FileMakerFeller

I found the skit to be cheesy, and not up to Apple's usual standards - but as William himself notes, it was a good idea with a flawed execution. Apple's pre-recorded presentations are starting to annoy me, especially with the way each speaker ends with "and that's [x product]. Now, back to [person]." Such a rote ending leaves the impression that the speaker only had enough energy for their own segment and now that it's over they've fulfilled their obligation, so it's a sequence of ups and downs - why is it that each speaker is not thrilled to see what else is coming up in the event?

The segment by Joz contained an error, too: initially he said that one of the Resident Evil games was coming out later this year, then at around the 69 minute mark he said they were both due out in 2024. Something tells me he recorded multiple segments that were then edited together.

I too think the skit was too long, but it plays to the sense of corporate boardrooms that TV shows popularise: a whole bunch of flunkies ready to step in when the boss calls on them to provide details. I think Apple wanted to present the impression that everyone on the team is whole-heartedly committed to reducing the environmental impact of the company, but I came away wondering why they hadn't just submitted a report and have Mother Nature come in to confirm the details because she was skeptical but impressed. That's the sort of thing that would fit into a 30-second commercial, which this skit could have been. I would absolutely keep the stare-down between Tim and Octavia - that part reminds me of the inside baseball stories of how Tim conducts meetings.

My suspicion is that, like the "Apple at Work" series of ads, there's a healthy dose of how the rank and file employees feel about working at Apple being infused into the skit. There's always pressure, but with enough commitment your very best might just be good enough. The most recognition you will get is "OK. Good job" and then you're expected to get back to work. You have no control over what you're asked to do and your deadlines will change arbitrarily. But what you're working on ends up with planet-wide impact.

Time for a conspiracy theory: what if this DigiTimes report is all about trying to scare the makers of ChromeBooks into making even cheaper devices?

I don't see Apple taking this approach. If you want a cheap, dependable computer (albeit without a built-in screen and pointing device) then maybe try the Pi400: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-400/

eightzero said:

I delayed an upgrade to iphone 14 when it became clear some time ago usbc was coming to the 15. My ipad is usbc, my mba is usbc, my mac mini and hp monitor is usbc. Whats not to like?

i did note that a car rental in europe inclded a model with a usbc port only. No usba, so keep those adapters. And any cable, any electronic hardware for that matter are all destined to be ewaste. I have many 110v cords cables plugs that have been in use for decades, but at some point they do become not only unusable, but dangerous. See eg tube and post wiring and worse in houses. What is needed is ecomically vable efficint recycling methods. I also have a drawer of adb cords and dongles.

i rented a car this holiday weekend , and was exposed to wireless carplay. Rather than an iphone 15, maybe i should get that dongle, since carplay is really what i want a wired connection for. But...alas, my iphone Xr is having the usual and expected battery degrade. And replacing just that is $59 but yeesh...rhink of the ewaste it causes...

Batteries are incredibly easy to recycle and it's a very efficient process for the most part. The biggest problem is actually getting the batteries to the recycling centres: EU Report AU CSIRO

tht said:

designr said:

Out of (genuine) curiosity, does anyone have a source (link) that estimates how much, let's say in total cubic footage, waste there would be if, for example, every single Lightning cable in the world was thrown away?

This is a serious question. There are many claims of waste. I'm curious if there are any estimates of how many cubic feet of waste it might be.

No source, but you can do the math. A Lightning cable is a 1 meter long cord with about 0.003 meter diameter. That’s 7E-6 m3. Over a year, Apple sells about 200m iPhones for about 1413 m3, or a cube that is 11.2 m per side. Or a cube 40 ft per side. 

The claims of reducing e-waste for standardization on USBC obviously didn’t make sense. There is much much bigger waste to deal with.

The best reason to standardize on USBC is to make using rechargeable battery powered devices easy to charge. Over time, you can get a charge anywhere as everyone will use USBC. 

Saving e-waste? Nope. All the standardization is doing replacing Lightning cable “e-waste” with USBC cable e-waste. Only way e-waste is saved is if OEMs stop putting cables in the box. When that happens, yes, e-waste will be saved. Not much, but it will be saved. Whether that happens is an interesting question. 

The best way to save on e-waste is to force OEMs to take back their devices and have them recycled, be audited, otherwise they can’t sell the device. 

Some more waste statistics for the EU. Interesting reading; the headline is that on average across the EU, Construction & Demolition causes the most waste at 37.5%, then Mining & Quarrying at 23.4%, followed by Waste/Water at 10.8%, Manufacturing at 10.6% and Households at 9.4%. Oh, and Finland generates ~21 tonnes of waste per year per capita and it mostly goes to landfill (how they achieve that I don't know, given the size of the country - maybe they fire it across the border into Russia).

If nothing else, future historians will have a fascinating study of the effect these regulations have on the global economy and the EU's performance relative to other states. Perhaps a useful comparison will be to the personal happiness of the citizenry.

AppleInsider said:

Apple's ecosystem viewed very positively by those who have to manage enterprise networks.

Given that about a third of the respondents were C-level types who aren't involved in the hands-on work of maintaining these networks, I'm not sure you can draw that conclusion. Apple's fleet management tools have historically been weaker than those on the Windows side of the fence, especially when it comes to regulatory compliance, and over the years there have been many voices urging Apple to improve this aspect (John C Welch springs to mind).

That said, it's heartening to see larger enterprises recognising (finally!) the benefits of Apple devices throughout the workplace rather than being limited to specific departments like marketing or graphic design. Maybe IBM's touting of their results started a few people thinking.