chasm

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chasm
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  • Trump says Tim Cook complained to him about the EU

    chasmchasm
    Why would Tim Cook call someone with absolutely no ability to fix the issue, instead of for example the current president or leaders of Congress?

    Yeah, this is more Trump (Hot) Air.
    9secondkox2Bart Ybaconstangwatto_cobra

  • Trump says Tim Cook complained to him about the EU

    chasmchasm
    It’s certainly possible that Tim Cook has been speaking to leading politicians from both parties about the impositions of the EU. This particular utterance from The Constant Lie feels plausible.

    That said, I’m *sure* Tim is *thrilled* to know that things said to a certain Orange-otang in a private phone call will be blabbed publicly. I’m sure Tim’s next call to him (if there is another one) will be along the lines of

    Chump: Hi Tim! What’s on your mind?
    Tim: Oh, hi, just wanted to tell you confidentially that Apple products are really great, especially the new [new thing]. Just terrific. Really, really great. Talk to you later!
    muthuk_vanalingamjeffharris9secondkox2Bart Ywatto_cobra

  • Why Apple's smart home speaker dreams are still falling short

    chasmchasm
    My needs for a smart speaker are pretty simple — set a timer occasionally, tell me the weather, play [this music], read me my last email, remind me of something later. Siri does all of these things without flaw. I admit that I have found that a request to play a specific radio station has to be worded rather precisely to be consistently fulfilled: “Siri, play [radio station call letters, articulated separately] on [TuneIn in my case].”

    What’s important to me is the sound, and the security/privacy. The Google and Amazon speakers cannot offer me better sound than full-size HomePods (I have two, which I also use connected to my Apple TV as a soundbar for the TV), and they certainly don’t even pretend to offer better security and privacy. I chuckle at the very thought that most people who buy those brands are not aware of how much information about them is going back to the companies in question.

    The one HomePod mini I own is in the bedroom. It also answers questions when I’m in there, but it is mainly used for an alarm clock and weather checker. Once in a while I will ask Siri to play some music on all the HomePods, and it does that.

    I’ve had these units for years, and as far as I’m concerned they’ve more than paid for themselves. I guess my needs are too simple to be unhappy with them, but I think they’re great. As home automation continues to become a thing, I can see where Apple will need to revamp the HomePod line, but for me these things are great as-is.
    mike1StrangeDayswilliamlondondarbus69ihatescreennameswatto_cobra

  • YouTube gets Apple Vision Pro app Juno kicked from App Store

    chasmchasm
    OriginalAppleGuy said:
    YouTube - has gotten ridiculous since Google bought them. The commercials make watching videos horrible. Have them up front, not every 10 seconds. And now this? It's laughable they don't have an app on the VP and go after someone that allowed a better experience than watching in a browser. I continue to look for other platforms and only go to You Tube when I have to. 
    Regular TV interrupts shows to show ads, so YouTube does as well. I’m most definitely NOT defending this practice, but if you DON’T skip the ads at the beginning, you’ll get fewer-to-no ads interrupting the video, don’t skip those either. If you’re a frequent skipper, you get more ads and longer ads, and eventually UNSKIPPABLE ads.

    Just mute the video, do something else for the length of the ad, and after a while of this you’ll be able to watch YouTube videos almost entirely uninterrupted.
    watto_cobra

  • Repair site praises new iPhone 16 line as the most repairable yet

    chasmchasm
    danox said:
    [...]every part in any personal electronic device used by the public is going to have to be accounted for with a serial number and those electronic parts will be designed not to work if they have been tampered with. 
    Putting aside the hysterical paranoia for a moment ... Apple is moving to make repairs **much easier** for both pro and amateur repairers, and that's a good thing. An earlier AppleInsider article featured interview with Apple execs talking about the balance between durability and repairability, and it would seem that around the time this issue became a cause celebre in the tech press, Apple execs tasked the engineering teams with rebalancing the ratio a bit. This is the result.

    Repairs done poorly are still a risk. Ever been inside an AASP repair facility? There's a bucket of sand and a fireproof safe next to every technician, and there's a reason for that. People have died from explosions involving smartphones (or more often, their cheap replacement chargers). No terrorist organisation required.

    Making the battery safer and yet more replaceable is another example of superior Apple engineering and evidence that it does listen to customer issues/complaints. Every change made to an iPhone involves a complicated rebalancing of everything else. It's a miracle that smart changes like this can happen on a fairly regular basis.
    williamlondonStrangeDayswatto_cobra