wanderso

I will be happy to get a bent one for 50% off. .  

I purchased a used iPhone 6 from a coworker recently for a family member.   This coworker is meticulous about their things and has never placed their phone in their pants pocket.  I had taken it to the Apple Store to have the $29 battery swap before the deal expires on 12/31.  Apple performed an inspection in store and said “we may not be able to swap out the battery because the chassis is bent.”  Sure enough, it was if you looked carefully.  The 2nd tech who was to actually do the repair reluctantly gave it a green light.  

I know that the 6 was part of “bend gate”.  It makes me wonder if it left the factory already bent.

Based on my experience at the Apple store, I would be concerned to have a new iPad Pro where the same story might unfold without my happy ending.    

adm1 said:

Excellent use of apple watch and Siri. Surprised she hit the steering wheel though - surely an airbag would have went off in such a new car (Nissan Rogue/Qashqai) and the seatbelt would have tightened instantly (was she wearing one?). Airbags are not only for frontal impacts, I remember my old 2003 Renault Laguna deploying various airbags including the steering wheel when I was hit from the side.

Airbags don't always deploy. It depends on the sensors that are tripped and other factors. I was hit in a severe side impact in a 2008 Jeep with front and side impact airbags. None of them deployed. Upon independent investigation that I required, the sensors were not tripped and it was deemed that it worked properly as designed.  In my case  the force of the impact pushed me against the door, resulting in significant bruising and neck injury. My son broke his finger and my daughter had back injury. All of us were wearing seat belts and we weren't moving at the time when the driver hit us by running a red light at full traffic speed. 

What is interesting (suspect) here is that Steve was not at Apple when this version of MacOS was out. This would imply that it either is a fake or it was while he was at NeXt.   If while at NeXt, why would he bother to sign it?

She sounds to have many qualities of a capable executive, along with some very helpful prior experiences for this new role.  One cannot rise through roles like this and last as long as she has without the respect of her team as well. 

Soli said:

My only concern about the student IDs via NFC if they will work when the device has no battery power. While that's certainly handy, I don't think it's safe that someone could lose or have an iPhone stolen and then when the power runs out it will still allow access to dorm by pressing the Sleep/Wake button. 

caladanian said:

Please explain what “open loop” technology for London tube is - and it’s (dis)advantage is. 

I think this will answer everything for you:

• https://clearbridgemobile.com/open-vs-closed-loop-mobile-payments/

LukeCage said:

Well most disruptions don't start off with people trying to actually disrupt an industry, they just try to get a niche and the rest is history. However in this case, Apple being as big as it is, if they said that they were trying, they would have regulatory boards in America and Europe all over them. For Apple to disrupt the credit card industry, imo, they would have to go after the banks, but banks now are much bigger and more powerful than they used to be. I'm not saying it's impossible but it's would be a pretty hard task to accomplish. 

I believe Apple choose the best solution and I'm happy to say it's the solution I proffered years before Apple Pay was ever introduced. My only wish is that the extra security for using Apple Pay would result in lower transaction fees for retailers which would help them advertise this option more, and for mom-and-pop shops with discreet card readers that have mostly supported Apple Pay (and all other NFC-based scanners to have the company that supplies the device notify them that they can take these *Pay payments.

If anyone wants to help with increasing the saturation in your area you can order—free of charge—register and door stickers from Apple that you can give to those businesses when you come across them. I don't do it for Apple; I do it for myself, because the sooner I can reach a tipping point where I can more freely not carry my physical cards on me the more convenient my life will be.

• https://www.applepaysupplies.com/home

The newest iPhone supports an option to still work for NFC with a dead battery.  

In respect to a person finding a lost iPhone and using it to gain access to a building, this is also true for any employee and student ID that is lost.  In most cases, there is no need to show your photo ID to access a building; one just taps the badge to the reader.  A thief gets the same access as a student or employee if the card isn’t reported as lost.   Using a phone’s NFC can mean some security loss in that the person’s face is not associated with building access. I suppose that an added safety feature of Apple’s method is that Face ID on the newest phones would be a potential means to verify that the person accessing the building is in fact the phone’s owner and appropriate to gain access. 

On the transit pass comment, Portland, Oregon’s Trimet already supports Apple Pay.  It has since summer 2017.  I have to think that Portland is not the only US city to support Apple Pay for transit. 

Good review. Poolside is great, but please consider your neighbors if you are camping. We’ve seen a trend over the past few years in the USA Pacific Northwest where loud music from adjacent sites spoil the joy of nature’s beautiful sounds.  Many RV manufacturers these days contribute to it with outdoor speakers mounted on the sidewall of trailers, vans, and motorhomes. These outward facing, high up on these vehicles, projecting out into camp rather than pointed down to the campsite. The persons using them have to crank up the volume for them to be heard and often don’t realize (or care?) that it carries across the entire campground. I would love to see manufacturers include parabolic directional speakers that project the sound down from RV awnings or the like so that those in the site enjoy the music or movie while minimizing the sound carrying beyond the site. Many museums have what I describe here. 

It’s been said that one person’s rights end where another’s begin. The adjacent campers who wants to enjoy nature sounds already in the environment should be able to do so. Somehow hearing the laughter of a child, talking of adults, crackling of a campfire, or the like is different from unwelcome, constant  speaker-projected music that invades one’s campsite.   If we are listening to music while camping (admittedly rare) we make sure to check our surroundings first and avoid the sound carrying beyond our site. 

If you’re on your own or well away from others, blast to your heart’s content.  

(posted earlier) Amazon Echo Studio should give Apple a run for the money against the Home Pod. Priced at $199, supports Dolby Atmos, 3D audio, and initial tests appear promising.  I agree that the Home Pod is better with many specs, except for a few. Amazon’s product also supports Bluetooth and has an audio input jack. What has held me off from Apple’s product is that when it eventually is no longer supported, it ends up being an expensive paperweight while the Amazon speaker will still work and can do so without software.   Will Apple really support the home pod 10 years from now? Or even 5?  The Amazon speaker gets around that issue with still having audio input alternatives.  

Umm... this is weird. It actually reveals a flaw in Apple’s identification of their phones.  Unlike many other consumer products, there is no physical serial number, QR code or bar code representing one on the case of an iPhone.  If there was, repair could simply scan it and verify if the phone is authentic, who it is registered to, and under warranty.  If the scammer copies a real serial number, it could be flagged as a duplicate. Even having the serial # inside the phone would work, although then the tech has to crack it open.   The serial number can still also be contained in the software, just also have a physical one. The flaw in my suggestion comes when Apple or a 3rd party replaces the case with one that is not original, but those different number case backs could also be registered to the previously repaired phone. A 3rd party replacing the case back already voids the warranty.   Apple could also install a passive RFID tag inside the phone instead of the above suggestions with the device’s serial number. These can be scanned by the service tech before cracking it open. Don’t get paranoid, it can be a near field RFID (set the phone on a plate like when you charge an iPhone 8 or newer). 

smaffei said:

Am I the only person who finds this auction highly suspect?!? 

System 6.0 came out in 1988. Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985. He was pushing the Next Cube at the time and actually had great contempt for a Sculley run Apple. So, I highly doubt he would have autographed a System 6.0 disk.

BUYER BEWARE!!!!

Yep. I and others posted the same above. 

Several of the thoughts in this article ring true. Don’t get “over your skis” at a design that is form over function. This is true for software as well.  I’ve owned Apple products across all generations back to the 1980s.  The actual experience with the software, coupled with the hardware sufficient enough to support it, and the potential to use it longer than a competing product due to its premium price has shown to be of paramount importance.  The most glaring was the Performa series which was not performant at all - most were quite slow at handling the needs of the user from the very first day they shipped. Cheaply built, but not inexpensive.  I nearly abandoned the platform as a result.

 Design aesthetic will always be part of the mystique of Apple. Ugly doesn’t cut it. The camera setup of the mockups we see for the new iPhone is an example of something ugly, even if it is an advance in capability. Thickening the phone slightly to remove the horrendous bump and using the space for added battery or some innovation would be better.