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Apple stopped selling displays a while ago. Currently on their accessories page the only display listed is the 5K (resolution, not price) LG

Apple stopped selling displays a while ago. Currently on their accessories page the only display listed is the 5K (resolution, not price) LG

My wife has taught in 2 schools who had abandoned the failure that was iOS in education for a system that actually allows you to do basic things such as: what you need to rather than what the walled garden will permit you to.

Can you even name a single area of study they weren't able to do? Sounds more like the Hatorade Distortion Field in action. And if you absolutely, positively had to use a Windows program for some reason, you could install Microsoft Remote Desktop and use it as a remote app.

No Apple product has ever worked, and no Apple product ever will. In fact, thousands of youngsters are killed every year by exploding iPads. Even more were harmed by the poisonous glass and radioactive metal parts purposefully put in them.

The only cure comrades, is to stop buying Apple products, and only ust the Windows 10 devices, which al have 100 percent uptime, never have a problem, and never need any support. Perfection personified.

In recent tests, Windows OS devices were shown to increase student's IQ's by 25 points, unless they are using teh Surface devices, in which case it is a whopping 50 point increase.

My wife has taught in 2 schools who had abandoned the failure that was iOS in education for a system that actually allows you to do basic things such as: what you need to rather than what the walled garden will permit you to.

Can you even name a single area of study they weren't able to do? Sounds more like the Hatorade Distortion Field in action. And if you absolutely, positively had to use a Windows program for some reason, you could install Microsoft Remote Desktop and use it as a remote app.

I'm a parent who has argued plenty about Ipads. It's like yelling into a void. My district doesn't even take advantage of the program to create apple ID's for under 13 year old students. We rent from the school and they do nothing to manage them. They send us a list of "free" apps to install.
Since I don't have another apple device, I can't create a child account and my kids are stuck with "over age 13" accounts.

I've contacted the district, the EFF, and anyone who will listen.
The district next door seems to have no problem creating child account, but mine, sucks at technology.

Otherwise it's a great district. I'm thinking of running for the school board.

The release notes in the 'App store' aren't cut-and-pasteable, but they're replicated here: https://support.apple.com/en-g...

No mention of anything to do with DisplayLink (the only 'display' related stuff is the addition of GPU support). Most of the release looks like it's a Safari update (one of the reasons I haven't yet applied it - it doesn't look important as I don't use Safari directly).

A pretty poor show from Apple on this one.

The addition of eGPU support, which is kind of a big deal in some circles, and OBVIOUSLY required a rather major rewrite of the Display Frameworks.

Bit feel free to ignore the most important feature of the update.

The release notes in the 'App store' aren't cut-and-pasteable, but they're replicated here: https://support.apple.com/en-g...

No mention of anything to do with DisplayLink (the only 'display' related stuff is the addition of GPU support). Most of the release looks like it's a Safari update (one of the reasons I haven't yet applied it - it doesn't look important as I don't use Safari directly).

A pretty poor show from Apple on this one.

and can't even begin to load full blown desktop progrmas

So? With a bluetooth keyboard you can write papers or do research just as well on an iPad as that HP tablet. And if you absolutely positively ermagerd need to use Windows programs for a class - just install Microsoft Remote Desktop and connect to a terminal server to run Autocad (or whatever). Something you could afford with the cost savings over the HP Way.

I am surprised by the time estimate. Five years? Maybe. Two years: I don't think they are ready for that. Their Ax CPUs are good enough to power mobile devices and their small electronics like the AppleTV and the HomePod. I don't think they are ready for laptops and desktops yet.

I disagree. Their A10X Fusion chip is already "desktop class," and I'm SURE part of the limitation on its processing power is thermal dissipation, and the need for balance between performance and battery life. They could very well introduce a touchscreen MAC, with a keyboard... oh, wait, they kind of already have that, it's called an iPad Pro, (the 12.9 is almost the size of a MacBook Air or Pro, 13", and almost indistinguishable from a MacBook... Nothing. You know, the new MacBook? Add a keyboard and all it's really missing is the ability to run Mac Apps and Programs.

Anyway, imagine what Apple could do if they built a Mac using, oh, a couple, or a trio, or a quartet of chips out of the new iPad 9.7 they just announced? The WHOLE THING costs like, 330 bucks, which is kinda crazy... the parts you can leave OUT mean the processor alone is only probably like, 50 bucks, maybe? A board containing several of these, with a heatsink to help provide extra TDP capacity, could mean they could clock them up by a factor of... well, I don't know enough about the specifics to speculate on the specifics, but given how the iPad doesn't heat up much in use, with NO external fan ports, I'd have to guess they could kick it up to double or triple its current speed, then as for graphics, again, they could jam several together to get enough GFX grunt to drive a 4k monitor.

They COULD maybe start out with a new MacMini. Discontinue the archaic one now, introduce the NEW... hmm... what could they call it? OH! How about a solid glass square-based pyramid, and call it the iMac Pharaoh, a limited edition Mac that runs macOS apps UNDER iOS, starts out like the original Apple computer at $666, outperforms the iMac Pro, uses less power, and while we're dreaming, projects a holographic display using laser into the user's eyes, allowing for total privacy, and reads microscopic eye-movements for the interface... users would just lay there, eye's half-way glazed over, drooling on themselves quietly, while experiencing the raw computing power of a modern-day supercomputer which they wouldn't have to move a muscle beyond just their eyes, to operate...

Sorry, what were we talking about again? Oh, yeah. Chips. The A-line of chips are more than adequate, I think, especially if scaled up by adding more power, more ability to dissipate heat, and the proper infrastructure underneath to direct and drive it all, i.e., data bus, cache memory, and so on. But all kidding aside, they DO have the opportunity to make something new, to replace the ridiculously agèd MacMini line, and make a clean break from it. Consider this: the eMac and PowerMac or whatever they called that stupid little tower, had those god-awful, ugly plastic cases, which while they had the fun colors, to set them apart from the beige boxes of yeaster-year, or the looming, towering, usually black behemoth towers people (including yours, truly put together themselves,) to appeal to teenaged girls, gave way to generally unfinished aluminum chassis MacPro's and then aluminum clam-shell laptops, the MacBook Pro, then Air, then just "MacBook" and the MacMini followed a similar trend, if you'll recall, they originally had the white plastic chassis, (or was it just the top, and then the surround on the sides and back was aluminum?) then went to all-aluminum, and they eliminated the formerly built-in Super-Drive... and these days it's been several years since the last MINOR update, and so now the base-model, $500 MacMini has, (just checked RIGHT NOW at https://www.apple.com/mac-mini... ,) LITERALLY the exact same specifications as a mid-2013 BASE MODEL MacBook Air, except i

Thats weird. You run a closed source OS on your Mac. Freedom doesn't seem very important to you.

Contrary to popular belief, Apple's macOS is open source: https://opensource.apple.com/ right up to and including the lates macOS release.

Pretty much everything described on this page, for starters: https://www.apple.com/uk/educa...

If you work for Apple and drive a Tesla, you need this App.

I don't think you have that quite right.

If you run your own encryption, the key has to be available in memory, so it likely can be fished out of there somewhere. iPhones from the 5S onward have the Secure Enclave, which means the key isn't accessible by normal means. The security has continued to improve. Currently, the Secure Enclave generates its own key, which means Apple doesn't know what it is and can't get at it. See Apple's security guide for details.

Therefore, Apple is providing encryption in a more secure form than you can.

Apple is not selling one themselves yet to normal consumers, but they did sell a developer unit for $599 (includes Radeon RX 580 card).

Since the kit is just a Sonnet external Thunderbolt 3 box, it seems like it would be a safe bet to get one of those to work with the new release.

Replying to both of your posts:

The brokenness of multi-display support in the last two releases of macOS her her biggest issue. It's a battle to get her late 2015 5k iMac to wake her 2nd display after the machine sleeps, which has only been an (widely [stackexchange.com] reported, mind [avid.com] you [luminous-landscape.com]) issue [macrumors.com] since [reddit.com] Sierra [cnet.com]. It's not the Mac, either; nor is it the display. Every Mac we have with Sierra or newer (2 personal laptops, 1 business laptop and the iMac) exhibits this issue when this, or any other display is connected. These are Macs and displays which worked together just fine prior to Sierra.

...and...

Here you go, directly from her:

My itemized list of other “barely works” issues:

- if the Bluetooth keyboard disconnects itself while the computer is asleep, you can’t log back in unless you have a usb keyboard to type your password. Plugging the keyboard in with the lightning cable does not reconnect it (specifically, Apple's own keyboard exhibits this issue)

- non-Apple Bluetooth keyboards and mice won’t always connect until you log in after restarting, which is a problem when you can’t log in without a keyboard (this happens intermittently but often enough to make me go back to apples god awful carpal tunnel inducing keyboard)

- I have to have WiFi turned on for air drop and unlocking with my apple watch to work (even though the Mac is connected via ethernet to the same LAN as the other devices)

- none of the USB ports put out enough power to charge my iPad (this might be a problem specific to my iMac, I haven’t tried it anywhere else)

- the charge port for the mouse is in the bottom so you can’t use it while it’s charging

I’m sure there’s more that I can’t think of right now

Ok, let's address the multiple Displays issue:

I will agree that that is ridiculous. Macs have had multiple display support since at least 1985, LONG before Windows supported multiple monitors. I run Mavericks, and so haven't experienced this "wonderful new feature"...

After Googling a bit (which I assume you and/or your wife have already done), I came up with three general fixes:

1. Try to force your Monitor to be set to the Input you are actually using (i.e. HDMI) on the Monitor itself, rather than allowing the Monitor to do AutoDetect.

2. Download this new Driver:

http://www.displaylink.com/dow...

Note the Smile of Success from many Users:

https://discussions.apple.com/...

3. Use the Apple USB-C "AV" Adapter.

As for the Bluetooth Issues, I don't know for sure; but I would try trashing your Bluetooth Prefs and Re-Pair the BT Keyboard. If that doesn't work, then I'd trash the SMC Prefs. and see what happens...

As for the USB Power output issue: That is likely working as intended. Apple gave you a nice power adapter for your iPad. Use it.

AirDrop and Unlocking: Again, working as intended. The idea is to insure that your Mac and IPhone/iPad are in close proximity. IIRC, those Services use a Peer-Peer WiFi connection, likely on a different subnet than your LAN. That is on purpose.

Charging Port on bottom of Mouse. Lazy design. I'm not even going to try and justify that one!

Hope this helps!

bzzztt

Apple provides developers with an ad impression interface on their dev console (there was a bug displaying another developer's ad info earlier this year).

Answer me this: What ads are being reporting on? How are these ads being targetted?

Do you actually want to know, because Apple is very forthcoming about it.

https://developer.apple.com/do...

When you follow that link you will see that Apple has deprecated iAd, and news stories will tell you that Apple doesn't sell this anymore. Even when they did, the privacy policy was a lot better than Google's.

As a developer you could never get any user-identifiable information except an Ad identifier that was not unique to the device, only to the installation of that app on that device.

If they believe it they should have no problem updating their legally binding privacy policy to state that fact.

They did, since the thing you click on to agree to the privacy policy after an update (that states privacy is a fundamental human right), is the legally binding thing.

If you were referring to the website, well it doesn't have those exact words (yet), but it's obviously not the legally binding thing since it just sits there and I can ignore it.

You seem pretty confused about how contracts and legality work.

Actions not words Mr Cook

These are actions, taken through an update to iOS. They are LITERALLY ACTIONS *AND* WORDS.

You don't seem very clear on the concept of "Action" either, sad to say. But loose thinking is the hallmark of the Apple Hater after all, so it's not unexpected your post would get nothing right. Sigh.

I have no evidence that Apple sells data to third-parties, but there is plenty of evidence that they monetize customer data for their own ad networks.

Apple has ad networks like Search Ads and News Ads:
https://searchads.apple.com/
https://developer.apple.com/li...

You are assuming that financial earning reports are itemized. They aren't. They only have broad categories. Search Ads and News Ads show up in the earnings report as "Apple Services." If they sell customer data that would probably fall under "Apple Services" also, but is probably under NDA with any company they did sell to. Their privacy policy allows them to sell data, but if they did so I would imagine it would be very limited. They want to gather massive amounts of data to make their ad networks profitable, but if they sold the data to other companies that would allow the other companies to make ad networks.

According to this article, Apple makes $1 billion a year off Search Ads. That is not Apple's only ad product. I don't know where they got that number, but I assume Apple released it somewhere as their earnings report does not itemize Search Ads.

https://mobiledevmemo.com/appl...

I have no evidence that Apple sells data to third-parties, but there is plenty of evidence that they monetize customer data for their own ad networks.

Apple has ad networks like Search Ads and News Ads:
https://searchads.apple.com/
https://developer.apple.com/li...

You are assuming that financial earning reports are itemized. They aren't. They only have broad categories. Search Ads and News Ads show up in the earnings report as "Apple Services." If they sell customer data that would probably fall under "Apple Services" also, but is probably under NDA with any company they did sell to. Their privacy policy allows them to sell data, but if they did so I would imagine it would be very limited. They want to gather massive amounts of data to make their ad networks profitable, but if they sold the data to other companies that would allow the other companies to make ad networks.

According to this article, Apple makes $1 billion a year off Search Ads. That is not Apple's only ad product. I don't know where they got that number, but I assume Apple released it somewhere as their earnings report does not itemize Search Ads.

https://mobiledevmemo.com/appl...

See my post above:

https://yro.slashdot.org/comme...

In the interview, Cook said “The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer — if our customer was our product. We’ve elected not to do that.”

From what I can tell, Apple does monetize their customers for their ad networks like iTunes Ads and News Ads:
https://searchads.apple.com/
https://developer.apple.com/li...

I agree that Apple doesn't make most of their money from advertising like some other tech companies, but they still monetize their customer's personal data.

See my post above:

https://yro.slashdot.org/comme...

In the interview, Cook said “The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer — if our customer was our product. We’ve elected not to do that.”

From what I can tell, Apple does monetize their customers for their ad networks like iTunes Ads and News Ads:
https://searchads.apple.com/
https://developer.apple.com/li...

I agree that Apple doesn't make most of their money from advertising like some other tech companies, but they still monetize their customer's personal data.

I think that this is just marketing. If you read Apple's privacy policy it is actually pretty bad. It's basically the extreme case of "all your data are belong to us" and we'll use it however we want.

You are aware that Apple runs an Ad network, right?
https://developer.apple.com/ne...
https://developer.apple.com/ne...

Apple's ad platform allows advertisers to purchase ads based on previous purchases according to news articles. I've never personally placed an ad, but I think the above statement is intentionally misleading. Maybe they don't use the data from Apple Pay specifically, but they allow advertisers to target based on past purchases in the App Store and iTunes at least.

Non-personal information according to Apple:

        occupation
        language
        zip code
        area code
        unique device identifier
        referrer URL
        location
        time zone
        customer activities on our website, iCloud services, our iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, App Store for Apple TV and iBooks Stores and from our other products and services
        We may collect and store details of how you use our services, including search queries.

"We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."

"At times Apple may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services, or that help Apple market to customers."

"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device."

Source:
https://www.apple.com/legal/pr...

Apple also uses differential privacy which according to these articles isn't as non-personal as they claim:
https://www.wired.com/story/ap...
http://appleinsider.com/articl...

I'm sorry if I'm disappointing you, but Apple is making money off your personal information just like every other major tech company. Apple doesn't document how much they make from ads. This article claims they probably make about $1 billion a year off search ads, but that doesn't include Apple News adds, iTunes ads, App Store ads, and in-app ads. The total mobile ad market is estimated at $20.86 billion, but I don't know how much of that is Apple's share. Based on Apple's earning's report, their share isn't more than $8.5 billion (total for Apple "services"), but I don't know where in the $1 to 8.5 billion range the total is.
https://mobiledevmemo.com/appl...

I think that this is just marketing. If you read Apple's privacy policy it is actually pretty bad. It's basically the extreme case of "all your data are belong to us" and we'll use it however we want.

You are aware that Apple runs an Ad network, right?
https://developer.apple.com/ne...
https://developer.apple.com/ne...

Apple's ad platform allows advertisers to purchase ads based on previous purchases according to news articles. I've never personally placed an ad, but I think the above statement is intentionally misleading. Maybe they don't use the data from Apple Pay specifically, but they allow advertisers to target based on past purchases in the App Store and iTunes at least.

Non-personal information according to Apple:

        occupation
        language
        zip code
        area code
        unique device identifier
        referrer URL
        location
        time zone
        customer activities on our website, iCloud services, our iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, App Store for Apple TV and iBooks Stores and from our other products and services
        We may collect and store details of how you use our services, including search queries.

"We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."

"At times Apple may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services, or that help Apple market to customers."

"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device."

Source:
https://www.apple.com/legal/pr...

Apple also uses differential privacy which according to these articles isn't as non-personal as they claim:
https://www.wired.com/story/ap...
http://appleinsider.com/articl...

I'm sorry if I'm disappointing you, but Apple is making money off your personal information just like every other major tech company. Apple doesn't document how much they make from ads. This article claims they probably make about $1 billion a year off search ads, but that doesn't include Apple News adds, iTunes ads, App Store ads, and in-app ads. The total mobile ad market is estimated at $20.86 billion, but I don't know how much of that is Apple's share. Based on Apple's earning's report, their share isn't more than $8.5 billion (total for Apple "services"), but I don't know where in the $1 to 8.5 billion range the total is.
https://mobiledevmemo.com/appl...

I think that this is just marketing. If you read Apple's privacy policy it is actually pretty bad. It's basically the extreme case of "all your data are belong to us" and we'll use it however we want.

You are aware that Apple runs an Ad network, right?
https://developer.apple.com/ne...
https://developer.apple.com/ne...

Apple's ad platform allows advertisers to purchase ads based on previous purchases according to news articles. I've never personally placed an ad, but I think the above statement is intentionally misleading. Maybe they don't use the data from Apple Pay specifically, but they allow advertisers to target based on past purchases in the App Store and iTunes at least.

Non-personal information according to Apple:

        occupation
        language
        zip code
        area code
        unique device identifier
        referrer URL
        location
        time zone
        customer activities on our website, iCloud services, our iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, App Store for Apple TV and iBooks Stores and from our other products and services
        We may collect and store details of how you use our services, including search queries.

"We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."

"At times Apple may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services, or that help Apple market to customers."

"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device."

Source:
https://www.apple.com/legal/pr...

Apple also uses differential privacy which according to these articles isn't as non-personal as they claim:
https://www.wired.com/story/ap...
http://appleinsider.com/articl...

I'm sorry if I'm disappointing you, but Apple is making money off your personal information just like every other major tech company. Apple doesn't document how much they make from ads. This article claims they probably make about $1 billion a year off search ads, but that doesn't include Apple News adds, iTunes ads, App Store ads, and in-app ads. The total mobile ad market is estimated at $20.86 billion, but I don't know how much of that is Apple's share. Based on Apple's earning's report, their share isn't more than $8.5 billion (total for Apple "services"), but I don't know where in the $1 to 8.5 billion range the total is.
https://mobiledevmemo.com/appl...

Strange.

In recent compliance audits for GDPR regulations in the EU, we've been unable to get any kind of statement out of Apple about where they store iCloud and other data, and whether it's held compliant to either the GDPR or Data Protection Act.

http://www.applegazette.com/ic...

Their policy flat-out contains a line that is illegal under EU data protection rules and prevents almost any company that processes any kind of personal data (even "this is your name and email for your iTunes account) from using them::

https://www.apple.com/uk/legal...

"All the information you provide may be transferred or accessed by entities around the world as described in this Privacy Policy."

Which is the same "no answer" answer I've had out of them when I've asked over the last ten years. They pay lip-service, but I ain't going to court to explain why my user's EU-protected ended up in Outer Mongolia.

The reason, of course, is obvious. iCloud is actually just Amazon, Microsoft and Google storage depending on whatever they bought this month:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/...

Maybe they give a shit in the US, but in the EU they have absolutely no interest and, hence, lose a lot of custom. Ironically, they claim to have focus "on education" now with new educational-models of iPad. Hilarious seeing as we can't legally store children's data on them.

Yep, if your child's school is using iCloud or even iTunes in any fashion, ask to see the data protection guarantee.

Do yourself a favour if you work in IT in the UK/EU and are checking for GDPR compliance - take all your Apple gear and bin it now.

The free iCloud offering for students has also been bumped up from 5GB to 200GB.

How about you get with the times and give that to everyone, Apple?

The upgrade is fairly cheap.

The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable.

He obviously had the PR department go over this with him. "The FBI wants us to apply dev firmware to a single phone in a controlled environment? Let's say it's a hacker tool that will get out on the internet and put everyone at risk." It really seems most likely that the reason Apple resisted this court order was because they wish for you to think your data is safe from them when, in reality, they have not yet figured out how to make their devices manageable without also giving themselves a way to bypass your data encryption. It wasn't about privacy, it was about PR.

TLDR: The FBI and Apple both chose to appeal to the public. Apple inserted privacy and security language in their response, and won. That sounds great except next time the request won't be public so you won't even know how it turns out, and Apple will be just fine with that, because the illusion is maintained.

Here you go

Textbooks have charts, tables, diagrams, illustrations, and infographics too

Too, what?? I'm not talking about any of those things.

I am talking about INTERACTIVITY. You can stay all of the charts and tables and formulas you like but it all means squat compared to a nice physics simulator you can mess around with parameters dynamically.

Kids could also understand chemistry a look sooner with an interactive guide to reactions...

I am pretty sure you don't want to keep poor kids ignorant of how the world works, but that is the end result of pushing for dead trees over live screens.

Again, I don't think tablets are great for everything. I think real books are better for reading (though I have to admit more and more I am reading ebooks now). I also think note taking is better done by hand than typing - though there at least, there are options for had writing to an iPad and being able to read/search it later.

And I was under the impression that since the upgrade from Swift Playgrounds 1.0 to Swift Playgrounds 2.0, one could develop applications and test them on the iPad. From Apple's page about the product:

Swift Playgrounds also gives you access to iOS frameworks such as UIKit, SpriteKit, SceneKit, Bluetooth, and Metal. And because you are coding and running your playgrounds on iPad, your code can respond to touch gestures or interact with hardware such as the accelerometer and gyroscope.
[...]
With access to thousands of APIs in the iOS SDK, you can create amazing playgrounds that explore the web, generate 3D worlds, experiment with physics, and much more.

Then once you think your application is worthwhile enough to sell $5,000 on the App Store, either A. hire someone with a Mac to prepare your app for publication or B. take out a loan to buy a Mac and a subscription to Apple Developer Program and publish it yourself.

Disclosure: This is secondhand knowledge. I do not own an iPad nor a sufficiently recent Mac, and my specialization is on another platform.

You mean like this cheap tablet?

Everyone running iOS 11/High Sierra and compatible Apple gear is using HEVC natively, without ever knowing it. It most certainly is seeing a lot of use, it was just introduced transparently.

Apple could even do things like short run magazines, that only had five-ten issues, or really interactive stuff since it's presented in an app. There are a lot of exciting possibilities there!

And they already have the Publishing and viewing Infrastructure there for rich, interactive content, with their largely unknown, but still excellent (and Free!), iBooks Author Application:

https://www.apple.com/ibooks-a...

I already have so many different shows queued up in Netflix, that I can't even keep up with them all... so I'm not so much interested in finding new shows/movies to watch, right now. There are, however, quite a few movies (not available on Netflix) which I wouldn't mind picking up, but I'm not so much interested in paying top dollar for them... so the only thing I'm really interested in tracking is sales on those movies. So towards that end, I happened upon an app called CheapCharts*, which tracks sales on iTunes. The default behavior drives you towards their list of all movies that are on sale... but it also gives you the option to shut off tracking of media types that you don't care about, which reduces the cruft a bit, and it gives you an option to create a "wishlist" of movies/shows/music that you're specifically hoping to buy, so that you know when they go on sale.

Since downloading CheapCharts months ago, I've only seen sales for four of the multitude of movies from my wishlist, so the sales I'm looking for aren't exactly frequent... but at least I'll have a chance at catching them, when they finally do go on sale.

* Addendum: The app is also available for Android -- and logically enough, the Android version also tracks media sales on Amazon -- though, it seems to me that Movies Anywhere makes the source of your purchases a bit of a moot point, at least where movies are concerned.

MobileOrg is available for iOS.

Its only 30% for the first year, if a subscription is active more than 12 months it drops to 15% https://developer.apple.com/ap.... Its pretty reasonable for a distribution cut, just look at the kind of cut music distributors take before the Artist gets their share.

You seem to subscribe to the misguided notion that this is a new or concerning development. It's not. The fact that Apple uses other cloud vendors as commodity services on which they build their own has been well documented for years and is even explicitly stated on a number of Apple's user-facing pages. For instance, Apple's Approach to Privacy page mentions in the section on iCloud:

If we use third-party vendors to store your information, we encrypt it and never give them the keys. Apple retains the encryption keys in our own data centers, so you can back up, sync, and share your iCloud data.

Apple hasn't exactly been shy about mentioning (in lectures, white papers, and other communications) that parts of iCloud have been built on top of S3 and Azure for the last several years. The only thing that changed recently is that they swapped Azure out for Google Cloud in some of their documentation, suggesting that Google likely outbid Microsoft the last time the contract came up for renewal. Given that Apple's cloud contracts are reported to be worth billions of dollars apiece, it's not exactly surprising that competition would be rather fierce and that Google would have been gunning for it.

As for your concerns over what the providers might do with Apple's data, as noted above, Apple is already encrypting the data at rest on those servers, but as a Slashdot reader you may want to dig your teeth into some more details. For people who are technically-minded, such as yourself, Apple has helpfully published an iOS Security Guide that does a decent job of explaining what all goes into their devices' security, including iCloud services that are used on their devices. It should be a relatively easy read for you, given that they've done a good job of taking deeply technical details and making them accessible in intermediate-level language. You'll quickly find that besides encrypting the data when it's at rest on third-party servers, they're also employing other techniques for securing their users' data, such as using end-to-end communication (with keys that they have no access to because they're always kept on-device) for a number of their services.

Aside from the technological means they've employed to secure their users' data that resides on others' servers, there's almost certainly also legal means that they're employing. With these contracts being worth as much as they are, Apple isn't simply clicking an "I Agree" button for a take-it-or-leave it Terms of Service that the rest of us have to agree to when we sign up with these providers. Rather, they're using teams of lawyers to negotiate one-off contracts with their cloud service providers...contracts which will no doubt make the lives of those providers hell should they ever try to misuse Apple's data. After all, that's how contracts between competitors tend to work.

All of which is to say, while I don't have any expectation that anyone here will rise above the standard of petty tribalism and glib comments, this site is at its best when it manages to do so. There are plenty of valid complaints to make against Apple, but flippant aspersions based on a lack of understanding about widely employed business practices that have been in use by them for years without issue is not the way to do it.

You seem to subscribe to the misguided notion that this is a new or concerning development. It's not. The fact that Apple uses other cloud vendors as commodity services on which they build their own has been well documented for years and is even explicitly stated on a number of Apple's user-facing pages. For instance, Apple's Approach to Privacy page mentions in the section on iCloud:

If we use third-party vendors to store your information, we encrypt it and never give them the keys. Apple retains the encryption keys in our own data centers, so you can back up, sync, and share your iCloud data.

Apple hasn't exactly been shy about mentioning (in lectures, white papers, and other communications) that parts of iCloud have been built on top of S3 and Azure for the last several years. The only thing that changed recently is that they swapped Azure out for Google Cloud in some of their documentation, suggesting that Google likely outbid Microsoft the last time the contract came up for renewal. Given that Apple's cloud contracts are reported to be worth billions of dollars apiece, it's not exactly surprising that competition would be rather fierce and that Google would have been gunning for it.

As for your concerns over what the providers might do with Apple's data, as noted above, Apple is already encrypting the data at rest on those servers, but as a Slashdot reader you may want to dig your teeth into some more details. For people who are technically-minded, such as yourself, Apple has helpfully published an iOS Security Guide that does a decent job of explaining what all goes into their devices' security, including iCloud services that are used on their devices. It should be a relatively easy read for you, given that they've done a good job of taking deeply technical details and making them accessible in intermediate-level language. You'll quickly find that besides encrypting the data when it's at rest on third-party servers, they're also employing other techniques for securing their users' data, such as using end-to-end communication (with keys that they have no access to because they're always kept on-device) for a number of their services.

Aside from the technological means they've employed to secure their users' data that resides on others' servers, there's almost certainly also legal means that they're employing. With these contracts being worth as much as they are, Apple isn't simply clicking an "I Agree" button for a take-it-or-leave it Terms of Service that the rest of us have to agree to when we sign up with these providers. Rather, they're using teams of lawyers to negotiate one-off contracts with their cloud service providers...contracts which will no doubt make the lives of those providers hell should they ever try to misuse Apple's data. After all, that's how contracts between competitors tend to work.

All of which is to say, while I don't have any expectation that anyone here will rise above the standard of petty tribalism and glib comments, this site is at its best when it manages to do so. There are plenty of valid complaints to make against Apple, but flippant aspersions based on a lack of understanding about widely employed business practices that have been in use by them for years without issue is not the way to do it.

https://slashdot.org/comments....

The CA is not saying anything about the products they provide.

Agreed.

Further, in practice, all you need is a DUNs number, which you get just by applying to them. The CA then checks that number matches your name.

Apparently getting a D-U-N-S number requires your business to be organized as a corporation or LLC, not a doing-business-as or other passthrough. Thus there's also the cost to incorporate or form an LLC with your jurisdiction's business regulator, keep that corporation or LLC renewed, and file its income tax return. Or should every developer of free software and every hobbyist developer of proprietary freeware be expected to have already done this?

So no check at all really.

And that your credit card is valid.

1. I was forced to buy a mac because I wouldn't have been able to develop for ios otherwise. Many people buy Apple for various reasons, it doesn't mean they agree with the limits it places on them.

And you were FORCED to develop for iOS by WHOM, exactly?

2. I have a person in the family who fixes Thinkpads. I can tell you, every part is replaceable and available. You don't need any special tools. There, I've imagined one product.

Really? Then Thinkpads don't use ANY custom silicon, connectors, case-parts, etc? I simply don't believe that.

3. That is true, so compared to Google, Apple is limiting me in some way which is basically what I said in the first place. Now I have to accept all of Apple's shit because I want to develop in both major mobile OSes? This gets better and better.

So what? Go do something else.

4. Didn't know that, fair enough. Maybe they really do have courage, even though it took them long enough.

Yep. You can either use XCode and Build any number of Open Source Apps sourced on github and other places; or you can use Cydia Impactor (from any platform except 64 bit Linux, curiously!) and install pre-compiled ".ipa" files from a growing-number of third-party repositories.

Fascinating that in all this time, Slashdot has never made a big (or even a small) deal out of that most-significant change in iOS. Wonder if there's an agenda?

5. Again, too little too late. (can it smb or nfs or scp?)

Don't know. It's a PHONE, FFS! How much cruft do you want in the Filesystem?!?

But apparently, the answer to at least some of that is YES:

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

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

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

There are more; but those are some examples of SMB/CIFS/NFS clients for iOS. And since there is a prohibition on "private libraries" in App Store Apps, I would submit that those filesystem capabilities ARE in existence in iOS already, just not exposed. But you should KNOW that, since you're an iOS Developer, right? Or so you say...

Having said that, I had somewhat of an unsuccessful search on Apple's Developer site trying to find info on supported filesystems in iOS, except for a comment stating that "filesystem support in iOS is basically the same as macOS...", so I believe the frameworks for SMB/CIFS, NFS and WebDAV are present in iOS.

6. Ok I didn't mention iCloud because that's worse than having to use iTunes. I don't have to use anything in the cloud with my android phone. I just open a browser and connect with smb or ssh.

You might be surprised to hear this; but I don't use the Cloud for anything, either. If I need to transfer something to/from my network at home or work, I use the "GoodReader" app (which also has SMB/CIFS/WebDAV capabilities, but is no longer available, since they didn't recompile it for 64-bit for some reason) or "FTPClient" app (which may also be a casualty of the 32-bit app-purge) to do so. I think the last thing I xferred to my work Windows network was 2 GB-worth of video of a local concert I shot on my iPhone. Worked great. No "Cloud" involved. Just a local WiFi connection from my iPhone to the router at the office.

7. Apple didn't move on anything until they got a better deal.

Sez you. Prove it.

1. I was forced to buy a mac because I wouldn't have been able to develop for ios otherwise. Many people buy Apple for various reasons, it doesn't mean they agree with the limits it places on them.

And you were FORCED to develop for iOS by WHOM, exactly?

2. I have a person in the family who fixes Thinkpads. I can tell you, every part is replaceable and available. You don't need any special tools. There, I've imagined one product.

Really? Then Thinkpads don't use ANY custom silicon, connectors, case-parts, etc? I simply don't believe that.

3. That is true, so compared to Google, Apple is limiting me in some way which is basically what I said in the first place. Now I have to accept all of Apple's shit because I want to develop in both major mobile OSes? This gets better and better.

So what? Go do something else.

4. Didn't know that, fair enough. Maybe they really do have courage, even though it took them long enough.

Yep. You can either use XCode and Build any number of Open Source Apps sourced on github and other places; or you can use Cydia Impactor (from any platform except 64 bit Linux, curiously!) and install pre-compiled ".ipa" files from a growing-number of third-party repositories.

Fascinating that in all this time, Slashdot has never made a big (or even a small) deal out of that most-significant change in iOS. Wonder if there's an agenda?

5. Again, too little too late. (can it smb or nfs or scp?)

Don't know. It's a PHONE, FFS! How much cruft do you want in the Filesystem?!?

But apparently, the answer to at least some of that is YES:

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

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

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

There are more; but those are some examples of SMB/CIFS/NFS clients for iOS. And since there is a prohibition on "private libraries" in App Store Apps, I would submit that those filesystem capabilities ARE in existence in iOS already, just not exposed. But you should KNOW that, since you're an iOS Developer, right? Or so you say...

Having said that, I had somewhat of an unsuccessful search on Apple's Developer site trying to find info on supported filesystems in iOS, except for a comment stating that "filesystem support in iOS is basically the same as macOS...", so I believe the frameworks for SMB/CIFS, NFS and WebDAV are present in iOS.

6. Ok I didn't mention iCloud because that's worse than having to use iTunes. I don't have to use anything in the cloud with my android phone. I just open a browser and connect with smb or ssh.

You might be surprised to hear this; but I don't use the Cloud for anything, either. If I need to transfer something to/from my network at home or work, I use the "GoodReader" app (which also has SMB/CIFS/WebDAV capabilities, but is no longer available, since they didn't recompile it for 64-bit for some reason) or "FTPClient" app (which may also be a casualty of the 32-bit app-purge) to do so. I think the last thing I xferred to my work Windows network was 2 GB-worth of video of a local concert I shot on my iPhone. Worked great. No "Cloud" involved. Just a local WiFi connection from my iPhone to the router at the office.

7. Apple didn't move on anything until they got a better deal.

Sez you. Prove it.

1. I was forced to buy a mac because I wouldn't have been able to develop for ios otherwise. Many people buy Apple for various reasons, it doesn't mean they agree with the limits it places on them.

And you were FORCED to develop for iOS by WHOM, exactly?

2. I have a person in the family who fixes Thinkpads. I can tell you, every part is replaceable and available. You don't need any special tools. There, I've imagined one product.

Really? Then Thinkpads don't use ANY custom silicon, connectors, case-parts, etc? I simply don't believe that.

3. That is true, so compared to Google, Apple is limiting me in some way which is basically what I said in the first place. Now I have to accept all of Apple's shit because I want to develop in both major mobile OSes? This gets better and better.

So what? Go do something else.

4. Didn't know that, fair enough. Maybe they really do have courage, even though it took them long enough.

Yep. You can either use XCode and Build any number of Open Source Apps sourced on github and other places; or you can use Cydia Impactor (from any platform except 64 bit Linux, curiously!) and install pre-compiled ".ipa" files from a growing-number of third-party repositories.

Fascinating that in all this time, Slashdot has never made a big (or even a small) deal out of that most-significant change in iOS. Wonder if there's an agenda?

5. Again, too little too late. (can it smb or nfs or scp?)

Don't know. It's a PHONE, FFS! How much cruft do you want in the Filesystem?!?

But apparently, the answer to at least some of that is YES:

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

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

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

There are more; but those are some examples of SMB/CIFS/NFS clients for iOS. And since there is a prohibition on "private libraries" in App Store Apps, I would submit that those filesystem capabilities ARE in existence in iOS already, just not exposed. But you should KNOW that, since you're an iOS Developer, right? Or so you say...

Having said that, I had somewhat of an unsuccessful search on Apple's Developer site trying to find info on supported filesystems in iOS, except for a comment stating that "filesystem support in iOS is basically the same as macOS...", so I believe the frameworks for SMB/CIFS, NFS and WebDAV are present in iOS.

6. Ok I didn't mention iCloud because that's worse than having to use iTunes. I don't have to use anything in the cloud with my android phone. I just open a browser and connect with smb or ssh.

You might be surprised to hear this; but I don't use the Cloud for anything, either. If I need to transfer something to/from my network at home or work, I use the "GoodReader" app (which also has SMB/CIFS/WebDAV capabilities, but is no longer available, since they didn't recompile it for 64-bit for some reason) or "FTPClient" app (which may also be a casualty of the 32-bit app-purge) to do so. I think the last thing I xferred to my work Windows network was 2 GB-worth of video of a local concert I shot on my iPhone. Worked great. No "Cloud" involved. Just a local WiFi connection from my iPhone to the router at the office.

7. Apple didn't move on anything until they got a better deal.

Sez you. Prove it.

While none of what you quoted was incorrect, the bolding and selections appear to me to be either a misinterpretation or promotion of a false narrative.

I disagree. You give them a whole lot more benefit of the doubt than I do. I will agree that the legalese can probably be interpreted different ways, but when it is open to interpretation, you should assume it will be interpreted to the detriment of the user.

unique device identifier

However, a device ID on its own doesn't seem very compromising without tying it to a person

It is only treated as personally identifiable, if Apple combines it before selling it. A lot of advertisers have ways to combine it with other data themselves. For example, here is one article on how advertisers use the unique device identifier to identify users:
https://www.wired.com/2011/05/...

Referrers and IPs are just a reality across the whole of the web. I consider myself more sensitive to privacy issues than most and I've just come to accept it.

Yes, but my point is that they should be treated as personal information. Referral URLs often even include personal information like your address. Apple treats the Web sites you visit as non-personal information that they can do whatever they want with.

location share precise location data

Unless you provide consent, this location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you.

I'm sorry, but even if your precise location history isn't tied to your name or any other information by Apple, it is trivial to do so. Someone can easily look at your location at night and see where you sleep and tie that to your identity.

You didn't highlight the our bit before it.

This is a news article about Apple, so I didn't think emphasizing that it was about Apple was necessary.

"We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."

They might share a bunch of anonymized and/or aggregated information.

That's not what it says at all. They can use data tied to your unique identifier, location, and Web history for whatever purpose they want. That isn't anonymous or aggregate. .

"At times Apple may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services, or that help Apple market to customers."

Again, you omitted the Apple part which indicates it's for their own purposes only.

You are leaving out the part where they can share your personal information with "strategic partners." A "strategic partner" could be anyone who pays them if they want it to be. Where does it say for their own purposes? It says your personal information is used by Apple to market to Apple's customers, but it doesn't say they aren't providing that service to advertisers or even selling it as just mentioned.

They might share your email address with a company that handles their direct marketing campaigns, conduct surveys for them, or whatever. I'm their customer, it's not unexpected for them to try to contact me about future purchases. I don't opt-in to their marketing when asked and I've never gotten any direct marketing from them. The same is true for most of the large companies I've done business with, really.

IMO, that is a very naive response. You are aware that Apple runs an Ad network, right?
https://developer.apple.com/ne...
https://developer.apple.com/ne.

While none of what you quoted was incorrect, the bolding and selections appear to me to be either a misinterpretation or promotion of a false narrative.

I disagree. You give them a whole lot more benefit of the doubt than I do. I will agree that the legalese can probably be interpreted different ways, but when it is open to interpretation, you should assume it will be interpreted to the detriment of the user.

unique device identifier

However, a device ID on its own doesn't seem very compromising without tying it to a person

It is only treated as personally identifiable, if Apple combines it before selling it. A lot of advertisers have ways to combine it with other data themselves. For example, here is one article on how advertisers use the unique device identifier to identify users:
https://www.wired.com/2011/05/...

Referrers and IPs are just a reality across the whole of the web. I consider myself more sensitive to privacy issues than most and I've just come to accept it.

Yes, but my point is that they should be treated as personal information. Referral URLs often even include personal information like your address. Apple treats the Web sites you visit as non-personal information that they can do whatever they want with.

location share precise location data

Unless you provide consent, this location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you.

I'm sorry, but even if your precise location history isn't tied to your name or any other information by Apple, it is trivial to do so. Someone can easily look at your location at night and see where you sleep and tie that to your identity.

You didn't highlight the our bit before it.

This is a news article about Apple, so I didn't think emphasizing that it was about Apple was necessary.

"We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."

They might share a bunch of anonymized and/or aggregated information.

That's not what it says at all. They can use data tied to your unique identifier, location, and Web history for whatever purpose they want. That isn't anonymous or aggregate. .

"At times Apple may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services, or that help Apple market to customers."

Again, you omitted the Apple part which indicates it's for their own purposes only.

You are leaving out the part where they can share your personal information with "strategic partners." A "strategic partner" could be anyone who pays them if they want it to be. Where does it say for their own purposes? It says your personal information is used by Apple to market to Apple's customers, but it doesn't say they aren't providing that service to advertisers or even selling it as just mentioned.

They might share your email address with a company that handles their direct marketing campaigns, conduct surveys for them, or whatever. I'm their customer, it's not unexpected for them to try to contact me about future purchases. I don't opt-in to their marketing when asked and I've never gotten any direct marketing from them. The same is true for most of the large companies I've done business with, really.

IMO, that is a very naive response. You are aware that Apple runs an Ad network, right?
https://developer.apple.com/ne...
https://developer.apple.com/ne.

I think that is just marketing. If you read their privacy policy it is actually pretty bad. It's basically the extreme case of "all your data are belong to us" and we'll use it however we want.

Apple considers the "unique device identifier", "location", and "search queries" as non-personal information which they can do anything they want with including sell. They consider information that is personal as non-personal (even your location) and even if they did consider it personal, they say they share personal information for marketing purposes.

Non-personal information according to Apple:

• occupation
• language
• zip code
• area code
• unique device identifier
• referrer URL
• location
• time zone
• customer activities on our website, iCloud services, our iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, App Store for Apple TV and iBooks Stores and from our other products and services
• We may collect and store details of how you use our services, including search queries.

"We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."

"At times Apple may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services, or that help Apple market to customers."

"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device."

Source:
https://www.apple.com/legal/pr...

the premature removal of all USB 3.0 type A ports,

Forcing people to buy a dongle, probably from the Apple store.

the removal of headphone jacks on the latest iPhones

May we recommend our new AirPods? A snip at only $159!!

the soldering of RAM on motherboards

Thus forcing people to buy more when they order the machine, and do so at whatever price Apple decide to charge. E.g. Apple charge $200 for an 8 to 16GB upgrade and $800 to upgrade a 128GB SSD to 1TB.

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy...

the lack of decent Mac mini and Macbook Air updates.

This is probably just laziness. Then again their captive audience will buy the old machines anyway, so I guess they spent less on engineering and got the same sales.

All this stuff is bad for the consumer, but it improves Apple's profitability .

It's a shame really, I'd have bought a new Macbook Pro if they hadn't pulled the trick of soldering the Ram using proprietary SSDs. An extra $1000 on a machine that costs $1299 already is a horrible rip off. Last generation I spent $1099 on a machine and then a few hundred bucks on more Ram and an SSD from Crucial when it got slow. Having to either spend a grand at Apple at the start or never have the possibility of upgrading significantly sours the deal.

the premature removal of all USB 3.0 type A ports,

Forcing people to buy a dongle, probably from the Apple store.

the removal of headphone jacks on the latest iPhones

May we recommend our new AirPods? A snip at only $159!!

the soldering of RAM on motherboards

Thus forcing people to buy more when they order the machine, and do so at whatever price Apple decide to charge. E.g. Apple charge $200 for an 8 to 16GB upgrade and $800 to upgrade a 128GB SSD to 1TB.

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy...

the lack of decent Mac mini and Macbook Air updates.

This is probably just laziness. Then again their captive audience will buy the old machines anyway, so I guess they spent less on engineering and got the same sales.

All this stuff is bad for the consumer, but it improves Apple's profitability .

It's a shame really, I'd have bought a new Macbook Pro if they hadn't pulled the trick of soldering the Ram using proprietary SSDs. An extra $1000 on a machine that costs $1299 already is a horrible rip off. Last generation I spent $1099 on a machine and then a few hundred bucks on more Ram and an SSD from Crucial when it got slow. Having to either spend a grand at Apple at the start or never have the possibility of upgrading significantly sours the deal.

Except we know that 1/29 story was a complete fabrication from Apple's earnings report that came out 2/1... made anyone who believed it look like a complete idiot.

Not saying that YOU are a complete idiot. No sir! *whistles and looks away*....

Yes you can spin a negative into a positive

Or lie a positive into a negative. That's the internet for you! Funny how it leaves little traps like that behind for those that don't pay attention to reality.

I mean, you'd really have to be rather "special" to post what you did after all of the other corrections already posted to the story pointing out the real reasons behind the decline being due to other smartphone makers not following Apple's lead on OLED as rapidly this time around...

t i'd prefer it that they didn't set their expectations so ridiculously high and miss them by such a large margin.

Thanks to great operational and business performance, we achieved all-time record profitability during the quarter, with EPS up 16 percent,

*whistles a little louder and stares intently*

Apple revenue is down something like $18billion from last year.

What the hell are you smoking? Apple quarterly earningsreported on Feb 1. that revenue ending Dec 31, 2017 was up $10B from previous year, and increase of 13%. How do confuse up $10B with down $18B? The iPhone alone was up $7B.

The rest of your statement is at best, fake news.

One of the key *selling points* of Apple products is that they are designed from the start to protect your data - principally because Apple typically chooses to never be a party to your data what so ever, thus eliminating them directly as a threat to your privacy. In regards to Apple Pay: Apple Pay is also designed to protect your personal information. Apple doesn’t store or have access to the original credit, debit, or prepaid card numbers that you use with Apple Pay. And when you use Apple Pay with credit, debit, or prepaid cards, Apple doesn't retain any transaction information that can be tied back to you—your transactions stay between you, the merchant or developer, and your bank. https://support.apple.com/en-u...