tedz98

Apple is a very hypocritical company. They virtue signal about the environment, recycling, LGBTQ equality, diversity, etc. Yet they tend to treat their lower level employees in fairly mediocre ways. For instance Apple should strive to have nothing but full-time workers in their retail stores with a relatively small percentage of part-time workers. This would offer the staff more opportunities for career growth and advancement. It’s certainly easier to manage a smaller number of full-time staff. Apple’s wealth is beyond comprehension. They could set an example of giving part-time staff better benefits. And they should give much stronger consideration to diversifying their supply chain and reduce their reliance on China for manufacturing. China is home to an extremely repressive government and China’s behavior should not be rewarded. And a final thought- Merry Christmas!

Meanwhile outspoken tennis star Peng Shuai is still imprisoned. Slave run factories crank out goods. Reeducation camps are filled up with dissidents. China threatens Taiwan with routine incursions into Taiwanese air space. Reefs are destroyed in the South China Sea to build military bases. The Uyghur Muslims are imprisoned in camps. Hypersonic weapons to attack the US are developed. Espionage in the US stealing and replicating advanced technology continues. Internet filtering and content control, digital spying on citizens and foreign companies is a daily norm. Apple’s investments in China is all about money. They are so proud of their environmentalism because it doesn’t cost them that much money to be green. It’s easy to be green and it doesn’t require any political capital to be green. But it takes balls to take a stand against political and governing malfeasance. Tim Cook is a hypocrite. Embracing the easy political causes of environmentalism, LBGTQ support, education and others. But when it comes to standing up against a totalitarian regime he shows no strength. Look at NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom for the example of a man willing to sacrifice his own financial well being to protest The Chinese government and their way of crushing the freedoms of their people.

I agree with all of the disparaging descriptions and categorizations of Zuckerberg- lest we forget how he stole and cheated the Facebook founding from his days at Harvard. Actually the world needs less Meta Reality, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and more hands-on real world reality. Are we as a society to become a population of drones imprisoned wearing Occulus goggles with our butts firmly anchored to a soft cushy chair? Zuckerberg is morally bankrupt as CEO of Facebook and the world should think twice about using any of his products that enhance his personal wealth and power.

The Walmart analogies are missing the point. If Walmart sold a vacuum but the bags for that vacuum were only available at Walmart and possibly at a premium price I would be forced to buy through Walmart. Sure I could shop at Target but I’d have to buy a new vacuum. Similar to ink cartridges for printers. They are proprietary but courts have upheld the right for third parties to sell recycled or compatible cartridges. I suppose Apple has the right to build a proprietary walled garden ecosystem. Most consumers probably don’t know exactly what they are buying into and probably don’t care. We have a lot of opinions here but none from lawyers. I have no idea what the legal grounds are that drove the judge’s decision. Ultimately that’s what counts. And once again the Apple Insider fan boy bias drives the content of this article. These are more like opinion pieces/editorials than journalistic news stories.

Apple sees all of the, from their perspective, undesirable legislation that is developing in Washington. This week’s App Store proposed legislation as an example, and want to do things that gains them favors from the legislators. They want to say to the DC crowd look at all of the benefits our ecosystem brings, so you really shouldn’t start mucking around with what we’ve put together. Sure child porn is an abhorrent problem. The ends don’t necessarily justify the means here. This is a classic example of “if you aren’t breaking the law you have nothing to worry about.” And so we go deep er down the road of the surveillance state.