designguybrown

As much as the world is a better place for Apple having existing, I feel that Apple has to be taken down a notch - forced obsolescence in operating systems, software, hardware, and online services; morality police in passwords and data; over the top DEI initiatives; endless 'highly exclusive' proprietary wireless, chips, and online services; etc., etc. Apple hasn't done much really, really wrong as they have horribly neglected to do much 'politically' and socially right. This means they should win the suit but lose much money, customer loyalty, and developer/vendor attention/ service. Maybe a 30% drop in stock prices can deride the Arrogance. Hopefully, Apple will be a bit more like Tesla with absurdly open protocols and standardization - benefitting the industry more and the bottom line less.

Hard call.
I use ad-blockers on all my browsers for desktop web-use - it's the only sane experience I can handle when on for more than 30 minutes - my iOS experience is a comparable nightmare.
But, I certainly know a lot of small-scale art, comic, creative, and specialty site owners that very-much depend on their 'garbage ad' revenue to support a page that allows them to communicate unique and quality content - and they all work full-time at real jobs - so you know they're not just influencer/off-grid/ unemployables - apparently, semi-popular sites cost money -and- contribute real-world one-of-a-kind variety I don't want to lose. There must be some ad-revenue 'thoughtful' model that, maybe, allows 'deep content' (not front page) to be only accessed by selecting a few user-selected companies to display non-distracting ads that more likely are somewhat applicable to user. Combine that with good deals by sites getting together to negotiate better revenue deals. At the end of the day, the garbage ad brokers such as Outbrain really are just hackers, eye-ball pirates, and trash-content promoters rather than legitimate non-profits (maybe) that are trying to bridge the gap with quality companies using one of the few remaining venues for promotions. I was always surprised that no one has really pushed 'pay for article' fees - pay 10c to 25c for access to an article based on a no-ads wallet you top-up every month - I would be willing to pay $10 per month to throw such change at various sites for good quality articles without ads - which would b different than a subscription since sites rarely have consistently good content. Meh my 2c.

Addiction typically occurs and continues to take hold because the rest of the affected person suffers from a lack of balance in the rest of their lives:
- happy significant other relationship-if only platonic
- several close friends and acquaintances that know about your life on a weekly basis
- few to no significant health problems; go to the gym, drink less, eat vegetables/ fruit/ pro-biotoics
- happy family and work peer relationships
- financial life in order - living within your means, not above your station, and with future savings in mind
- wide range of varied interests, inside and outside
- life goals not based on comparing yourself to others
2 or more of these not met or not possible - fix first
Easy. peasy. Addictions can't fit into a balanced life.
You can do it all - including maximize the fun and utility in screen time.

This is unclear.
I wear my Airpods Pros for calls while driving with the windows open and satellite ON. So, I want to hear my car audio over whatever the Airpods are doing (nothing) while I wait for a call. So, what does noise-cancelling actually do? In my perfect world, a new call comes in and the Airpods SHOULD isolate the call - total noise block so I can hear the caller perfectly despite the window open and audio playing. Further, the ideal Airpods Pro would also noise-cancel and clean-up the noise on my end so the Caller can hear my voice crystal clear despite wind and audio. Are we getting there? Moreso with this firmware update (and how do I determine if my Airpods accessory have latest firmware update?) does this get accomplished?

When i read the header, i thought that the 'retail sales tax portion' of an App purchase could no longer be covered by a Gift Card (in those regions where it is separated out) - so you had use credit card, etc., to pay the 5 - 15% tax of an app purchase.

I always figured that any kind of robotics with Apple going forward would necessarily be an extension of HomeKit (or whatever it's called now) by creating more tactile and/or interactive mechanisms that depend on being mounted, stored, travelling through, or otherwise being within the physical realm of your household. This may be some kind of system of arms, mini-drones,  and screens that can mount, re-locate, and re-orient it-/ themselves- to undertake a lot physical tasks - like a physically-distributed butler - above and beyond Tesla's and roomba's offerings, even that of many hospitals or assisted-living environments - likely meaning adjustment or re-design (or new option) of interior spaces/ walls/ ceilings. AppleHouse sorta like an Aardman set. sorta like the Brazil protagonist's living abode, but Apple.

It's a computer science/ engineering/ hyper-tech firm filled with Lone Wolfs, narcissists, and the support/ managerial staff which herd and wrangle them. Being in HR or 'People' Manager must be one of the most difficult and unfulfilling jobs in such as an environment. What you do? Mother them? Let them fend for themselves? They are anti-thetical to community and forced socialization. An effective organizational chart for such places has yet to be designed.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Whole-heartedly.
I have always wanted someone, something, somewhere (not behind a paywall or subscription) to blow the lid off the truly useless and counter-productive internet-ad ecosystem that turns our websites into a morass of poorly-sourced, arbitrary, and distraction-zoos of mediocre products and services, many often fake or bait-switch-types, splashed onto otherwise content-rich news and entertainment sources.
I get it. I hear that more than 50% of websites have no real business model or self-sustaining source of revenue, relying on ads to keep their random assembly of content going. Many of the staff and workers and owners have no real job to support themselves entirely, just an endless string of gigs and fluffy content-mill situations driven by ad-brokers who push eye-ball numbers based on influencing-blaring content and half-truth and distraction. I suppose with television and hard-print industries collapsing, a huge gob of company promotional budgets had to be spent somewhere; obviously prized by the predators at Outbrain, etc. Are these companies who throw ad dollars at these rando ad-brokers not seeing the total lack of return for these shot-in-the-dark ad placements? Or Is the cost per ad placement so low, that they can afford to spam, deluge, smother, and distract the vast range of sites with its near-seizure-inducing garbage -- it brings up that famous scene in Ready Player Go with the CEO talking about 80% visual-area ad placement, just enough to avoid liability from creating seizure. I welcome Apple's attack on this monstrosity of eye-pollution and a start to hopefully implement a more sane web business model -- exposing the ad-brokers as simple charlatans, promising impossible returns to desperate businesses seeking any kind connection to the public.