ericthehalfbee

seanismorris said:

CR is like every other review site.  It’s more about confirming what you’ve heard somewhere else.

For cars I’ll look at CR reliability/safety studies, warranty comparisons etc.  but these are just data points.  For subjective reviews I’ll look at customer experiences, and car expert reviews.  All that just determines which cars to test drive.  Because in the end only my review matters.

The same goes for audio devices...

Personally, I have some Panasonic wireless headphones that work fine so spending on a HomePad that doesn’t even connect to the TV is a no go.

CR is actually useless for car ratings because of confirmation bias.

For example, they once gave a lower rating for the Pontiac Vibe (reliability) than the Toyota Matrix. They're the same car and made by Toyota. The Pontiac has some trim pieces to make it look different, but all the underpinnings are pure Toyota.

The reason for this is they rely a lot on data sent to them by owners. Which is useless because people have not only terrible memory but selective memory. If a person who likes Toyota buys one for reliability, and then has to go get something repaired under warranty, their attitude is "Well, looks like I got the one-in-a-million - Toyota fixed it so all's well". If a person buys a brand that's not as reliable, and has to get the same type of issue fixed, their attitude is "Well, I see my car is living up to its reputation as being less reliable." Two owners with the same problem and two completely different opinions about their cars reliability.

There are even people who claimed the Pontiac Vibe used much more gas than the Toyota Matrix (which is actually impossible). Yet this fact shows up in lots of aggregated reviews from owners of these vehicles.

zoetmb said:

As an ex-recording engineer, I don't think someone walking around a venue, constantly fiddling with the sound is the best idea and given the chance to constantly change things, they will.   That's why the sound levels in concerts always get higher in the second half of a show:  the mixer wants to feel like they're doing something AND they're deaf from the high levels, so they turn it up even more. 

In fixed venues, what one would normally do is send white or pink noise through the system and then equalize to the house.   This is what the calibration modes in A/V pre-pros and receivers attempt to do.   Once you do that, you should not be playing with the overall frequency response (as opposed to the frequency response of a single instrument or mic input).   

As someone who does live sound reinforcement I find these comments a bit offensive and stereotypical.

I’m hardly deaf and I don’t “fiddle” with things just so I can feel like I’m doing something. I don’t crank the levels as the show progresses either.

Equalizing “to the house” using pink/white noise only gets you part of the way there. When a venue is filled the frequency response changes because human bodies are actually pretty good at absorbing sound. Then you have environmental changes (temperature/humidity) which also alter the sound (esp outdoors for an all-day-evening show). This often requires changes to be made as a show progresses. And these are only a couple things that might require fine tuning during a show (there are so many I don’t have time to list them all).

I find playing reference songs I’m familiar with through the system as one of the best ways to determine how a venue sounds. Pink noise/room analysis software and a spectrum analyzer follow

alandail said:

Soli said:

lkrupp said:

WTF? Why Apple and not other hardware manufacturers? Why not HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Dell, Microsoft, Google? Why only Apple? This whole article makes it sound like Apple is the only hardware company besides Intel and ARM that is liable for this. I might be labeled a fanboy on this site but this is bullshit.

These lawsuits are bullshit, but in this case Apple does design their own processors, which does put them closer to this issue than other vendors you mentioned.

They use ARM's design, the issue is ARM's, not Apple's.

No they don’t.

Apple designs their own processors which are compatible with the ARMv8 ISA. The microarchitecture is 100% Apple.

Further, the only ARM processor susceptible to Meltdown is the brand-new A75. Previous cores were not, because they are a simpler design and are therefore immune. Apples A Series (which are far more advanced than any ARM design) are susceptible to Meltdown. Which shows that Apple is years ahead of ARM (at least when it comes to speculative execution).

stuke said:

I concur with MustSeeUHDTV.  The designs we all loved came at that one very annoying aspect...no DIY battery maintenance.  The sad fact is now it has bitten Apple in the butt, and they have to do something to make the lifetime of their products survive post-warranty (AppleCare+ 2 year) periods.  Or, for some countries even longer.  Slowing down the device (and therefore the performance...noticeably or not to the consumer) so the battery is pampered has ignited in their face.  Consumers (with troves of lawyers) jumped all over this within hours of Apple's announcement last week.  Those lawsuits will continue building.  This will put AntennaGate to shame in magnitude.

Everything you just said is complete garbage.

kimberly said:

greginprague said:

Shane0527 said:

FaceID is awful! I have to type in my passcode the majority of the time to access my phone. Need directions while you’re driving? Better pull over because you have to fully interact with the phone to unlock it to get directions. This is the iPhone I strongly dislike!

Signed up for an account just to say that huh?  The vast majority of users and professional tech media disagree with you.  I’ve never had trouble with FaceID myself and my brother-in-law just said today, “It’s amazing, I’m black and it’s dark at night and it still sees me and unlocks every time.”

I mean what if he did sign up just to say that ... so what?  He just gave his personal opinion.  Claiming the 'vast majority of users and professional tech media disagree' is pure speculation and doesn't suddenly make your opinion informed and his misguided.

You must also be new here.

Do you know how many trolls show up here at AI with a brand new account and their first post is a stupid comment (always a negative and usually about some signature Apple feature)?

The vast majority of the time when they are called on it it turns out the assumption was correct (troll). I see no reason to believe otherwise this time.