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iOS is not on desktops quite yet, but it is on a laptop of sorts. Some analysts seem to be under the impression that an iPad with a keyboard cover can replace a laptop for many users.

Youtube is a website.

You aren't the apps guy, are you?

Except that on mobile everything is an "app". Even Youtube (available for free in Google Play and iTunes stores)...

Open book law exam in the past, now its open laptop. Just go back to open book. That would sort the people with educational skills from the ability to install a few mdimporters https://developer.apple.com/li... for spotlight searching.

Yeah, exactly - getting a law degree shouldn't be based on computer skills, but on bullshit rhetoric skills.

Open book law exam in the past, now its open laptop.
Just go back to open book.
That would sort the people with educational skills from the ability to install a few mdimporters https://developer.apple.com/li... for spotlight searching.

Both companies pay dividends. They started paying dividends again in 2012 and have been paying them quarterly ever since. They even raised their dividend rates in the last year and have maintained their stock repurchase program, which together account for the largest capital return program in history (last I checked, the plan was to return $250B in capital to investors by the end of 2018).

Which isn't to say anything bad about Microsoft. They've been paying dividends the entire time, so kudos to them for doing great this entire time. I'm merely pointing out that you have your information about Apple VERY wrong.

Reviews have started showing up on the 5K page, so either people were slow to get the news that they could review it, or Apple was slow to have a human click the "Not Spam" button for each of them.

It was a MagSafe adapter. They still make some pretty bad ones that fail all the time and get very bad reviews, but they don't seem to care.

So, once again we see you taking extreme defense of Apple as your default position - and doing so without an ounce of knowledge of the facts. You can apologize to bmimatt for going off on him. His statement is pretty much 100% accurate; how do you roll out a product that is not compatible with a currently shipping product (being that you can still buy, brand new at the Apple store, iPhone 6s units)? It's called using your users for beta testers. You have four phones (iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus) and one pair of BT buds (airpods). It's not like it's millions of combinations...

And isn't the percentage of failure quite small? So, is it small enough so that it simply didn't happen during Apple's initial testing? Especially since by FAR the greatest number of complaints are definitely coming from those who have the COMBINATION of iP6 or 6s AND an Apple Watch. In fact, there are a number of complainants that claim that their call-drop issues STOP if they completely un-pair their Apple Watch with their iPhone. Suggesting that there may be a race-condition between the phone and the watch, trying to determine which one "owns" the audio stream with the AirPods, or other issue with that COMBINATION of products.

Who knows why using only one AirPod seems to also stop the issue, but that seems to work, too. It is also interesting to note that even people using AirPods with non-Apple phones are NOT having the problem; further pointing to the fact that it is a COMBINATION of factors that are needed for the failure rate to rise above the statistical noise level.

So, with THREE products (and long calls) having to be present to make this failure appear with any certainty, NOW how many combinations does Apple have to test?

Also, Your claim that I rush to Apple's defense is rendered moot by the fact that you rush to ascribe incompetence or worse every single time the subject is Apple.

Nice trolling. I am currently suffering with one of those MacBooks. I hate myself for throwing that money down the drain. I might as well burned it. It would have been more fun than the pain my MacBook is causing me. I can't even plug it into an external monitor or a wired network.

2 dongles take care of both of those issues, and both are sold relatively inexpensively by Apple, today. You can find other solutions that may be cheaper if you'd only use that browser wisely.

Nice trolling. I am currently suffering with one of those MacBooks. I hate myself for throwing that money down the drain. I might as well burned it. It would have been more fun than the pain my MacBook is causing me. I can't even plug it into an external monitor or a wired network.

2 dongles take care of both of those issues, and both are sold relatively inexpensively by Apple, today. You can find other solutions that may be cheaper if you'd only use that browser wisely.

Microsoft says that continued usage of Windows 78, 8.1 and 10 increases maintenance and operating costs for businesses. Furthermore, time is needlessly wasted on combating malware attacks that could have been avoided by upgrading to macOS. Businesses like IBM save money with each of the 100,000 Macs that they have Deployed this year.

Damn! Windows 78. Slashdot, let us EDIT a Comment!

Microsoft says that continued usage of Windows 78, 8.1 and 10 increases maintenance and operating costs for businesses. Furthermore, time is needlessly wasted on combating malware attacks that could have been avoided by upgrading to macOS. Businesses like IBM save money with each of the 100,000 Macs that they have Deployed this year.

You mean Apple's Hypervisor API?

Actually it says that it was tested with a beta version which would not be readily available to general public. So the pass is fictitious at least for now.

It's available to anybody in the Apple Beta Software Program - IOW anyone who actually uses a Mac and cares to enter. And isn't terminally stupid (but we already covered that), so it obviously excludes you.

In the Box
...
EarPods with Lightning Connector
Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
...

If there's a setting to make the dynamic touchbar a static set of function keys I'm used to using, vs. having to wonder what buttons/functionality is there at any given point in time, that would be helpful as well.

I kind of think they are going to add that Option, if it is not there already. But right now, you can do it, at least sort of...

- new hardware decisions make it difficult to use existing peripherals (music is a hobby - no way am I dropping a few grand on new audio interfaces just b/c I upgraded my Mac and need to support new ports)

This is your lucky day!

Yes, it is just a little odd; but you can daisy-chain two Adapters to achieve USB-C to FW800, for far less than a new interface would cost.

Apple's USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter ($29.00) specifically states it can be used with the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter ($29.00). This will give you USB-C to Firewire.

Until someone does a USB-C to FW adapter, that's your best bet. And it is an "approved" combination; so it should work.

- new hardware decisions make it difficult to use existing peripherals (music is a hobby - no way am I dropping a few grand on new audio interfaces just b/c I upgraded my Mac and need to support new ports)

This is your lucky day!

Yes, it is just a little odd; but you can daisy-chain two Adapters to achieve USB-C to FW800, for far less than a new interface would cost.

Apple's USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter ($29.00) specifically states it can be used with the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter ($29.00). This will give you USB-C to Firewire.

Until someone does a USB-C to FW adapter, that's your best bet. And it is an "approved" combination; so it should work.

- new hardware decisions make it difficult to use existing peripherals (music is a hobby - no way am I dropping a few grand on new audio interfaces just b/c I upgraded my Mac and need to support new ports)

This is your lucky day!

Yes, it is just a little odd; but you can daisy-chain two Adapters to achieve USB-C to FW800, for far less than a new interface would cost.

Apple's USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter ($29.00) specifically states it can be used with the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter ($29.00). This will give you USB-C to Firewire.

Until someone does a USB-C to FW adapter, that's your best bet. And it is an "approved" combination; so it should work.

You can't buy a new iOS phone that has a headphone jack.

What is stopping you from buying a new iPhone 6s?

Certainly not Apple; they are still in production...

If you truly believe that lack of a headphone jack is a dead-end idea then it should be back with the iPhone 8, correct?

What do you want to bet that will happen, vs. MANY other Android phone makers taking out the headphone jack in the coming year?

Please explain to me how but ntfs-3g is not 3rd party to both Linux and OS X which was my original point.

I never said it wasn't, but your point that it is is invalid. How it's installed and updated on the system makes a huge difference in how reliable it will be.

You seem intent on blaming Apple for a 3rd party implementation being poor.

No, the implementation is not poor, the APIs on Apple's end of things are changing, often unnecessarily. That's what I'm blaming Apple for, if you want to say I'm blaming apple for anything; in reality, I'm pointing out that (and why) FUSE/ntfs-3g is more reliable, and an actual viable solution, under Linux, where it is not so under OS X.

Apple has no obligation not to break 3rd party software. Apple has no obligation to update 3rd party software.

Indeed, but Apple also sells "user experience" and "reliability".

I don't you understand how Linux and open works.

I'm certain I do, I've been using it for a couple decades by now, but I'll play along.

Fuse is now part of the Linux kernel tree.

So the standalone kernel module has ceased development? Oh, wait, no, you can get FUSE modules for BSD kernels, which is how ntfs-3g works under OS X in the first place, so yes, it's still its own separate project. A lot of separate projects have a home within the Linux kernel tree.

ntfs-3g is 3rd party by Tuxera

Wow, you said something that was actually truthful and correct!

Fuse for OS X is maintained by Benjamin Fleischer

Right, and it's based on the FUSE for BSD code maintained by Ilya Putsikau, who adapted it from libFUSE which, if you open your eyes and actually look at it, is not a part of the Linux kernel.

These are all 3rd parties to Apple.

Apple uses a lot of 3rd-party code*. Perhaps they should consider the reality that many of their users are developers who also work with Windows and Linux systems that serve markets Apple themselves have stated they have no interest in pursuing, and that those users would benefit (and, as a result, so would Apple**) from Apple taking simple steps to better integrate FUSE so things like ntfs-3g and EXT filesystem drivers "just work"? It really wouldn't cost Apple more than an hour or two of developer time; Fleischer has made the source code available on GitHub and the only updates it sees are API patches when Apple breaks it. One additional Mac sale would pay for the work to integrate it.

* Much of what is listed here is Apple's contributions to 3rd-party projects; all of what's listed here is build against 3rd-party projects.
** By making it easier for more developers who have to work with other systems to do so on Apple hardware, thereby increasing their potential market.

This misrepresents the situation. It's true that the last release of "X11" was some years ago, but its releases are irrelevant. The last release of X.org (1.19.0) was about a month ago.

What did Apple drop support for? X Windows (legacy) or X.org? They dropped support for X Windows (legacy) which was even discontinued by the open source community. X.org is still ongoing and Apple supports it calling their implementation XQuartz. It's not installed by default and last release was 29 Oct 2016./

An Indian company seems to he done better https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

And an American Company has done even better.

Magsafe's primary failure mode is at the other end - the wall wart. I've had numerous Mac owners aski me if I could fix their wall wart because they don't want to shell out $79 for another one. The frayed cables are an easy fix (electrical tape), and the broken plug can usually be fixed with some epoxy and/or soldering. But the cable fraying where it enters the adapter is pretty much fatal. These things simply shouldn't be happening to a power brick which costs $79.

Most of the broken power connectors on PC laptops went away when manufacturers switched to 90 degree plugs. The straight plugs meant any lateral tension on the cord (e.g. laptop on desk, cord draped off the edge of desk) had a huge lever arm with which to bend/break the power socket off the motherboard. The 90 degree plugs reduce that lever arm to almost the minimum possible length, massively reducing the forces on the power socket.

There are smaller controllers designed for smartphones.

Yet I haven't seen the manufacturer of any such controller release sales figures. If end users don't own a controller, developers are unlikely to target it.

Apple doesn't allow emulators on the App store

I was under the impression that Apple's guidelines allowed emulators so long as the app is "self-contained" (as defined in rule 2.5.2). A game's publisher can satisfy this by distributing the ROM and emulator together in one app. SEGA has ported several of its games to iOS using an emulator in this manner.

"uncharacteristically fast battery drainage, applications freezing, and phones crashing completely"

This has been an much under-reported problem with the latest upgrade to iOS 10.1.
Likely a bug in the upgrade is responsible at least in iOS....
It seems like there is very little posted on it.

Here is the section in apple discussions:
https://discussions.apple.com/...

Forbes reported on the issue and then has reported again about the latest 10.2 upgrade making the problem worse.
Here is a report in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/go...

Little acknowledgement from Apple thus far.

Or maybe every Tesla car can already communicate with your smart phone using a cellular network and maybe there is already an app from Tesla that does exactly that:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...

Haven't booted my 17" in a while, but knew it ran at least El Captain. Thought it was 2010 and newer for Sierra. Just noticed when searching that I better bring my system in for the recall.

Haven't booted my 17" in a while, but knew it ran at least El Captain. Thought it was 2010 and newer for Sierra. Just noticed when searching that I better bring my system in for the recall.

But removing something instead explaining it does show its a cover up - literally.

https://support.apple.com/en-u...

The battery status menu updates frequently and changes depending on your screen brightness and system workload. You may see the time remaining drop significantly, for instance, if it updates while opening a very large file or starting up an application. It's important to remember it's an estimate based on what your computer is doing at the specific time it updates.

Published Date: Dec 6, 2016

Looks like Apple explained and some people still didn't understand. Funny how the same tolls that keep claiming all Mac users are utter morons now say nobody could be that stupid, and it must of course be Apple's fault.

And replace it with any of the battery tools available there for years, most of which replace the default Menu Bar Icon indicator anyway. I have been using https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/battery-monitor-health-status/id836505650?mt=12 for a couple of years now. Oh look, there is even a 5 star review headlined "Very accurate time-remaining ".

Yet, instead of making it clear what background processes are draining your battery, and why that's killing your estimated time remaining, Apple goes it's usual "form over function" route and just hides all those nasty details.

You'd be 100% right.. except for one nasty detail which makes you 0% right.

There are multiple ways to find out precisely which applications/processes are draining your battery.

Here's one:

https://support.apple.com/en-c...

Here's another:

http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-con...

That second one is right there in the battery menu.

Nasty.. nasty details.

10 hour battery life doing what? I have a brand new macbook pro and it is more around 6-7 hours. It is undoubtedly the best battery life of any laptop I've had so far but not 10 hours.

Actually, Apple is pretty specific (e.g. "Brightness set to 12 clicks from the bottom, or 75%" (see below)) (unlike, say, Microsoft for the Surface Book, who only stated "Auto Brightness Disabled" for the biggest current-hog in the system...Right...) on their Product Page.

Here are the "Tech Specs" for the 15" Touch Bar MacBook Pro. Scroll down to the "Battery and Power" section (and don't forget to read Footnote 8).

From Apple:

You can report iMessages that look like spam or junk from the Messages app. If you get an iMessage from someone who's not saved in your Contacts, you'll see a Report Junk link under the message. Tap the link to forward the sender's information and the message to Apple.

But not when it had lost $740 million in the preceding Q3.

It didn't. http://investor.apple.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=320193-97-14&CIK=320193 Only $56 million loss.

They're what Mac users use because in the interest of ease-of-use, they have no home or end keys, but have two-extra modifier keys (Fn and Cmd). Ctrl-a => home (Windows), Ctrl-e => end, Ctrl-k => shift-end, delete.

Cmd-a => Ctrl-a.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

I think some of these keys derive from ancient Unix days. Jobs being reluctant to even put arrow keys on the Mac. They are basic and have been around forever, but only if you're a Mac user or ancient Unix guy.

...their profits are increasing. Like the companies on the following list: 1. Apple

Huh? Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2016 fourth quarter ended September 24, 2016. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $46.9 billion and quarterly net income of $9 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $51.5 billion and net income of $11.1 billion, or $1.96 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 38 percent compared to 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue down. Income down. Earnings per share down. Margin down. Looks pretty down to me.

Q4 is always low.

$50B is about 12 months of profit.

http://images.apple.com/newsro...

Well, to be accurate, the debt of $50 billion is about 18 months of profit, at Q4 2016's $9 billion in earnings rate. When paying back loans, it's earnings that matter, not revenue. Unless you want to stiff suppliers and employees and such...

Apple needed the cash as well. Apple had about 17 months of cash left when Microsoft invested in them, and had lost money for two years in a row. Microsoft's cash helped out immensely.

A LOT of businesses would be ECSTATIC with 17 months of cash in the bank.

Apple didn't need the cash. At their worst, Apple had enough cash to buy Compaq.

Apple needed the cash as well. Apple had about 17 months of cash left when Microsoft invested in them, and had lost money for two years in a row. Microsoft's cash helped out immensely.

The very first line in the linked article:

Apple has said for the first time that it is working on technology to develop self-driving cars.

And in more detail:

The company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation,” said the letter from Steve Kenner, Apple’s director of product integrity, to the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The difference is that they have not said they're making cars in the same way they do not make TVs. But they do make hardware/software that will drive your TV - so to speak.

Just as auto makers can make 'carplay' http://www.apple.com/ios/carpl... compatible cars, you can imagine they might one day make 'carpilot' compatible cars.

In exactly what way does a computer with "Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C)" ports not have USB ports? Apple will happily sell you an adapter which one of these things plugs into.

Here is a link to the best one I have found: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

How about hooking more than one charger to a MBP blowing some type of circuit so no charging will ever will happen again? There is a YT vid on this where someone hooks up multiple chargers, and the MBP just stops charging for good, from any charger.

Well, there's a Google+ post from a Google engineer damaging his Chromebook Pixel with a faulty USB-C cable, but no video that show what you describe. So par for the course at St. Apple Hater.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207256

Notes on charging your MacBook Pro:

Your MacBook Pro draws power from only one power supply, even if more than one is attached—so using multiple power supplies will not speed up charging.

If you connect multiple power supplies to your MacBook Pro, the one that provides the most power will be used, regardless of the order in which you connected them.

Apple are doing what they have done every single year - retiring old models from their supported lineup. Film at 11.

Every year, a range of Macs pass through the range of support status from "Supported" to "Vintage" to "Obsolete"

Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years ago. Apple has generally discontinued hardware service for vintage products in most regions other than the state of California and Turkey.
Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than 7 years ago. Apple has discontinued all hardware service for obsolete products with no exceptions. Service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products through Apple.

https://support.apple.com/en-a...

http://www.apple.com/shop/prod... is what I used to run Migration Assistant in TDM between a 2008 MBP (with FireWire) and 2013 (with no FireWire). I don't do that much A/V stuff, but is there any reason to expect it wouldn't work for your use case?

That will never happen. :-(((

Sadly Apple no longer gives a fuck about us professionals -- you know, people who use their computers day in, day out, for creating content. They would rather everyone use iPads for consuming content.

Why?

Before Jobs passed away Tim Cook was responsible for getting Apple's supply chain down from months to days. Apple doesn't want to be holding onto millions of dollars of inventory just sitting there taking up space. This means they remove options and "dumb down" the machines so there is only 1 (or very few) parts. Tim Cook has continued this obsession that it actually has become counter-productive. You can't upgrade a MBP to more then 16 GB of RAM because the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard? WTF.

Apple also has a hard-on for wireless. My current MBP (Mid 2014) has a whopping 7 ports (2x USB, 2x Thunderbolt, 3.5 digital+analog audio, 1x HDMI, SDXC card) and I LOVE it because I use all of them. Apple TV gen 4 removed the audio port because they want everyone to use WiFi streaming. It doesn't take courage to remove an audio jack on the iPhone, they are a bunch of cowards. Gee, oh look, 2 out of 3 "solutions" are wireless.

It is a far cry from the days of Jobs when he actually cared about building not only a cosmetic computer and a functional one.

i.e. When is the Mac Pro going to updated?? It has been over 1075 days!

The only thing Apple cares about these days is making money whilst they whore our their brand. Apple would rather sell over-priced "Beats" garbage headphones to ignorant customers rather then make quality products for the power user. Those days are LONG dead.

It is hard to argue against "Oooh, Shiny!" when all they care about is profits.

Apple is Dead.
Long Live Apple.

That will never happen. :-(((

Sadly Apple no longer gives a fuck about us professionals -- you know, people who use their computers day in, day out, for creating content. They would rather everyone use iPads for consuming content.

Why?

Before Jobs passed away Tim Cook was responsible for getting Apple's supply chain down from months to days. Apple doesn't want to be holding onto millions of dollars of inventory just sitting there taking up space. This means they remove options and "dumb down" the machines so there is only 1 (or very few) parts. Tim Cook has continued this obsession that it actually has become counter-productive. You can't upgrade a MBP to more then 16 GB of RAM because the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard? WTF.

Apple also has a hard-on for wireless. My current MBP (Mid 2014) has a whopping 7 ports (2x USB, 2x Thunderbolt, 3.5 digital+analog audio, 1x HDMI, SDXC card) and I LOVE it because I use all of them. Apple TV gen 4 removed the audio port because they want everyone to use WiFi streaming. It doesn't take courage to remove an audio jack on the iPhone, they are a bunch of cowards. Gee, oh look, 2 out of 3 "solutions" are wireless.

It is a far cry from the days of Jobs when he actually cared about building not only a cosmetic computer and a functional one.

i.e. When is the Mac Pro going to updated?? It has been over 1075 days!

The only thing Apple cares about these days is making money whilst they whore our their brand. Apple would rather sell over-priced "Beats" garbage headphones to ignorant customers rather then make quality products for the power user. Those days are LONG dead.

It is hard to argue against "Oooh, Shiny!" when all they care about is profits.

Apple is Dead.
Long Live Apple.

One would think Apple would have some type of back-end API allowing copyright holders, trademark holders, etc, to automatically check at least the icons and graphics used in the App Store. No app should stay up very long if it's using infringing icons. I'm waiting for Microsoft to sue Apple and these "app developers" for copyright and trademark infringement...Apple at least pretends this is against policy and supposedly reviews everything before allowing it to go live which would make them culpable in a lawsuit.

But, as we all know, that would take quite a bit of work, and cost Apple in both their 30%, building such a system, etc. It's a better profit method to just let it all run rampant and worry about whatever happens once it gets to court.