22july2013

I opened the Podcasts app to see if AppleInsider offers a commercial free paid podcast. They do, but it's $61/year.

The new Nanoleaf Automated Learning Assistant — or Nana 

Did you mean NALA? "Nana" is too old to learn new tricks.

applebynature said:

Wow is that thing ugly AF

Does ugliness or beauty matter? The "Apple Magic Mouse 2" is perhaps more visually beautiful than any other mouse, but functionally it is a horrible mouse. The irony is that Apple practically introduced the mouse to the consumer, and now they still make what could be the worst mouse of all time. Here's a Youtube video of a Xerox technology demonstration from 1968 (55 years ago) which includes a mouse that has more buttons than Apple's current mouse. The Apple Mouse is more beautiful, but I think I'd rather use the mouse from 1968. (The Mouse demonstration starts at 31:00.)

 

It's not the 30% fee that will drive most developers out of the Apple App store, it's the Apple App Store Review Guidelines. Let's look at the first 10 rules just as an example of the things that developers will now be freed from adhering to if they use someone else's app store. These are just the first few items in a document spanning roughly 1000 different requirements. A third party App Store will be motivated to remove as many of these restrictions as possible, or won't bother to enforce their own restrictions like Apple does. App developers will look upon third party app stores as a new golden age for app development where there are fewer rules.

1. Safety
When people install an app from the App Store, they want to feel confident that it’s safe to do so—that the app doesn’t contain upsetting or offensive content, won’t damage their device, and isn’t likely to cause physical harm from its use. We’ve outlined the major pitfalls below, but if you’re looking to shock and offend people, the App Store isn’t the right place for your app.

• 1.1 Objectionable Content Apps should not include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy. Examples of such content include:

• 1.1.1 Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups, particularly if the app is likely to humiliate, intimidate, or harm a targeted individual or group. Professional political satirists and humorists are generally exempt from this requirement.

• 1.1.2 Realistic portrayals of people or animals being killed, maimed, tortured, or abused, or content that encourages violence. “Enemies” within the context of a game cannot solely target a specific race, culture, real government, corporation, or any other real entity.

• 1.1.3 Depictions that encourage illegal or reckless use of weapons and dangerous objects, or facilitate the purchase of firearms or ammunition.

• 1.1.4 Overtly sexual or pornographic material, defined as “explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.” This includes “hookup” apps and other apps that may include pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution, or human trafficking and exploitation.

• 1.1.5 Inflammatory religious commentary or inaccurate or misleading quotations of religious texts.

• 1.1.6 False information and features, including inaccurate device data or trick/joke functionality, such as fake location trackers. Stating that the app is “for entertainment purposes” won’t overcome this guideline. Apps that enable anonymous or prank phone calls or SMS/MMS messaging will be rejected.

• 1.1.7 Harmful concepts which capitalize or seek to profit on recent or current events, such as violent conflicts, terrorist attacks, and epidemics.

DAalseth said:

You do business in a country, you abide by the rules of that country.
Sure it would be nice if Apple just stopped doing business in countries and regions that did not align with it’s values. If it did it would be the biggest technology company in the San Francisco Bay area only. Heck, there are parts of the US that are dramatically at odds with Apple’s core values, but Apple is still there, following local laws. (South Carolina and Texas for example.) To do anything else would violate the core business value of Apple, and every other corporation: To Be Profitable. 

Yes, that's all true, but there are times when the public gets so upset about something, that worldwide boycotts can force companies to care about social issues and stop doing business in certain countries. For one example, apartheid ended in South Africa largely because of worldwide boycotts of companies that did business with South Africa.

I wouldn't mind if people boycotted companies that did business with dictatorships, like Saudi Arabia or China, but right now public consciousness is all about the environment, not about human rights. Maybe if we pointed out that China is horrible on the environment, (eg, they open 8 gigawatts of new coal powered electrical generation plants every 3 months) we could get the public to boycott any companies that did business with China.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emb_44G0tqk <---

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-coal-plant-approvals-surge-energy-security-trumps-climate-greenpeace-2022-07-20/ <--