Calamander
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Russia forces Apple to remove VPN apps from the App Store
Finally a sensible comment.ranson said:Situations like this, along with what went on in China during their mass Covid protests, are precisely why Apple needs to give up on its quest to prohibit sideloading. If an app is not being used to harm others, let the people install it.
The game dynamics of Apple's app store right now is the worst of all worlds - any government in the world can force Apple into removing apps from the app store, and regimes from China, to Russia, to the USA have all been using that to get apps banned that their people wanted to use.
In the USA that is unconstitutional, but it happens anyway - TikTok for example. One can debate the merits of that ban but the same can be said for China banning Google and Facebook - there is no difference. Normal people are worse off for it..
Apple was founded by Steve Jobs on a basic humanitarian principle - to empower humans to be more creative, to have more information, to be free. Steve jobs initially said that the App store controls were in place to protect people's "freedom from porn" - while that was an OK idea at the time, he did not foresee that Apple would then in the future have to kowtow to any government anywhere in the world.The solution is allowing side loading - not because side loading is great, but because fewer governments will even try to remove apps from the app store since there is an alternative that creative people will switch to in no time, and when there's market demand, the side loading services would professionalize instantly and make downloading a VPN app as simple as clicking a link.
Apple needs to give up its iron fist control of the app store to make the world a better place. This is 2024.PS: An even better idea I suggested to Tim Cook way back when would be to have a fully decentralzied app store, with decentralized review system and blockchain backing - an unstoppable app store which is still secure, or even more secure from scams than the current app store because of a decentralized review system.
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Apple Intelligence & iPhone mirroring aren't coming to EU because of the DMA
We all need to leave the EU - the UK did it right, they left.
Germany needs to leave also, it's currently paying for all these southern countries
The southern countries need to leave as they've been made unaffordable thanks to the Euro. When they can go back to their weak currencies both residents and tourists will be able to afford life again.
The rest should also leave - the EU is a dictatorship of bureaucrats - a bureaucracy that continuously seeks to increase its own importance by issuing more and more regulations, each regulation gives the EU more power and the countries less, and the citizens even less.
I love that Apple needs to open its app store - but I don't love that it's done by a EU mandate.
The deeper implication of these power-grab laws haven't even been understood yet. It's always sold as something good for the people, and against the big bad corporations, but in reality it's the big bad EU showing the corporations who's really boss. It's all about power.
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M3 15-inch MacBook Air vs M3 14-inch MacBook Pro -- Ultimate buyer's guide
I think the Air is a much better deal as it is so much smaller - I am still weirded out by the massive size of the Pro models since the M1. That being said, the M1 has been the most reliable Mac Laptop I've had since the 17" MBP - not a glitch, not a hiccup, not a problem since I got it in 2021. That is a new record.
So perhaps Apple is using that larger size to make the computer more unbreakable.
Air flow is a huge issue for digital nomads - we work outdoors in hot places, and a fan is definitely recommended when doing work - even if the computer doesn't straight up overheat, if it gets hot on a regular basis then all electronic components have a higher chance for failure. If it's always cool - like the M1 Pro is at basically all times - then it's a lot better.
I don't think the XDR display is a big advantage - it seems to use way more power, it gets hot, and yes it's gorgeous but the Air display is also really good - my eyes aren't good enough to really appreciate the difference.
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New M3 MacBook Air arrives with faster Wi-Fi and better performance
Same here. Bought a rose gold M1 with basic config for the GF for the simple reason that online ordering didn't work with her visa card (which works for pretty much anything else... weird). So we were unable to get our hands on a 16GB / 512 option - we just couldn't buy it. All good in the end since she's barely used the laptop at all anyway. But Apple left some cash on the table there for sure.tenthousandthings said:I see they now offer a 16GB version among the standard configurations they keep in stock, instead of having to order it. That wasn’t possible when we walked into the store and bought an M2 Air back when it first came out. We got the 8GB (which has been fine for what it is used for), but I remember thinking Apple had left money on the table, as we would have gotten the 16GB if we could have walked out of the store with it right then and there.
Another mistake Apple made was to discontinue Rose Gold - I know a lot of girls with rose gold laptops and they all absolutely love the color. Starlight is not quite the same, appeal-wise. Also the new MacBook Air is a lot fatter, visually - it pretty much looks like a MBP. I can't understand for the life of me what got into them to make it look like that. We all know the volume is same or less than the M1 wedge shape MBA, so this is all just visuals - but the large feet under the laptop make it appear fat when it's on the table. A strange decision - ultrabooks from Huawei and Samsung look smaller (and may actually be smaller).
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Controversial Humane Ai Pin is here, costs $700, and requires a subscription
Well, this is interesting.
Unless they are too early, this is an obvious winner - productivity wise likely better than iPhone which is amazing.
In terms of entertainment, it's clearly worse, you r Tik Tok videos won't look so good rendered by green lasers. But... it's not for that.Computers have become way too complex - AI with voice recognition offers a way out of that morass - the only visible way out.
We've already thought of all the clever UI elements we could put on screens, but the complexity keeps growing. I am an engineer and I think the number of options in iPhone settings is ridiculous. There's way too much going on, nobody has time or the mind to learn all that. Add to this blockchain it gets even worse.
This device is super impressive in terms of battery and power
And how it is to be used - the biggest hurdle - has already been shown in like 1000s of episodes of SciFi shows and movies, Star Trek and others. We know how to use this.
Apple should be extremely worried, this is exactly the kind of thing that will kill them in the long term. Because Apple makes so much money from iPhone, it won't be easy to jump on this tech.
I hope they don't sell out - this startup is epic, and I did not expect to say this after the headline. But that is really cool stuff and the obvious direction computing is going in the future.
