beowulfschmidt

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beowulfschmidt
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  • Senator Warren asks if Apple CEO Tim Cook's Trump playbook is blatant corruption

    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt
    I'm 65 years old, and I've been paying attention to politics for about 50 of that.  There has never been a time in my life when a significant number of federal politicians, many times including the president, were NOT corrupt in some way.

    So, the answer to Senator Warren's question is "yes".  As it is for many other large corporations, including the ones who contribute to her and other representatives campaign funds.  It might (or might not) be true that Trump is more blatant about it than most, but government-business collusion has been a major thing in this country since at at least the 19th century.  It's gotten worse since the Great Depression, but it's been there for a long time.
    baconstangwatto_cobra

  • Apple Watch Series 11: What's expected to arrive this fall

    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt
    cpsro said:
    Lack of a blood oxygen sensor will be a killer for many people.

    Me for one.  I have sleep apnea, and use the O2 sensor to monitor over night.  If Apple and Masimo don't pull their heads out, my 7 will have to last at least another year. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobraspheric

  • Apple Watch to get small hardware changes, big software updates

    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt
    SiTime said:
    I have an Apple Watch Series 6 and I have very little reason to upgrade. And that’s not because the Apple Watch is a bad product or anything. It’s actually the exact opposite. The Apple Watch is such a good product that I’m still very happy to continue using mine almost 5 years after it was released. Everything that I need my Apple Watch to do, it does.

    My Series 6’s battery health is getting a little long in the tooth (at completely normal and expected level after all these years). So that’ll probably be my reason for eventually upgrading (rather than paying $100 or so for a battery replacement). But for now, I can probably get another year or so out of it.

    Also… my Series 6 has the blood oxygen feature that the Series 10 and Ultra 2 lack (in the US), lol.

    Same, same, wrt my 7.  I also don't want to lose my blood oxygen sensor.
    watto_cobra

  • Apple's fight with Trump's tariffs will shift the cost to customers

    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt
    KohanMike said:
    I firmly believe Trump and his cohorts have made these moves knowing full well that the stock market will drop drastically, and they're shorting it in under-the-table to profit from their actions. And I'll say this outright, Trump is following the same path as Hitler did, killing journalism services that would tell the truth, like Radio Free Europe, taking over magnanimous services like the Kennedy Center to push his own prejudicial attitude, like The Kennedy Center. My parents were Holocaust survivors, with that I'm very sensitive to the kind of actions Trump is taking.

    I've said this since her first announced the tariffs.  He knows precisely the effect they have, and he was planning on it so that he and his cronies will profit.  His base swallows the "protect American business" line like a pig swallows slop.
    jroyFileMakerFeller

  • France fines Apple over App Tracking Transparency, but doesn't order changes

    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt
    avon b7 said:
    If they had said, "ATT is fine, but Apple has to follow the same rules, so since you didn't, we're fining you," that would have been pretty legit.

    Instead they said, "ATT is fine, nothing wrong with it.  But we're going to fine you anyway.  Because we can, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it."
    The Reuters article is a little clearer on that point. 

    "Coeuré told reporters the regulator had not spelled out how Apple should change its app, but that it was up to the company to make sure it now complied with the ruling.

    The compliance process could take some time, he added, because Apple was waiting for rulings on regulators in Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania who are also investigating the ATT tool."

    https://www.reuters.com/technology/french-antitrust-regulator-fines-apple-150-million-euros-over-privacy-tool-2025-03-31/

    On the size of the fine, that was also tackled head on (it was proportional):

    "We apply competition law in an apolitical manner," Benoit Coeure told a press conference."

    While maximum fines can be up to 10% of global revenue (and it's global as a dissuasory measure), the fines still have to be proportional and take into account other factors such as reincidence. 

    "We're not going to tell you how to fix your app to avoid this fine, but you'd better change it, or we're going to keep fining you."

    "Bring me a rock.  No, not that one."
    watto_cobra