Gaby

Has Zuckerberg taken to farming? Because everything he says, does or is involved in has a pungent whiff of Bullsh*!

Firstly he should state his views and stick to them rather than this back and forth of ever changing and seemingly confused narratives.
It’s harmful, Apple is Evil….Actually they’re doing us a big favour because it will drive more advertising to our platform etc….
Secondly, the only ones that benefit from targeted advertising and data harvesting are the massive data brokers such as Facebook, google Et Al. It vastly increases margins and profits, the benefits of which are not passed on to the clients. Considering how efficient this technology is they should be getting much cheaper ads.  The fact is, It has served to devalue and effectively eliminate the competition for traditional advertisements. This is the real anticompetitive behaviour.
The constant rhetoric that these corporations are complaining about measures such as ATT or the GDPR for altruistic reasons - i.e the “consumer” - which by the way I loathe this descriptor! - drives me nuts as its a blatant lie.
Why are citizens themselves not consulted for any of these papers or hearings etc? A survey is very simple realistically. Considering it affects us I think it is our views that matter most of all. If they care so much about the user then they should value the more transparent nature and extra choice we have in whether to allow this highly intrusive practice. Those that are happy to allow, fair play, but count me out. In my opinion any product or service that you must give away for “free” has no real value in the first place. If they are so convinced they have a revolutionary product that connects people all over the world blah blah… then they should offer a subscription - say £1.49 per month - £18 per year multiplied by 2.7 billion is not an insignificant sum.
Another thing that irritates me is the frequent attempts to distract and misinform by stating that Apple doesn’t follow its own rules because their own apps, products and services don’t have pop ups and dialog boxes. They have extensive privacy policies in fairly plain English in many places within the OS explaining exactly what they collect, why and how to opt out or turn off the features. There are granular controls within settings for location services through to various product improvements, to mapping and siri recordings. If there isn’t a distinctive dialog box, it’s because they don’t follow that practice. If and until Apple does something to make me mistrust them, or there’s some huge scandal, I’ll take them at their word as would I imagine most other customers. That their stance on privacy is part of their business model and gives them a competitive advantage is not in doubt. People are not stupid. They are very good at making their own interests align with that of their customers and having some good corporate values. But rather than seeking to hobble them by systematically destroying their business strategies, these other companies should instead adapt, innovate, and compete on merit. Since when was competition in and of itself anticompetitive?! I think it is a farce to expect a company to lower their own standards to make it easier for others. It’s like expecting someone smarter than you to dumb themselves down to make you feel better.
Granted, as Apple has grown into the behemoth that it is today, perhaps there should be some regulations put in place for them and other massive companies like them, but that will be no mean feat when they are structured in such a way that all of their products are by and large part of the same ecosystem, which is what defines them and attracts customers to begin with.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SCRUBBING (Jog dial) - People are doing it wrong. All you need to do is pause whatever is playing and then gently touch and hold the perimeter of the wheel without moving for about half a second or so, and the scrubbing indicator will appear and you can begin rotating. It took me a minute or so to figure it out but it works consistently if you do it properly. Although I don’t find it any more useful really than scrubbing by sliding left and right. Hope this helps 

This just highlights the potential dangers of WiFi connected Cameras and other smart IOT devices. This kind of lapse is far more serious I would argue than to be described as a ‘concern’ and the fact that Eufy haven’t immediately restricted servers to take the network offline until they have at the least some sort of explanation is quite irresponsible I would argue. I have been slowly and cautiously adding more IOT to my home over the years and I know nothing is perfect but I have been limiting myself to only HomeKit exclusive devices, as they are at least encrypted by and large with their own security chips. Although I couldn’t speak to the security regarding the newer option of software based verification, still it is likely to be better than a lot of these other services available. As for cctv I think the safest option is to have them record locally and upload to ones own private network/server. HomeKit secure has more conveniences, but if you are forced to also upload to the developers own network as well then you have issues just such as what is happening now. Quite scary.

Personally I think Apple should purchase unity and retain the engineers. Then slowly integrate it into their SDK. It would help in myriad ways with the benefit of stifling Epics betrayal and scheming. Moreover if any of these court cases do result in Apple having to open up iOS somewhat and allowing 3rd party stores or payments then it would be another way to justify the commission model, and provides an additional incentive by offering a seamless high quality platform to retain devs and apps for the Appstore, rather than them having to pay Sweeney and Co. And additional percentage of revenues on top. All the while allowing for increased competition. Thus regulators would have no justification to complain. 

To really cut down on these infringement cases by PAE/NPE’s, I think the law should be changed so that a statute of limitation requires a company to file a notice of suspected infringement with the offending party within 12 months of the release of the infringing product or feature, and a maximum of 3 years total from shipping date with which to begin a lawsuit. These non practicing entities leave it as long as possible so that the products/features sell in vast quantities and or are adopted by multiple product lines - particularly where Apple et al. are involved. Anyone has a right to protect their IP, but suing for profit absolutely should not be permitted to be a commercial practice in and of itself.  You should also have to prove that you are currently or intend to develop a shipping product in order to be able to assert claims in court. I think that’s the only realistic way of getting this issue under control.