flaneur

gatorguy said:

GeorgeBMac said:

asdasd said:

kimberly said:

I'm not a USA citizen so just interested to read about the negative views on congressional hearings generally from several other contributors rather than specific discussion about privacy breaches.  What I take from the posts is that there is a bunch of senators on one side of the 'table' that are calling out the 'contrite' person sitting on the other side of the table (but everyone knows which side of the table has the real power).

Where real power sits at a table doesn't really change between countries ...

Years ago, arguably the most powerful man in Australia, media mogul Kerry Packer was in the spotlight for the tax practices of his company, Australian Consolidated Press.  MPs could hardly contain themselves when they finally managed to get him to appear before a parliamentary committee (equivalent of a congressional committee).

Mr Packer stared down committee member after committee member.  Not much about the tax practices of Australian Consolidated Press was elicited except Mr Packer's now infamous statement that "of course" he tried to pay less tax.

"I don't know anybody that doesn't minimise their tax.  I'm not evading tax in any way shape or form.  Of course I'm minimising my tax.  If anybody in this country doesn't minimise their tax they want their head read.  As a government I can tell you you're not spending it that well that we should be paying extra."

I still think that old media has far more power than FB, which is basically a collection of people individually posting stuff. Yes the data breach was bad, but CA had no measurable or provable  influence on the election or Brexit. 

In fact the war against FB is part of a larger war against non MSM opinion in the West. A war against the internet in general. 

Yes, individual people DO post stuff on FaceBook.

But so do Russian bots and trolls who are directed on what to attack and how...

Facebook was used as a weapon of war...   Cyberwar...

Can't all media be used as weapons of war in some manner? Facebook isn't unique in that regard.  There are liberal outlets, conservative outlets, state-run "official" outlets, special-interest outlets.... The exact same event or comments end up reported sometimes very differently, even polar opposites, depending on what war the outlet is waging. 

In the case of Presidential elections every one of them is influenced by wrong portrayal of facts, unfounded rumors, supposition, selective reporting, pictures meant to elicit positive or negative emotion, character attacks, whispers that someone did this or that and more. That's the way it has always been, long before the internet was even a thing. The US planted false stories in Nicaragua to influence their elections. Same in Chile. Russia was buying news stories back during the Cold War to influence US events. Heck even I try to influence elections when talking with friends and business associates. So do you.

For as long as humans have been able to communicate with each other there's been efforts to influence events and planting fake news can be part of it. Even the apes lie to get what they want. It's not the fault of the internet. 

robin huber said:

anantksundaram said:

robin huber said:

I found the base to be improved today. 

“Base”?

I could blame auto correct, but that would base of me. 😑

mavemufc said:

They should just make this available for everyone tbh.

arthurba said:

And with the RED Hydrogen One - Android are 2 years ahead of Apple on 3D/4View content display. 

As as a collaborator with Apple, I’m certain RED did talk to Apple about this first - but Apple has decided to concentrate on 3D sensing, and leave 3D/4view display and content to RED.  I assume this is a cleverly calculated decision - including the fact that once there is 4view content, Android representa little barrier for entry to Apple and that Apple can get access to the Leia display tech just as soon as general Android licensees - the exclusivity is with RED not Google. 

Still - it’s interesting choices. RED can produce 3D images right off the Hydrogen One using dual cameras - no VCSEL required - but they are not mapping rooms or faces - just creating 4view content. 

Apple let are really betting on Developers using the 3D mapping / neural networks in iOS to generate some compelling apps.  The potential is there - but like Siri - I’m still waiting for the potential to be realized. FaceID and Animoji aside - where are the compelling use cases.  

Hopefully 2018 will see more developer API’s and handsets with VCSEL front and back.

dew me said:

Now would be a very good time for Apple to make iPad Pros multi-user devices.

Beyond that, the current iPad Pros are so far ahead of everything else in the market that Apple is just piling on with incrementalism if all they do is jack up hardware performance and add slightly new ways to support the same core feature set that's little changed over 3 or 4 previous releases. The current iPad Pros are powerhouse computers that are being held back by the limitations of iOS. I'm not knocking iOS for what it is, a stalwart 10 year old OS built for smartphones and their larger tablet based siblings. I certainly don't mind that running iOS apps on the iPad Pro provides amazing performance. But I still feel like I'm using a bazooka for plinking pop cans when using the current iPad Pro, much less what's probably in the next round of iPad Pro releases. Heck, it's easily more powerful than my MacBook Air. However, I'm not advocating for macOS on iPad Pro. I am looking for something new, touch centric, and purpose built for the immense power that the iPad Pro has available to exploit. Something way beyond iOS, but not something tied to the creaky old bones of macOS.

To the 10.5" versus 12.9" question. I have both and find that when I want to use an iPad in my hands, on the couch, when riding as a passenger in a car/plane/train, etc., the 10.5" inch iPad Pro is always my first choice. It is little larger than the 9.7" but the 10.5" screen is much more usable in portrait orientation. The 12.9" is great on the desk with the smart keyboard. The 12.9" is very good for sit down side-by-side demonstrations and screen sharing. The 12.9" is truly a beast size wise but I suspect the next generation will have a reduced bezel to make it a little less beastly. When I use the 12.9" sans keyboard on the couch it feels even bigger, especially in portrait orientation. The screen rendering in portrait orientation is wonderful, but its sheer height and to a lesser extent its weight feels a bit awkward and is something that takes some getting used to.