sirozha

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sirozha
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  • First look: IOGear USB-C Compact Docking Station returns legacy ports to MacBook, MacBook ...

    sirozhasirozha
    sirozha said:
    This is an excellent "dock" for a Retina MacBook (2015, 2016, 2017), since the MacBook has only one USB-C port. 

    One of the stupidest things that Apple has done is prevent the 2015-2017 Retina MacBooks from connecting to the Apple's own LED Thunderbolt Display. The fact that Apple even released the Thunderbolt Display without a mDP capability was one of the first steps down the slippery slope of destroying Apple's own ecosystem. Only a bean counter would make a decision to release a new monitor that obsoletes most every computer that was released prior to it. How much would it take to keep the mDP capability in the Thunderbolt Display? By how much would it increase its cost - $10?

    In its infinite wisdom, Apple introduced the 2015 MacBook (followed by 2016 and 2017 MacBooks) that  obsoleted the Thunderbolt Display. Do two wrongs make it right? 

    Even though theoretically the 2015-2017 Retina MacBooks can connect to the Apple's LED Cinema Display, there was not a good solution for it, since the bean counter decided to put only one port in the MacBook. Hence, charging the MacBook and connecting to the LED Cinema Display was either not possible or required a series of daisy-chained dongles of dubious origin. So, basically, Tim the Bean Counter sent hundreds of thousands of Apple's long-term customers a big and juicy "FU" in the form of the Retina MacBook and the lack of Apple-manufactured dongles that would allow the Retina MacBook to connect to either of the Apple own LED displays. 

    Personally, I'm stuck with the 2015 15" MacBook Pro, which I consider to be the last real Pro laptop in the Apple's glorious history. I'm also using the LED Cinema Display with this Mac in a two-display setup (external LED Cinema Display and MacBook Pro's own display with the MacBook Pro being on an elevated stand). I have been using this setup for seven years now, and it fits my needs perfectly. The LED Cinema Display (I bought it intentionally over the Thunderbolt Display even though both were available) works great for what I do. It's not a 4K display, but for my work, this display is phenomenal. 

    My problem is that I see no upgrade path for my 2015 MacBook Pro. I will NOT go down the 2016 MacBook Pro path, as I believe Apple had lost its mind when it removed all non-USB-C ports from the MacBook Pro in 2016 and instead put in four USB-C ports and a stupid Touch Bar. Unless Apple wises up, I'm done with the MacBook Pro line. Hence, the MacBook is my only hope going forward, and this dock is something that can serve as a stop gap for the next few years to tie me over with the Retina MacBook  until Apple shareholders (to whom I belong as well) throw out the bean counter. If we don't do this now, the dude will completely destroy the Apple ecosystem, and with it, it will bring down Apple. 

    I'm still on the fence about getting a Retina MacBook, waiting for Apple to throw another curve ball this year with their MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Will traditional ports find their way back to the MacBook Pro line this year? Will the Retina MacBook acquire at least one more port? Thanks Tim for "f#ck1ng up" Steve's legacy with your total annihilation of the consistency and backward compatibility in the Apple ecosystem. 

    I think you forgot the /s tag to remind people that you're just making fun of all the people who write rants like this one.  It was spot-on, but you could have added something about wanting a physical ethernet port and an optical drive to put it over the top.  As if people who buy the entry-level MacBook are the same people who have Cinema Displays.  Heh.
    Actually, the battle with the Ethernet port was lost a long time ago, but as long as it only required one dongle it was still doable. With the 2016 MacBook Pro, Apple didn't even bother to release a Thunderbolt3-to-GigabitEthernet dongle, so one had to use two daisy chained dongles (Thunderbolt3-to-Thunderbolt2 and Thunderbolt2-to GigabitEthernet) to get a wired Ethernet connection on the "MacBook Pro". With the Retina MacBook, Apple doesn't even offer a solution for wired Ethernet. 

    So, you can laugh as long as you want, but if you don't understand why professionals need wired Ethernet, you must have bought your USB-C MacBook Pro to watch porn or read your FaceBook feed. There is nothing left of Pro in the 2016-2017 MacBook Pro unless you consider bloggers to be professionals. 
    aknabi

  • Despite being a HomeKit accessory, HomePod does not work within custom triggers or scenes

    sirozhasirozha
    nhughes said:
    wa4321 said:
    Nevermind... beta 11.3
    Yeah, I think that's a tvOS beta/AirPlay 2 thing. But man, would it be nice to create a scene that says "When I turn on my Apple TV, turn off my lights and stop music on my HomePod."
    And grill me a steak. 
    mknelson

  • Apple At Work teams with CDW to help enterprise deploy Macs, iOS in employee choice initia...

    sirozhasirozha
    darkvader said:
    And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

    Apple is schizophrenic. 
    There’s nothing schizophrenic about it. Apple got out of the server business because no serious company would run on Apple servers. This was a small business solution, but now there are viable cloud alternatives. Windows, Linux, Unix servers held 99.99% of the market share when Apple was selling XServe.

    Steve Jobs made the right strategic decision  when Xserve was discontinued. Apple was building their own data centers and equipping them with Linux servers running on non-Apple hardware. It was a moment of truth that Xserve had to be retired. Apple tried to support the server software for 8 more years, but now there’s no more compelling reason to continue. 
    patchythepiratewatto_cobra

  • Apple responds to investor criticism over heavy smartphone use by children, says parental ...

    sirozhasirozha
    This is absolutely crucial. Apple has done very little in this area. Apple got out of the router game, but even when they did actively develop AirPort Extreme, there was no way to limit internet usage by the total number of hours for each user. You could set the time periods for access but not the total number of hours. However, kids could just switch to LTE and bypass all the restrictions. 

    Apple should definitely come up with parental controls that encompass all of its devices and allow parents to administer controls from one web-based portal. Additionally, content filtering should be an option. Maybe all children’s internet activity should be proxied via the Apple’s servers that carry out filtering. Maybe the filtering rules should be pushed to end devices. Either way, there should be a way to restrict where kids can go on the web if Apple’s devices are used. 

    You won’t get this if you are still living in your parents’ basement, so don’t bother to respond. Get back to me when your kids start reaching the age of Internet use if Apple hasn’t developed content filtering tools by then.  
    joshbish

  • Intel chip kernel flaw requires OS-level fix that could impact macOS performance, report s...

    sirozhasirozha
    daven said:
    netrox said:
    does anyone remember the intel division bug?
    I do. I had a CPU with it and Intel send me a replacement chip. Back then it was easy to fix on my PC. Open the case. Move the lever that held the heat sink to the CPU, remove the heat sink, lift out the CPU, orient the new CPU properly and insert, put the heat sink on, tighten with the lever. Done.
    You forgot to close the case. 
    randominternetpersonfastasleep