retrogusto
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Apple's iPhone 13 is significantly faster than Samsung's latest Galaxy S22
I generally agree, but I bet there are scenarios where processor power may be more helpful than it would appear. The computational photography and video stuff is really impressive and probably wouldn’t be as good with lesser processors, same is true for on-device Siri transcription. They’re still too slow to run some older apps smoothly—I have one app that I use daily that ran faster on my 2011 iPad 2 than it does on my current hardware, although I know this isn’t purely a hardware issue. And the autocorrect suggestions can’t really keep up with my not-so-fast typing, so the words switch around just as I’m about to tap them, resulting in frequent errors and frustration.hucom2000 said:Ok, I get the bragging rights… but all these phones are blazingly fast. I have a 12 Pro and I never found myself wishing for a faster processor.
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Apple takes majority share of U.S. headphone market, study finds
I wonder how this compares to the stats from back when they included free earbuds with their iPhones. I imagine they had a pretty good share then, too. -
Amazon Prime raising annual subscription to $139
Right, and the more you use it, the fewer options you’ll have, as they continue to crush local businesses, and the local businesses that remain will struggle further as the local economy declines, while Amazon benefits from their economies of scale and the fact that they don’t even have to make a profit from their retail business (as they barely did for decades) due to the immense profitability of AWS. Then Amazon can ask for tax breaks to “bring jobs” to the depressed areas, essentially getting a taxpayer subsidy to further their domination. And with any luck, people will find a scapegoat that they’d rather blame for the economic upheaval, and politicians would be glad to help them with that.lkrupp said:
And how do I deal with local small businesses if they do not carry the product I’m looking for. More times than not recently I have been unable to buy brands and products form Amazon or Walmart online that simply don’t exist. My family seems to have this uncanny ability to find a new product locally and start buying it, then watch as it disappears from the local shelves a few months later for apparently no reason. But guess what? I can still buy it from Amazon and get it the next day in many cases.Beats said:GeorgeBMac said:dewme said:Not surprising, but fortunately it’s very easy for everyone who subscribes to Amazon Prime to do the math and determine whether it’s worth it for them. For a lot of folks the determination can be made based on delivery costs alone. The value of the extra stuff like photos, music, and video only enter the equation if you’re not getting all of the value/ROI from the delivery service.
I recognize this is a narrowly focused perspective based on personal economics alone. Like any system there are a number of macro level implications and second order effects to a service like this that makes it so incredibly easy have hard goods ordered on a whim delivered extremely quickly to your door with little to no regard to the true cost of the delivery service.
A quick survey of the number of Amazon vehicles on the road and coursing through neighborhoods nearly all of the time, not to mention the vast tracts of land devoted to fulfillment centers and warehouses, some of which are built on the graves of dead malls and retail stores driven out of business because they could not compete against online retail, and the mountains of cardboard waste (hopefully everyone recycles?) paints a truer cost picture that’s a little harder to do the math on.
The “eye” is back … staring straight at me. Ugh.For me right now the biggest benefit of Amazon Prime is that it keeps me out of stores where I could be infected. I used to shop in multiple grocery stores to get all the stuff I needed and, if I needed electronics or home goods, I ran over to BestBuy or Lowes. But, thanks to Prime, I seldom have to do that now,A bigger cost we pay is the death of small business and people becoming even more anti-social.
We’re getting to a point (at least in my town) where social interaction is “awkward”.
Amazon Prime is worth it to me simply for the convenience and access to products not available locally.
As for social interaction being awkward read Issac Asimov’s novel The Naked Sun which is basically a murder mystery but takes place on a planet where there is no social interaction at all by law except for procreation. Even back in the 1940’s the SciFi writers could see this coming, a society where robots carry out the daily chores of life and people communicate only by technology, think Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, etc.I do recognize that online shopping provides access to a broader range of items than one can find locally, and even before the Internet, catalog shopping fulfilled that need, and of course it has its place. But I also think hat the full “price” in the larger sense isn’t always taken into consideration.
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Google One VPN is now compatible with the iPhone and iPad
I’m holding out for the Cambridge Analytica VPN.
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Epic vs. Apple takes new turn as 34 US states & DOJ side with 'Fortnite' maker
I feel like there are infinite analogies that show why this whole Epic thing is ridiculous. Here’s one:
The best nightclub in town charges a cover at the door, and the entertainment and overall experience they provide is the best anywhere. They provide complimentary water and soft drinks, included in the price of admission, and sell alcoholic drinks at industry-standard prices. I own a champagne producer, and I determine that customers would buy more of my champagne if the price were lower, but rather than lower my own wholesale price to the club, I try to legally force the club to reduce their markup, arguing that once a customer pays the cover, the club has a monopoly on all products sold there.
