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  • Coronavirus forcing Apple to postpone February 10 China retail reopen [u]

    blah64blah64
    sirozha said:
    The situation with the Coronavirus in China is not improving. The number of those who die 
    daily continues to increase. The number of those who get infected daily has supposedly peaked, but there’s a big concern that the official numbers are grossly underreported. 

    Foxconn has just announced that they are not reopening their factories next Monday, which was to be expected. 

    The reality with the Coronavirus is much worse than what China wants the rest of the world to
     believe. There is likely a million people or more already infected, and the official numbers of dead are just the tip of the iceberg. 

    There’s a report on NPR this morning that those found infected are rounded up and moved to quarantine camps against their will in China. Hong Kong announced that those who are placed under quarantine and break it will face 6 months in prison and a big fine. Let’s be honest here: measures like these are not taken to stave off a rather insignificant virus that China wants the rest of the world believe that Coronavirus is. You don’t quarantine over 60 million people, build concentration camps for those infected, shut down your entire economy, threaten doctors with prison terms for sharing information, etc. if this were a mild seasonal viral infection. 
    You've brought up some very good points, and in fact I pointed out that you and Kevin Kee were being unjustly maligned by Soli in another thread: https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/214553/

    That said, be careful to not go overboard with the stuff below...
    One thing I learned from this experience is what Chinese dietary habits are like. The horror animal markets in China and Indonesia where dogs, cats, rats, bats, monkeys, etc. are sold for food, bludgeoned in front of the buyers and then cooked  with blowtorches while still alive and screaming from unbearable pain. That is something that I will never be able to get out of my mind. I will NEVER eat in a Chinese restaurant - not in the US nor anywhere else in the world. I haven’t eaten Chinese food in over a decade, but now I have a good reason to never do this again. You never know what meat you will be served there. There’s always been a rumor that you may be served dogs, cats, and rats, but I always thought this was just a bad joke. Now I know that’s what the Chinese eat in China, and chances are that those cheap Chinese buffets in the US are not cheap because of some magic but for a reason. 
    There is indeed a serious problem with wild life markets in China, but please don't make it sound like it's something all Chinese do.  It's highly geographic in nature, and most Chinese, especially those living in large, modern cities like Shanghai simply don't take part in this.  The odds that someone would accidentally run across anything like this happening in a Chinese restaurant in the U.S. is virtually nil.  Probably no worse than the odds of getting served roadkill at a Texas BBQ joint.

    Unfortunately, in places where it is the custom, it's going to be very challenging to eradicate.  One would have thought after SARS that it would have faded into oblivion, but in some areas it's almost like a religious practice, and therefore it's not going to go away on its own.  If there's anything good about having a dictatorial government, it's that if they truly decide to put an end to wild life markets, they can probably reduce it down to a tiny trickle, where it's only happening in deep, dark, secret places.  Not perfect, but if it can be reduced to 1-2% of what it is now, that will be a huge health win.  For China and for the world at large.


    cornchip

  • Apple's iPad still leading global tablet market despite Amazon surge

    blah64blah64
    ITGUYINSD said:
    gatorguy said:
    wood1208 said:
    Ipad is the best tablet all around. Amazon tablet market share is only due to dirt cheap price.
    That, and there's a whole lot of people who don't need anything more capable than an Amazon tablet. All they do is browse the internet, visit Facebook or whatever, check email and pay bills, read their books, and play a few relatively simple games. No one really needs an iPad to do those things.
    True. The iPad Pro is overkill for casual users. But the cost of the iPads on the low end is pretty darn good. But I think the money spent on even the entry level iPad is smarter than the savings buying into a Fire as the Fires just don’t last. The build quality is so low that it’s practically throw away tech. Can you even get a full year of use? 2? But I agree that if the goal is to just have some technology price allows for the Fire models to win. But I don’t think they inspire people to invest in the platform in a meaningful way. Ad supported technology does have a market.
    There are many price points on the Amazon tablets and during some sales throughout the year, you can get an 7' or 8" Fire Tablet for $20.  So that is part of the number you see on year-to-year increases.  Also, many people buy the cheap $20 units to use as remote controllers for devices or services, and not for typical uses like internet/email/etc.  SONOS controller, security cam controllers, etc.  A friend uses one mounted to the wall to control his saltwater aquarium system.   I have those all over the house to control our SONOS system.   For $20, it's a no-brainer.  In that way, it's not really a direct comparison.  
    Do you and your friend give these devices open access to the internet?  i.e. do you connect them to your wifi without any kind of dedicated firewall or other protection?

    I'm genuinely curious, because if these devices can perform their function without open access to the internet, then they sound perfect for all kinds of tasks like this, and I wholeheartedly hope that's the case.  Unfortunately, what I've seen more of, is the devices requiring internet access (not just local network access, which can be safely locked by firewalling the local subnet), often for no real reason other than they want to be able to chat back and forth with the home office and/or China and/or hacker networks, etc. 

    Everyone needs to remember, when you hook up *any* device inside your network to the open internet, you're not just giving it the ability to what you want it to do, you're increasing the attack surface inside your home network.  Most of these cheap devices have little-to-no security out of the package, and probably not much if anything in the way of security updates over time.  Giving these kinds of devices access to the open internet means that they are a security risk to your home.  One that gets more dangerous over time.

    Lest anyone think this isn't a real issue, remember Mirai?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirai_(malware)  There have been a lot of variants that have appeared over time.  Take a look at the Shodan search engine for a small glimpse at this world.

    It's not just a matter of the device getting hacked, it's a matter of what hackers can do with your device once they get control.

    watto_cobra

  • iPhone 11 Pro versus Pixel 4 - comparing the best smartphone cameras

    blah64blah64
    gatorguy said:
     More iPhone users seem to be willing to give Android a shot now too and vice-versa.
    If you believe CIRP research, right here on AI today (https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/213612/), the exact opposite is true.

    CIRP adds, with older iPhones kept active and preventing switching from iOS to Android, though "platform switching in both directions is down."

    Then again, so much "research" is BS these days.  I'm not going to dig deep on this one.  I just thought it was funny that the very next AI article I brought up directly countered your seemingly anecdotal claim.
    watto_cobra

  • Adobe Photoshop lands on the iPad, Illustrator coming in 2020

    blah64blah64
    dysamoria said:
    fastasleep said:
    dysamoria said:
    Subscription model, so, I don’t care. I’m done with Adobe.
    Nobody cares.
    Well, two people care.
    A lot more than two people care, I'm done with Adobe as well.  I used to buy their products years ago, but no more.  Subscription software is almost always bullshit, just a way for companies to extract more $ from their customer base.  Lest anyone think they're getting a "deal" with subscription software, you need to remember that companies are moving to this model because it better serves their bottom line, not the other way around.  This should be obvious.

    But as long as people continue to buy into the BS, and treat Adobe's cloud storage as some sort of magical thing that they couldn't just as easily implement in a way that people could use their own arbitrary servers, then Adobe will keep sucking all of you suckers' money out even faster than before.  And forcing you to update on their timetable instead of your own.  It's really sad that people have fallen for this, but there are so many things people have stupidly fallen into in recent years, like facebook, so it's not surprising.
    watto_cobraargonaut

  • Apple's AirPods versus AirPods Pro - which is the best for your money?

    blah64blah64
    not_anton said:
    Absolutely godsent to all the cyclists, now we can enjoy music riding along the highway or downtown.
    And yet, please don't!

    All earbuds are dangerous when driving or cycling.  There is all kinds of research on this, it's undeniable.  The new Pro AirPods are even more troubling in this particular context, as they will isolate the user even more from sounds around them.

    This isn't just me talking, 17 US states and 2 Canadian provinces already have laws on the books banning or limiting the use of headphones or earbuds while driving, and 3 states and 2 provinces have similarly explicit laws about use while bicycling.

    If you're on a cycling path or other relatively safe environs, have at it - AirPods are awesome.  But if you're "on the highway or downtown" please just don't do this.  

    In my city it seems like almost every week I read about another bicyclist that's dead and gone because they were riding in traffic.  I guarantee you that every one of these riders thought they were being safe and careful.  Some of them might have actually been doing a good job at being careful, but they're still dead.  Bicycles and cars are a poor mix, and when they tangle it's always the bicyclist that's going to pay.  Even if you're willing to take those risks, other people pay the price.  Family, friends, the other driver.  A friend of mine was driving (safely, as born out in court) when he was hit by a cyclist, who died.  He suffered serious trauma (nightmares and 'daymares') for years from the accident even though he was virtually unscathed, physically.

    If you're going to ride on the streets in traffic, please do everything possible to be safe, and that means leaving the convenience of tunes in your pocket until you're off the road.  It seems like such an easy ask, and yet I can hear all the indignant pushback from cyclists who think they know better. :-(

    dewmeStrangeDays