GG1

eightzero said:

I'm still watching Thunderbolt 3 4K monitors for pricing. For the first time since the original iMac, I'm really leaning to something different next: a 4k monitor and a mac mini. 

Beats said:

GG1 said:

CloudTalkin said:

substance said:

How is this app that much different any app that has 'everything-and-the-kitchen-sink' built into them (like Facebook had they not broken Messenger out into a separate app)? 

And why is WeChat so popular in China?  What's to prevent the latest and greatest chap app to come around in a year or two to knock it off its pertch?

Facebook isn't even close to being like WeChat.  Bet your bottom dollar, they are trying though.  So are all the major players. The article touches on it, but doesn't go far enough.  WeChat is a fully fleshed out ecosystem in a single app.  It's built so that a user never has to leave their environment to do anything that's done electronically.  A Chinese user could have no other apps on their phone besides WeChat and they wouldn't miss a beat.  ← That's not hyperbole.  Whether using an iOS or Android device, every aspect of a users digital life can be handled through WeChat.  The user never has to leave the app.  The next largest social app in China is QQ.  Both are owned by Tencent.  That is one thing that is similar.  Facebook (WhatsApp & FB Messenger) and Tencent (WeChat & QQ) own the top two messaging apps in their respective spheres of influence.  No one else is even close.

I observed this in China. It really offers so much beyond chat it really could be an OS with multiple services. Where Amazon failed with Fire Phone (only shopping), I think Tencent could succeed with a WeChat Phone (payment, banking, shopping, social media, mass transit ticketing, etc.). Built by Huawei.

Edited for clarity.

So basically rip off Apple's hard work with ZERO originality and push them out of the market.

CloudTalkin said:

substance said:

How is this app that much different any app that has 'everything-and-the-kitchen-sink' built into them (like Facebook had they not broken Messenger out into a separate app)? 

And why is WeChat so popular in China?  What's to prevent the latest and greatest chap app to come around in a year or two to knock it off its pertch?

Facebook isn't even close to being like WeChat.  Bet your bottom dollar, they are trying though.  So are all the major players. The article touches on it, but doesn't go far enough.  WeChat is a fully fleshed out ecosystem in a single app.  It's built so that a user never has to leave their environment to do anything that's done electronically.  A Chinese user could have no other apps on their phone besides WeChat and they wouldn't miss a beat.  ← That's not hyperbole.  Whether using an iOS or Android device, every aspect of a users digital life can be handled through WeChat.  The user never has to leave the app.  The next largest social app in China is QQ.  Both are owned by Tencent.  That is one thing that is similar.  Facebook (WhatsApp & FB Messenger) and Tencent (WeChat & QQ) own the top two messaging apps in their respective spheres of influence.  No one else is even close.

GeorgeBMac said:

This is great!   Contact tracing is pretty much what every country has used where the spread of the virus has been successfully managed.  Social distancing is helpful but it is temporary and can only slow the spread rather than control it.

B U T:

The prerequisite is having sufficient community wide testing to make it worthwhile -- because you first have to identify the infected and infectious person before you can trace their prior contacts.

Unfortunately Scott Gootlieb, former FDA head, reports that we will have to expand our testing by 2, 3 or even 4 times what it is now to do that effectively.   But, our existing resources are already maxed out and unable to supply more than the million tests it is currently completing.  And there appear to be no plans to expand those resources.

And further:   The federal government has begun to defund and cancel community based testing and there are rumors that they have declared that there will be no widespread testing.   IF TRUE (and of this administration it is a credible rumor) then contact tracing will be of limited use and we will have to accustom ourselves to living (or dying) with this virus as it pops up and spreads throughout the country.

Think about it:  How did the virus enter this country and become an epidemic?   A handful of people entered the country and each of them infected several others -- and nobody even knew it was here -- until it was becoming an epidemic.  That scenario will be playing out throughout the nation -- spreading from New York to Kyokuk unseen....

Hopefully, for the sake of the American people, the federal government quickly establishes the resources necessary to produce and operate the additional testing that is required.  And, that they not only fund community testing sites but help to establish them.   Otherwise....