Calamander

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Calamander
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  • Apple unveils iPhone 14 Pro & iPhone 14 Pro Max with always-on display

    CalamanderCalamander
    Worthy upgrade 

    removal of SIM tray is concerning, that's a bit like the removal of the audio jack.

    We still miss the audio jack, and now we're using these silly lightning port dongles... wondering how this has been "progress" as we dongle about our day. 

    My experience with eSim was terrible - I was excited and jumped right in, and got an eSim. Works! But then I got a new phone. There's an eSim transfer fucntion in the iPhone but apparently the operator gets to override it - I got a message saying my eSim can't be transferred and I need to go to a customer service center. I couldn't do that since I was in another country. That's a very big step back in usability from a SIM card - pop it out, pop it back in, no drama, no dialogs, no customer centers. It just works. 

    Here in Asia everyone is using SIM cards on a daily basis, it's common to switch them while traveling, or to get a new one - also why phones have 2 or more SIM trays and even Apple sold iPhones here with dual SIM slots. 

    So why remove that from the US models? Given that they can't remove it from Asian models for probably a very long time to come? It makes the USA iPhones useless in Asia. So... that's a very strange decision. 
    muthuk_vanalingam

  • Brazil stops iPhone sales until Apple includes an AC charger

    CalamanderCalamander
    Brazil put a price on wokeness, good.

    Apple is so concerned about the environment they don't include a charger or earphones in their $1,000+ devices. 

    At the same time, they make products that can't be repaired and need to be replaced wholesale. Example my XS face ID crystal broke, turns out, that cannot be fixed or replaced. At all. Not by Apple or anyone else. Either you use the phone without, or you throw it away. 

    What @wood said is a simple solution but Apple won't do that because they're hypocrites. Apple used to be a good company under Steve Jobs - at that time, critics were saying the same thing. Back then they were not right. Today they are.

    I also don't think the environment argument has merit - let's say Apple ships 1000x less chargers, OK, fair enough, but people are going to buy 100x more 3rd party chargers, most of which are way more polluting than what Apple is making in its closely monitored factores, and some of these 3rd party chargers will destroy the iPhones, leading to more waste. i think in the end nothing will have been saved. Except the carbon neutral rating, congratulations, hypocrites! 

     wood1208 said:
    Price for Brazil iPhone by default includes charger. If someone don't want it than give deduction/rebate for charger in final price on invoice.

    rrabubyronlmobirdwilliamlondonentropys

  • Compared: Apple 2022 iPhone SE vs Google Pixel 6a

    CalamanderCalamander
    Best looking Pixel so far. Really nice. The iPhone SE is also a killer product. 

    A15 naturally destroys other processors - give Google a few years, they will get closer. 
    watto_cobra

  • Fraudsters target Apple Pay in credit card scams

    CalamanderCalamander
    MustSeeUHDTV said:
    lkrupp said:
    As always the weakest link in security is between the ears of the idiots who gladly hand over their credentials to anyone who calls them with an offer too good to be true. And there’s no patch for stupid.
    These automated scams are getting really sophisticated though. Here is one that ALMOST got me.

    Caller ID displayed the name and phone number of my actual bank (which I googled).

    Automated message in perfect English:
    "We recently got a purchase request which we blocked the transaction. If you made this purchase, please press 1. If you didn't make this purchase press 2."

    Then when you hit a number (which I selected #2):
    "Thank you, please enter you ATM card number for verification"

    It keep repeating the message to enter the card number. This is where I was like wait a minute and hung up. The automated call kept calling back every minute for the next hour.

     I called my bank to make sure there weren't any transactions attempts and they said no, so I notified them of the scam.

    A week later, I get another call from a different bank (which I don't have) called me and had the same message (I let it go to voice mail).
    I can see how that would get a lot of people - I would be willing to bet the conversion rate on that is > 30%

    We have to enter our card numbers all the time over the phone - we're basically trained to do it (by the banks). 
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra

  • Hacker returns all $610M of stolen Poly Network crypto

    CalamanderCalamander
    .. or maybe their plan was from the beginning to return the funds. It happens in crypto. 

    600M were taken and yes it's not that easy to money-launder that, but some of the coins were wrapped ETH and BTC and absolutely hackers who wanted to keep those could, and nobody would stop them.

    It's all possible and it's been done in previous hacks where hackers kept the funds.

    Admittedly a hacker would be stupid to keep 600M worth but they could be distributing the hoard to tens of thousands of lucky winners including themselves or other shenanigans like that, chances are they could easily keep a few Million of that if they wanted to.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra