wanderso

Be thankful for where you live if you have the freedom to purchase a mass consumer product based on its merits and not risk being fired of have it confiscated for doing so. 

It should be noted that apparel companies such as Nike where I live discourage employees from wearing competing brands to work.  That seems different from a company totally unrelated to Apple’s business choosing to threaten employees who own Apple devices.   

Qualcomm is an example of companies that are more of a patent troll than an innovator these days.   Since they are publicly traded, the best thing that could happen would be for Apple to join up with Google to do a hostile takeover bid, purchase it, shut it down, and turn over the patents to public domain. The whole world would be better off.  That would avoid claims that Apple is cornering the market. I’m sure qualcomm has a poison pill in their stick that triggers if more than a certain percentage is purchased, but this could be thwarted by connecting to the right stockholders. 

I will be happy to get a bent one for 50% off. .  

I purchased a used iPhone 6 from a coworker recently for a family member.   This coworker is meticulous about their things and has never placed their phone in their pants pocket.  I had taken it to the Apple Store to have the $29 battery swap before the deal expires on 12/31.  Apple performed an inspection in store and said “we may not be able to swap out the battery because the chassis is bent.”  Sure enough, it was if you looked carefully.  The 2nd tech who was to actually do the repair reluctantly gave it a green light.  

I know that the 6 was part of “bend gate”.  It makes me wonder if it left the factory already bent.

Based on my experience at the Apple store, I would be concerned to have a new iPad Pro where the same story might unfold without my happy ending.    

Having access to photos in a broader sense allows those who spoof your FB account to create another one that pretends to be you, but isn’t, sharing new photos not seen by your broader friend community in your postings. This would attract other friends to like your photos and so on. This fake profile can then be used to say things that are inflammatory or the like, opening you up to potential legal or employment issues as many companies have policies about what you post online. It’s common also for companies to research your social media details as part of the vetting process.  The hacker / duplicator in question can also set all your profile settings to public, including those not on Facebook to see. 

It can be said that someone could do this on a website as well, but the reach of Facebook and how it becomes visible to others in their feed and such makes it unique. 

There are a number of very annoying things these days.  If I search for a gift for my wife on amazon, my search results show up not only in my FB news feed, but hers, and across different devices.  Even if I have logged out of FB, cleared settings in safari, and so forth. It also shows up from searches I’ve done in our mac.  Browser extensions and other items harvest what I search and share in that manner.  

Most alarming is that we’ve had verbal conversations as a couple, with no search done and no postings about it, that I have seen items show up in my feed that relate to it.  Coincidence? Perhaps. Still, creepy. 

Roake - thank you for taking time to share your feedback. I work in IT at an academic medical center. Being a small part of what people like you do everyday is truly a gift. This week my team deployed a predictive model that uses multiple real-time factors to detect the presence of sepsis for a patient currently in the hospital.  It alerts the medical team, who use established protocols to verify the prediction, and if so, commence with treatment.   Early detection allows for earlier treatment - essential for saving lives. 

These tools such as the watch are imperfect to be sure, but exciting to see their use increasing.