theirongiant

fred1 said:

I’m confused. If “The iPhone and newer support 20W fast charging, why does Apple say that their 35 W chargers are compatible with the iPhone 8 and newer models?

The device limits the charger if the charger has excess capacity.  The charger's max rate is 35W, but the charger and the device negotiate for the expected charging rate, which is 20W.  FYI, the USB-C spec raises the default voltage from 5V to 20V, so 20W = 20V x 1A. 

I use cotton swabs dipped in 70% isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol).  Works great on cleaning all parts of the AirPods, the case charging contacts, and picking up debris.  When wet, the swabs are less likely to fray and leave cotton threads everywhere.

It is very difficult, but not completely impossible, to rack up $40,000 in charges at Disneyland/DisneyWorld.  

That being said, such large transactions (or many smaller ones) would have been flagged as fraudulent and blocked by any credit card issuer almost immediately... except for a very small line of AMEX cards for "rich people with f*** you money" — namely, the AMEX Platinum, and the AMEX Black / Centurion card.  Those cards are often used for unusual purchases with large dollar amounts and they are designed not to pester the user with fraud warnings.  They also have high annual fees to cover situations like this and ensure the owner is serious about using them, and they have 24/7 concierge services.

Is it possible that this woman was already being targeted for theft?  Yes.

Is it possible that a shady Disney employee found the watch 'backstage' and unlocked it with a simple passcode?  Yes, but extremely unlikely as this person would be risking their job, their entire career at Disney, and serious jail time.

Is it possible that this story is made up to avoid paying for $40,000 worth of stupid charges at Disneyland?  Yes.  The police report is only one side of the story.  Credit card issuers can absolutely tell the difference between charges from an Apple Watch, a phone, and a physical card.  Each one has a unique token.

AMEX has a very lenient policy toward 'chargebacks' and reversals.  This is the number 1 reason that AMEX is not accepted by smaller merchants, as the per-swipe rate is much higher than VISA/MC, and the insurance required to accept these cards can be unaffordable due to the potential for fraud.  And a business that can't afford to pay for chargeback protection would be completely on the hook when a nasty customer abuses AMEX chargebacks.

fahlman said:

I support thousands of Windows computers and hundreds of macOS computers as my job. I would never use Windows personally. It's even a double-edged sword in the enterprise due to the manageability, but its a security nightmare.

I have worked in environments with many thousands of Windows and Mac computers.  The Windows admins have far more BS to deal with: driver packs, KBs and hotfixes, quality rollups, cumulative rollups, etc.  Patching is a major headache on Windows, especially with how I've seen it work in SCCM.  If you want an 'easy' solution, be prepared to pay a lot of money for a third party product, or else you're using something like Ninite for a small/medium office.  On the Mac, there are so many awesome developers who have created whole patching solutions FOR FREE and posted them on Github with excellent documentation.  Nudge is an example of one designed to encourage users to install their macOS updates in a timely manner.  Even a halfway competent admin with some scripting chops can make sense of most of the offerings and roll them out quickly, and the developers are motivated by Apple's mantra of making great user experiences.

I wanted to compare these new shades to the Lutron Serena Smart Blinds, which has been pretty much the only game in town for ultra-wide blinds (over 48") or for homeowners who wanted to "graduate" from IKEA to something nicer.

For those of you who don't know, the IKEA Fyrtur smart blinds come in a handful of fixed widths from 60-120cm (23 5/8" ~ 47 1/4").  Each blind works independently with the items included in the package, but to integrate them with the big 3 smart home systems, you must use three components: the remote control, the signal repeater, and the Trådrfri gateway.  Only the Trådfri is a separate purchase.  The IKEA system uses ZigBee, and it's a bit of a chore to set up and pair for the first time.  Once it's paired, though, it's fine and dead reliable.  If you have to reset it, though, it's going to be a real test of your patience.

So I went to the Belgian pre-order site to price out some blinds for my nearly 8-foot wide living room window, with the following options:

• Essential White
• Rolgordijn (Single blind)
  
• In Het Venster (in the window)
• Width and height: 236 x 120 cm (approx 93" x 47")
• Transparantie: Verduisterend (opaque)
• Material color: white
• System type: Cassette (looks cleaner)
• System size: Klein (small).  The large is not needed unless you have really tall windows.
• System color: white
• Motor side: right

The final price as configured is 358.37 Euros, or a shade over $400.

Meanwhile, a comparably configured, battery-operated Lutron Serena shade costs anywhere from $800 - $1,200    depending on fabric and options.

These Eve Smart Blinds are going to fill the void between those who want to do better than IKEA, and homeowners who can't justify $1,000 per window on smart blinds.