macwise

Like most Apple TV owners (4th gen), my development team was so pleased with the new screen savers. We were all enraptured by the views, and the simple but captivating streams showing a bird's eye view of beautiful places around the planet really delighted us. When we were invited to an AppleTV Tech Talk in LA, we expressed our appetite for more videos.  Apple suggested we make our own app and produce more videos.

Unwilling to wait any longer for Apple to produce more films, we took their suggestion to heart.  That started a year-long process of building an app and curating stunning films much in the style of the Apple screen savers, only with more of a focus on nature. The app we launched is called Sky Tripping (http://skytripping.com), and it is available for tvOS and iOS.  

It has been gratifying to produce these films, and enlightening as we've learned along the way that these films of nature actually have the power to positively affect our health, much like meditation and spending time physically in nature. Most of us are nature starved, and it's difficult to deny that these films bring with them the ability to restore peace and calm when you're feeling stressed.

I'm so happy to see that Apple has finally produced more films, as they're nothing short of extraordinary.  That said, I'm also glad they took so long to follow up with round 2, as it has given us the impetus to build our own app, something which no doubt would never have happened had Apple been more forthcoming with their additional views as originally promised. 

crowley said:

Borderdog said:

Let's get to the heart of this whole discussion.

One of Benjamin Franklin's most famous quotes: 

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Is there some kind of Godwin's law equivalent about how long a tech discussion will go on before this facile quote gets wheeled out?

Statistics say that you put your hand over your heart in sentimental tribute to the great might and wonder and heritage that is the Glorious United States of America, World Police, Benevolent Distributor of Democracy (and bombs), and Almighty God-Sanctioned Land of the Bravely Ignorant and Home of the Freely Oppressed. And you want to chide someone who heralds the memory of the people who made this country something which, at least at some point in its short history, was worthy of any kind of notable tribute? 

Facile, indeed.

volcan said:

macwise said:

Just because it's known doesn't mean it's not a conspiracy.  The government conspired with AT&T to act in secret.  Now, it's no longer a conspiracy theory as it has since been proven fact.  But it was a conspiracy from the get-go, that much should not be ignored.

It was probably not a conspiracy, just a secret that the NSA twisted AT&T's arm to allow them to conduct surveillance on their network. AT&T had nothing to gain per se by spying on people, they just avoided whatever the government was threatening if they didn't comply. This sort of stuff has been secretly going on for a long time with FBI projects such as Carnivore, Cyber Knight, Magic Lantern, etc.

conspiracy |kənˈspirəsē| noun (pl. conspiracies)

A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful
• the action of plotting or conspiring: they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

a conspiracy of silence: an agreement to say nothing about an issue that should be generally known.


As the NSA's spying has been ruled illegal (and since their entire agenda flies in the face of the protections set out in the IV Amendment), it is nothing if not a conspiracy.  Whether or not AT&T was in on it for some value of their own is irrelevant.  There was a secret plan (secretly organize with the telecoms & others) by a group (the government) to do something unlawful or harmful (illegal spying).  It was a conspiracy.

mac_dog said:

"It is silliness to say there's some kind of conspiracy between the U.S. government and AT&T,"...

he's right. it's not a conspiracy.
it's well known that AT&T is is jointly working with the NSA (at least here in san francisco). hell, the NSA occupies space in the AT&T building for fuck's sake.
he's nothing but a shill for the government.

Just because it's known doesn't mean it's not a conspiracy.  The government conspired with AT&T to act in secret.  Now, it's no longer a conspiracy theory as it has since been proven fact.  But it was a conspiracy from the get-go, that much should not be ignored.

volcan said:

If you have a Constitutional grievence take it up with the courts. Encryption is  an undecided legal issue.

So you don't have a valid rebuttal?

But then, how could you. Everything you said was poppycock, just like Randall Stephenson.

Unless you believe it is a crime for a person to employ any kind of meaningful encryption, then you are arguing on behalf of government intrusion for no other reason than for the sake of argument.  The founding fathers, however, were asserting their rights against a tyrannical government, and it was in that spirit that the founding documents were written and ratified. To argue otherwise is both futile and fallacious.