment, the developer's probably right. Does it make any sense to spend time recoding this 30-year-old software? No.

macbootx said:

indieshack said:

Even with Apples inflated parts cost, the camera replacement example illustrates just how outrageous Apples standard repair pricing is.

With all due respect, don’t buy Apple then. 

linuxplatform said:

This isn't as bad as Daniel Eran Dilger's demonstrably false yet never recanted "Android will fail and Google is going to go broke and Chromecast is a blatant inferior ripoff of AirPlay that will fail" columns from not long ago but still, don't put out nonsense like this that clearly lack a modicum of research.

1. No love lost for Microsoft, as they - along with Apple and Oracle - were among the cabal that tried to push Linux, open source databases and Android out of the marketplace during the last decade using a variety of legal and marketplace pressure tactics. But Microsoft makes it clear that this device is not a phone, is not a tablet and is not meant to compete with the iPhone, iPad or even any Android device. Instead, it is a companion device for their somewhat successful line of Surface 2-in-1s. Basically, if you already like and use their Surface devices at work or in your home/office, you will want this device because it will have the same sort of "ecosystem" benefits that iPads have with MacBooks. But if you are not a Surface user, you will have no need or want for this device. Yes, this device is expensive - but similar to Apple fans - Surface device owners are used to paying a premium instead of just getting Lenovo or Dell devices that offer the same form factor and superior performance/specs for hundreds less.

2. Instead of comparing this device with the Samsung Galaxy Fold - which is an entirely different one - someone who actually knows something about Android would compare them to LG phones. LG has been releasing dual screen devices for over a year ... the LG Thinq G7, the LG Thinq G8 and the LG Velvet. All of them have detachable 6.8' screens, much bigger than the Duo's 5.6' screens. All of them have the latest - meaning much faster - CPUs. They also have more RAM, and lack of RAM is a killer in Android devices with big screens (Google tried lower RAM devices with "software optimizations" for no reasons other than sheer arrogance for years before finally giving up and putting 6 GB of RAM in their Pixel 4A and the Pixel 5 will have 8 GB). Oh yes, and they all have 5G and NFC. A couple of mobile bloggers who are actually knowledgeable about Android - yes such creatures are rare outside Android enthusiast blogs themselves - flat out recommended buying the Thinq or Velvet (especially the Velvet) instead of this device.

3. Claiming the Z Fold has "bad software" is ignorant. Compared to what? Because here's the deal: Apple doesn't have a product in this category yet. As usual. It would have been dumb to call the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro back in 2012 "a device with bad software" because Apple didn't come out with their own "Pro" tablet device with true multitasking support, stylus support and keyboard/trackpad support until later. (Actually MUCH LATER as the iPad Pros were in name only initially with the multitasking and trackpad features not added to OS, turning iOS into iPadOS, for several years.) Similarly, Apple currently has no software to drive a true folding device. The only true folding devices in existence are the 2019 and 2020 Galaxy Fold devices as well as a competing Huawei device that Huawei was only able to manufacture a few thousand units of (but the few who have actually seen and used them say that they are outstanding). Here's the thing: people who have actually used the Galaxy Fold and Flip devices say that they are great, especially the second generation versions of each that were just released and didn't have the "first generation iPhone/first ever MacBook Air" roughness. Which means that - by default - the software on these devices are GREAT until something comes along that's BETTER. We will see a Pixel folding phone (that will probably be similar to the Surface Duo) and allegedly a folding iPhone (which will be more like the Galaxy Z Fold) next year. At that point you will be able to SUBJECTIVELY claim that the Z Fold has bad software. Till then there is no way to even SUBJECTIVELY make that claim because A) the Z Fold's software works great in that it does what it is supposed to do in operating the device and delivers a good experience in the process - a consensus opinion held by nearly everyone who has bought or reviewed the device and no product with "better" software exists.

entropys said:

Best thing about the xm5s is the still very good XM4s will be even cheaper.  And the XM4s fold up compactly.

I can’t understand what value proposition there is for Airpods Max.

timmillea said:

To make the Mac forever more 'iPhone' is a terrible mistake. It makes the Mac harder to use and makes it more and more redundant. If I wanted an iPhone as my main computing device, I would just use my iPhone! The Mac should have distinct modus operandi. 

I absolutely hate the new System Settings in Mac OS. I feel abused by them. Safari has gone downhill by not working correctly with many sites and if they interfere with Calculator, I may abandon Mac for good. None of these changes have been in right direction. Where is the Mac team when you need them?

StrangeDays said:

these CEOs talk about “taking full responsibility” for poor performance and layoffs, but really just take massive, massive windfalls. The boardroom class protects itself and governance is a joke. They reward failure at the highest levels.