gregalexander

arthurba said:
But the same would have been true if the movie was purchased on DVD.  Here in OZ the disc would have been Region 4, and a 'standard' DVD player in Canada would be locked to Region 1 and wouldn't play the DVD.  So in that sense - iTunes is no different to a DVD.  The differences are:

1) it's really easy to get an "unlocked" dvd player
2) worse case scenario you can take your Oz DVD player with you to watch your Aussie films

Yes. True for Bluray too. 

But 4K Bluray has finally removed regions apparently. 

anantksundaram said:

The article says “Chiefly because other countries were already moving to contactless payments, it's more common that Apple Pay just works there.”

I’d like to know who these countries are. I travel to Paris a lot. ApplePay almost never works, despite the fact that there are NFC-enabled POS terminals everywhere. It doesn’t work in my travels (admittedly less frequent) to India, the Netherlands or the U.K.  

ApplePay underachieves globally relative to potential. Period.

In Australia it was accepted almost everywhere instantly because of our tap and go systems. But we couldn't get an ApplePay account unless we had an accepted US credit card so we had to wait (and even today our major banks won't partner). 

I was surprised at Tim Cook demonstrating people using a magnetic stripe, and a signature... I thought he was deliberately showing how it was used 5 years back. We had been inserting cards and using a pin, and that was transitioning to the tap system. 

But one thing that doesn't work overseas is debit cards. Apple Pay hooks into Amex or MasterCard or Visa or our debut card system EFTPOS - but if your ApplePay is using an EFTPOS card it won't work internationally because the international system doesn't recognised eftpos. 

What card is in your Apple Pay?

Unfortunately the problem of devices distracting kids is worse than the old problems of kids wanting to play outside, or with toys etc. In comparison to the TV its more tightly integrated, the interactivity keeps kids involved. 

Kids still get hungry and thirsty when playing with toys or outside, while on the phone they can go hours without noticing. Playing outside is healthy, playing with others outside or on toys builds social interaction skills and makes friends.

Online apps try to tie the kids in (and do a good job of engaging them), and they change the challenges continually. Kids can hide their phones from parents and do things much less supervised. 

I think they activate the same neurology engaged in gambling that leads to problems.  

None of this is Apples fault or responsibility. 

We monitor our kids closely but even with lots of effort it isn't enough. If Apple can help is that would be good.  

The MacOS stuff is a start. Perhaps make a "parental friendly" rating that app developers can apply for that allows greater oversite - like parents authorising friends, or giving privacy to chats with specific real-life friends but sharing chats with parents for anyone met online (for 8 year olds, for example). 

tzeshan said:

This is the main reason Musk is introducing two new models to recapture the heavily government subsidized tax credit and adding on to national debt.

It'd be dumb if he was doing that. The main credit is about to run out for Tesla, he'd be better focusing on 1 car.

Musk has said several times he'd like all incentives to be removed for gasoline, diesel, and electric - and let competition go for it. You guys in the US get great subsidies on your gasoline at various points in the chain.

eknight said:

If you use the new Apple TV as a HomeKit Hub can you take advantage of the Bluetooth 5.0 to get better range for Bluetooth HomeKit accessories like locks and door sensors?

Yes I'd say that's the intent. To support the greater number of Bluetooth 5 HomeKit devices that are coming.