StrangeDays

georgie01 said:

But, but, but … I’ve been told cell phone location tracking data isn’t accurate enough to actually determine where people are and so therefore 2000 Mules is false. But law enforcement is using it, and paying for it?

No, 2000 Mules is false because it’s blathering conspiracy nonsense produced by wingnuts who cannot accept that their preferred candidate lost a free & fair election by 7 million voter, not by shadowy mules of ballot harvesters as claimed. 

FYI for any interested, HBO is running a promo — yearly ad-free for $105, which is 8 bucks & change a month. I canceled my existing membership then re-subbed for the promo. 

loopless said:

Software development is either "date driven" or "feature driven". if you are "date driven" it is very common to drop features fairly late in development. Apple is date driven - they have hardware that requires a iOS version and they cannot have hardware piling up and not shipping because the iOS version is not ready. So the responsible and prudent thing is to drop features.

Yes, people familiar with project management product development will understand this -- there are a few constraints, known as the Iron Triangle. If two sides are locked (time, cost) then another is adjusted (scope).

Pancake said:

These aren’t layoffs. They are contractors and their contracts are over according to the article. They aren’t being renewed but that comes with being a contractor. 

While true, I’ve been an IT contractor for decades and can vouch that most of IT contractors are merely an end-run of paying employment taxes & benefits for what are, really, staff. I’ve been at multiple Fortune 100 clients where we’re all contractors, for years on end. The customer brand absolutely does exert “behavior control” (IRS test) over this type of staff augmentation (staff aug), and it’s not at all like hiring a true contractor to build a deck or house where he sets his own schedule, ways of working, etc. It’s just a tax scam.

That’s for IT operations. I have no experience w/ recruitment, which in theory could be more true to contractor like experience, but who knows.

As I recall Apple charges card issuers because AP cuts back on their fraud exposure, due to device biometrics. It saves them money. Now they want the benefit without the cost.