mbenz1962

AppleInsider said:

Time to surrender the field, automakers

After years of pushing back against Apple and Google's in-car solutions, it is time for car manufactures to get on board. They are doing a disservice to users by refusing to improve the in-car experience.

...the time has come to acknowledge the benefits of more openly embracing CarPlay. They've proven time and time again that their own developed solutions are poorly designed, not universal, and user-hostile.

While they are at it, they should also get on board with wireless CarPlay... but that is a rant for another time.

"Amen! Come, Lord Jesus CarPlay."

I can't wait for Apple Pay to come here to Germany.  It is one of the few valid examples I can point to when I tell people that moving to Germany was, in some respects, like moving back in time.  That is not always bad, because "progress" (in the sense of modernization) is not unequivocally good.  A slower pace of life definitely has up sides as well. Payment is one area that I really miss the "progress" of the US because it is a mundane task that can and has been improved dramatically.

On a trip 2 years ago to the US I drove thru a Starbucks, ordered, stuck my arm out the window, and payed with ApplePay on my watch.  That is nearly an unfathomable scenario here. I just hope Sparkasse is an "early" adopter so that I don't have to change banks.

mknelson said:

mbenz1962 said:

This mess happened to me tonight.  I was setting up a new RAID and after I had it configured with the G-Tech software, I went to disk utility to initialize the disk.  As soon as Disk Utility loaded, BOOM. Crash from kernel panic.  I was glad I had just read this article.  I have a 2015 iMac running 10.13.6 and I had the new RAID daisy chained with TB2 to my existing 2 TB hard drives.  After the reboot from the kernel panic, I unplugged the new RAID and plugged it directly into the iMac.  I was able to initialize the drive with no problems.  I think this issue is a flaw in the latest build of MacOS and that the new computers are seeing this because when people get new gear they have lots of stuff to set up including redoing their daisy chained drives or adding new ones.

Except your 2015 iMac doesn't have a T2 chip, so no, it didn't happen to you!

Sorry, this is one of my biggest tech support pet peeves. People that post a response to a problem and describe a totally different issue.

Well Pet Peeve Steve, no one (certainly not Apple at this point) has conclusively determined that this issue is in fact caused by the T2, which I’m fully aware my 2015 iMac doesn’t have. In fact the very first paragraph of the article states: “initial investigations into the problems suggesting something connected to Apple's T2 security chip is to blame —but actual service numbers don't point to a hardware problem.“

I was pointing out that similar effects (from the article—1. the Mac crashes, entering a kernel panic and requiring it to be restarted, or in some cases rebooting itself automatically, and 2. other forum posts suggested crashes could be reduced by not daisy-chaining devices) can be produced on hardware that doesn’t have the T2 so that this issue may not have anything to do with that chip just as the author alludes to. You would have gotten the point if you would have read my comment (possibly the article as well) and thought about what was written before blithely hitting the quote button.

elijahg said:

For another example: I ask what the temperature is in Canterbury, and despite actually being in Canterbury, UK it decides I'd rather know the temperature in Canterbury, New Zealand. Same if I ask for directions from anywhere in the UK to Canterbury. It tries to get directions to Canterbury, NZ, and then says it can't get directions to there. Brilliant.

This error happens to me too, and it is particularly maddening.  I'm not sure if it is just more prevalent outside the US and the Siri team is working there first so it isn't reflected in this testing or what.  Siri should prioritize the closest (geographical) matches with navigational based queries and if she really can't decide, then she should follow the request up with a request to refine/clarify like she does for contact queries which are too unspecific for her. 

The other thing that would be great for Siri, and navigation in general, is native pronunciation for foreign (as respects to your device setting) places and streets.  When I'm in Germany I would like for Siri to pronounce Straße the way she would if my device were set to German and Calle the way she would if my device were set to Spanish when im in Spain.  It is pretty distracting while driving when you are looking for a turnoff and Siri mangles the names of everything.  It is particularly dumb because you know she pronounces it correctly for the people who's device is set for that language.

GeorgeBMac said:

While I am an avid ApplePay user I will NOT use it on EBay.   I use it everywhere else.  In fact I avoid stores that don't offer it -- except EBay.

The reason is:  EBay protects the buyer through PayPal where, if he shows that he received something that was misrepresented by the seller in any way, EBay will step in, issue a return label and reverse the payment to refund his money through PayPal.

This isn't 100% accurate. eBay's protection is separate from Paypal.  In fact, eBay only requires the use of an approved electronic payment method (of which PayPal is one).  From eBay's Purchase protection page:

• Use an approved electronic payment method to pay for your purchases, such as PayPal, Moneybookers, ProPay or Paymate.
• Pay for the full amount of your purchase with one payment. Items purchased with multiple payments, e.g. with a deposit followed by a final payment, are not eligible.
• Send the payment to the seller through:
• The eBay "Pay Now" button or
• An eBay invoice
• Once logged in to PayPal, click the "Send Money" tab, and then "eBay Items", under the "Purchase" tab.

The rub is that most sellers only offer PayPal as their electronic payment method.  This is no doubt thanks to the tight relationship the two companies have had over the years.  At one time you were even obligated by eBay to accept PayPal as a seller.

melgross said:

 I see no reason why ... they wouldn’t offer the same protections through Apple Pay. After all, it’s ebay that’s giving that guarantee, not PayPal. 

This is absolutely correct and I for one hope that this is where eBay is headed.