MacsWithPenguins
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Microsoft says that if Apple isn't stopped now, its antitrust behavior will just get worse...
Microsoft has said publically how frustrated they are that Apple denies publishing mobile Xbox cloud games in a Netflix-style app browse-and-click-play directory. They hope this will solve their issue, I suppose 😞thinkman100000000 said:Who'd know more about antitrust than MSoft?! What I don't understand is why they'd side with Epic on an issue that doesn't concern them in the least. But, that's the M.O. of a loser, runner-up, taking potshots at the competition even though Apple is also a platform that, though minuscule compared to the Windows PC crowd, hosts a number of their bloated Apps.
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A Virginia woman has been stalking Tim Cook for more than a year
She is completely twisted and insane and I hope she gets a really long time in jail as soon as possible. Let me add something to the discussion here, though, a part of the story which I don’t understand: ”[…] claimed that she was Cook's wife and that the Apple chief executive was the father to her two twins”.Isn’t the first step to scamming people, to actually tell a convincing or plausible story? He definitely, obviously, 100 % does not have a wife. Yeah, I know, she’s sick and lives in a fantasy world.
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IRS will soon demand video selfies for online user identification
This must be the most complicated system I’ve seen for secure login. If you want to know how easy filing and checking tax return is in Sweden, you can take a look here:
https://www.skatteverket.se/servicelankar/otherlanguages/inenglish/individualsandemployees/declaringtaxesforindividuals/howtofileyourtaxreturn.4.7be5268414bea064694c620.html
We have been using a national service called BankID for 19 years now (the first offering of the service launched in 2003). It is actually a service from a private-sector company (sort of unusual for a Scandinavian solution). The company is an incorporated company co-owned by a long list of national banks (not all of the banks, but a lot of them). Why is the Swedish solution so easy and convenient to use? Because every citizen has got a Personal Identity Number (introduced in 1947). This number is unique to every citizen and Bank-ID utilizes this as the authenticating username.It is not possible to register for Bank-ID at Skatteverket (Swedish Tax Agency). You can’t apply for it on the Bank-ID website, either. Instead, you login securely to your bank’s website or complementary mobile app and then apply for it there in an online self-service system. After a few minutes of setting it up, you’ve got a valid, secure authentication system to use on what is claimed on Wikipedia to be more than 600 websites (I assume all are national sites, unless there are also EU government-related web services accepting it). Their only national competitor, to my knowledge, is Freja e-ID (https://frejaeid.com/skaffa-freja-eid/), but it isn’t universally accepted in the way Bank-ID is. Rather obscure at this point in time.When I started using Bank-ID many, many years ago, it was only through my computer using Bank-ID’s desktop software, since it was before the iPhone was released. These days barely anyone uses that. The smartphone and tablet app is peoples’ default.
I think this kind of system is impossible to implement in the US because of enough percentages of the population being either outright suspicious or mildly doubtful about the government in general. Even if only 0.5 % of the US population were upset about the privacy implications and refused to login to file taxes, it would still be 0.5 % of > 300 million people (excluding people who do not need to file taxes because they don’t have an employment or other income). Sweden on the other hand, is a small enough country using a 100 % trusted Personal Identity Number system with citizens who deeply trust their government (not talking about politicians, but rather: politically-neutral gov offices and services), with an unusually high penetration of IT services and nationally widespread internet broadband infrastructure, which makes these kind of solutions possible here.Not saying we are the best in IT services, though. If you want the most daring, innovative IT services, Estonia is without any doubt the EU leader in the area and they frequently pioneer new IT systems. If you wondered why Estonia was long the home for Skype Software engineers, it’s of course cheaper. It’s all about tax evasion/optimization and what not, but it’s also easy to find highly qualified IT people. On the international level, I would assume South Korea and Singapore (possibly Japan as well) are in the top 5 list of providing convenient, secure IT services for their respective population.
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Apple grew Mac shipments & marketshare in strong fourth quarter for PCs
There are several things at once here: PC sales are through the roof from bored gamers being in lockdown, chip shortages mean some graphics card and custom-built PC buyers are still waiting in line to buy their 2020 computer that has not arrived yet (people are still waiting for RTX 30xx cards made by Nvidia but only available from scalpers), and large-sized non-Enterprise customers are buying a ton of M1 Max laptops from Apple for developers, but the shortage and waiting does make me think M2 Max in 2023 will still sell well to customers who had to wait beyond what they planned.tht said:Wonder when this pandemic boost to PC sales is going to end. There's probably a long tail from it all the way through 2022. Wonder if someone tracks sales of computer desks as a sign for when this growth ends. -
Green texts in iMessages nudge teens to use iPhones
I myself have used SMS since 1999, and RCS for a few months. I’ve learned to never rely on proprietary standards, despite the advantages. I say this after having used ICQ in the glory days of the late 1990s. Then, I tried hard as a Linux full-time desktop user to stay away from MSN Messenger when it was mega popular and a de-facto standard, but had to find a third-party client on Linux called aMSN because it was very tricky to communicate with people online without it.
That situation was a nightmare because it pushed Linux users to Windows, just like SMS and RCS on Android (Linux-based) vs iMessage now. I’m not going to allow myself to go through that dilemma again, personally. I’m an avid Apple fan and hobby Swift programmer who enjoys his Android phone with a Snapdragon 888. Being a grown man has its advantages in that I can just say no to things like Facebook. People can look as surprised as they want to, I’m not joining them in a Facebook group, WhatsApp, Instagram or whatever that I don’t want to join. I love new technology and research in general, open to new tech ideas, and I was an avid Windows Phone 8 user, too, because I enjoyed it, despite what other people thought of it.Never let anyone say you can’t try some new exciting tech or OS for the sole reason it’s not cool enough or not mainstream. If we were talking about a crazy random DIY project with unsafe stuff involved, then it’s not ok at all obviously, but that’s not what I mean here: I am just talking about ”cool” vs ”who uses that anyway?” comments.
