Slashdot Mirror

So buy a Nexus.

That works as long as Google continues to sell Nexus devices. There already isn't a Nexus tablet since late May, and Nexus phones appear to be on their way out as well since a couple days ago. Or did you mean a used Nexus?

The whole idea of comparing "Androids" to "iPhones" is idiotic anyway.

There are thousands of Android devices running many variations of the OS on hardware costing from tens to thousands of dollars, with 2.5cm to 150cm+ screens. The iPhone 4 had a defective antenna design, leading to a 100% failure rate without the rubber, and has by far the worst failure mode in that Apple Maps is so bad it can actually kill you.

Oh, I finally re-found the article I was looking for. But I would put this firmly in the "rumor" category.

Well, literally hundreds of millions of people (per year) buy iPhones (last 12 months was 215 million) and don't have this problem.

I could see you getting a bad phone - shit happens. I could (just about) see you getting *two* bad phones out of two. There is no way I'd buy that you got three successive phones that failed in the same way, as for five ? Well, I'll be charitable and say you must be the unluckiest person on the planet. Is your name Brian by any chance ?

For reference: "In line with the firm’s fourth-quarter report, a study that analyzed smartphone failures during the first quarter of 2016 determined that Android devices cause far more problems for their owners than iPhones. According to Blancco Technology Group’s new data, 44% of Android phones experienced failures between January and March of this year, compared to 25% of iPhones"

Occam's razor says I still think you don't look after the phone, assuming you're telling the truth. Sorry.

Well, I was hopeful when I heard "a new type of pickup"... and then quickly disappointed. Here's what I was hoping to see.

From an aerodynamics perspective, increasing a vehicle's height or width costs you energy, but increasing its length does not. Actually, just the opposite - a longer vehicle gives you more room for a more gradual taper and so can even decrease energy consumption.

The biggest hauling need in a pickup in a work environment is generally for things that are significantly longer than they are wide. Not always, but that seems to be the most common (boards, steel, pipe, etc)

While with a somewhat rough underside the most efficient design places a vehicle close to the ground, once you get to a highly smooth underside the optimal shape starts becoming to elevate it more. Which means ground clearance, exactly what you want in a pickup.

In short.. a true "streamliner" pickup truck actually makes very good sense, with a long, somewhat narrowed bed and a highly vertically-tapered top cover for when not carrying oversized loads. I would love such a thing, and have often pondered making one at some point in the distant future because nothing like that ever comes on the market.

Instead, here's what we get from Tesla - a half-streamlined half-attempt that puts style over function. What's the purpose of that big engine compartment, for example? No, seriously, it's not like they have to put some giant ICE there, what's the point of it? The point is to look like a conventional, inefficient pickup :P With an EV you want your batteries down low. In the case of a pickup, under the floor of the cab to offset the weight of the bed. You ideally want 4WD, which in an EV is probably best done by dual motors, front and back. Electric motors are small, they don't need some massive engine compartment. That engine compartment also leaves a sharp transition at the windscreen which messes up your airflow. They do a fair bit of work on the profile, mind you - the top tapers to get a better "rounding", they show very streamlined mirrors, etc. They put some pointless flourish streamlines" on the door and sides as well as the hood, though, but whatever... Then at the back they go to this conventional (except for being tiny) bed, which is just the opposite of what you want in both regards. All that space wasted on the front should have been in the back. The bottom should also be tapering up there. And no streamline top cover? Just your conventional pickup bed vortex? Uninspiring.

(I'd personally like the rear and possibly front wheels shrouded, but there are practical downsides to that when it comes to a pickup and it might not be practical)

Aero isn't just about "saving energy". It also means greater range and faster charge times and less charge cycles on the batteries. It's a very big deal. And with a pickup, all of those become even more important than with a sedan, since it's tasked with a tougher job.

'Without ads' is important to 74% of netflix subs according to a survey last month that showed they'd drop the service if it introduced ads.

http://bgr.com/2016/06/22/netf...

I know it's /. but I'm still pretty sure that 74% represents 'most'.

That is not the same as saying that ads are not important to most people. If the question had been phrased "Would you be willing to have three ads at the beginning of a show if that meant a 12.5% reduction in your subscription rate?" would probably generate a different response. (BTW, the 12.5% is the amount of the rate increase for most users).

Most surveys are a) not statistically valid and b) are consciously or subconsciously biased to the answer the questioner expects. As such, they aren't really very useful at all.

'Without ads' is important to 74% of netflix subs according to a survey last month that showed they'd drop the service if it introduced ads.

http://bgr.com/2016/06/22/netf...

I know it's /. but I'm still pretty sure that 74% represents 'most'.

it has your passwords and gives them to anyone on the social networks of people who you allow to access your computer Now if this is true then you can demonstrate to me how such a person can get say my internet banking password. But I already know you can't do that because you're lying and your post is a troll.

Look up wifi sense. If you allow someone using Windows 10 or a Windows phone access to your wireless network, it will share that with others. So your buddy Joe's shady cousin can log on to your local network.

This is pretty well documented by Microsoft and others, I'm a little surprised that a W10 expert doesn't know that. Do you really need the citations? Okay, http://bgr.com/2015/08/03/wind...

They did finally kill it after massive outrage: http://www.extremetech.com/com...

As for my other assertations, if you have W10, you've certainly read the security and privacy settings? It's all in there, except for the telemetry part So here ya go: http://arstechnica.com/informa... https://forums.untangle.com/we...

http://www.dslreports.com/foru...

As well, they bypass your hosts file a good bit. Anyone really concerned about privacy should have a non-microsoft firewall in the loop. Note that some sites they don't allow you to block should be allowed os that your computer acts properly.

Their allowing other people in a known friend's social network onto your wireless network after you allow a known friend on it is known and called WiFi Sense. You want citations? Here's your citations:

http://www.extremetech.com/ext... http://bgr.com/2015/08/03/wind...

Your cute definition of keylogging is noted. You do realize that is saying that word processing and email is keylogging as well? Obviously there are times we want info going to Microsoft. This is not about those times.

Anyhow, there is plenty of documentation out there of Windows 10's invasiveness, And sorry, you didn't disprove anything.

http://bgr.com/2014/07/14/last...

*yawn*

Better late than never, I suppose, but some big players like Walmart and Home Depot are trying to get chip and PIN, albeit in a round-about way by suing the networks.

Apple busted samsung for making something that bore some similarity to their phone. If you cant see the irony in them getting sued by this whackado then you're the moe-ron.

Samsung's phone was a direct-as-possible copy of the iPhone, and there are internal Samsung memos to prove it.

Anyone participating in the "Serves Apple Right" or "Rounded Corners FTW"-type memes are either Shills, or complete and total idiots (or both).

Which are you?

All I have been hearing is Apple, Apple, Apple. Yet from Motorola killed the headphone jack and nobody noticed 10 days ago

Killed-schmilled ! Sony-Ericsson NEVER used 3.5mm jack ! Take that, Apple !

Right now any headphone maker in the world can make any headphones they want for the standard jack. Not so with the Lightning port.

That's supposed to be an argument for this change? I don't care if it's a good move for Apple, it's a bad move for me. My iPhone spends ~10 hours every day with something plugged into the 3.5mm jack between my car's auxiliary cable and my nice headphones at work. A new iPhone is already over $600, now I'm expected to get bluetooth installed in my car and toss my $200 headphones, or constantly carry an adapter cable, or buy 3 adapter cables to keep at home, work, and in my car? That's insane.

Well, it may be insane; but 3.5 mm jacks on phones are already going the way of the Dodo.

But nobody cares if Motorola or LeEco or whoever ELSE does it; but if Apple DARES to even have a RUMOR of ditching the 3.5mm jack (in favor of what? Nobody knows; but everyone speculates), they are the frickin' Antichrist...

Of course, now that I've posted this, the Fandroids will just start accusing Apple of copying Android (facepalm).

All I have been hearing is Apple, Apple, Apple. Yet from Motorola killed the headphone jack and nobody noticed 10 days ago

There are many interesting things about the Moto Z devices presented yesterday, ultra-thin handsets that bring modularity to Motorola’s lineup of mobile products. One of them is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which absolutely nobody noticed during the event.

Good point!

All I have been hearing is Apple, Apple, Apple. Yet from Motorola killed the headphone jack and nobody noticed 10 days ago

There are many interesting things about the Moto Z devices presented yesterday, ultra-thin handsets that bring modularity to Motorola’s lineup of mobile products. One of them is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which absolutely nobody noticed during the event.

While you are correct Motorola's market share is very small and shrinking as they have around 5% of the market where as Apple has over 40% and I bet most of the people are also unhappy with Motorola getting rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack. After all the last thing I need is another adapter I need to carry around unless I pony up for another set of headphones.

All I have been hearing is Apple, Apple, Apple. Yet from Motorola killed the headphone jack and nobody noticed 10 days ago

There are many interesting things about the Moto Z devices presented yesterday, ultra-thin handsets that bring modularity to Motorola’s lineup of mobile products. One of them is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which absolutely nobody noticed during the event.

I'd be willing to bet that Tesla's subsidies aren't small on a per-vehicle basis. Total production of all vehicles worldwide for Tesla is a paltry 125k -- that would be just 4.5 *days* production for Toyota -- and yet in Nevada alone Tesla scored US$1.25 *billion* in subsidies two years ago, much of them front-loaded. That's US$10,000 per vehicle they'd made to date *and* in most of the following two years after the deal was signed thru today.

And that's just one of the subsidies from which Tesla and Musk are profiting. Another is the federal tax subsidy that's putting US$7,500 of yours and my tax dollars per vehicle sold in Tesla's pocket, and which will likely continue to do so through 2018: http://bgr.com/2016/02/12/tesl... -- and there are others, too.

It's been interesting to watch the fall of Google. First they drop their "do no evil" motto, then all developers are told to use macbooks, and it's been a steady decline into doin things like Apple since. They've dropped open standards in favor of proprietary closed ones, they've abandoned the ideals of open source, and heavily adopted the walled garden philosophy. How quickly the Apple methodology has seeped into all American tech companies is really astonishing. I guess that's what happens when millions of mindless hipsters throw billions of dollars to the wind.

Companies have grown very obnoxious: Samsung's TV which listens to what is said in your home so it can deliver targeted ads http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/0... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech... and Microsoft's Windows 10 which spies on everything you do http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/wind... http://www.independent.co.uk/l...

Unlikely people would buy a Samsung's TV if they knew about this, but Microsoft has a virtual monopoly we can't avoid. Time for the FTC to stop these repugnant companies for abusing their dominant positions.

Let me be clear, I think pushing ads into the OS is pretty nearly the definition of dystopian and frankly obscene.

It is easy to block however:
http://bgr.com/2015/11/20/wind...
As CNET helpfully explained this week, you only need to follow a few steps to turn off ads:

Open the âSettingsâ(TM) menu
Click on âPersonalizationâ(TM)
Click on âStartâ(TM) at the bottom of the left-hand column
Find a heading labeled âoeOccasionally show suggestions in Startâ and turn the switch to the âOffâ(TM) position

BTW: take the opportunity while you're in settings to turn off ALL THE OTHER SHIT THAT'S ON BY DEFAULT in WIN10.

This has been an incredibly difficult week for Apple. The company shed more than $40 billion in market capitalization on Tuesday evening following its fiscal first-quarter earnings report, which showed a much steeper decline than Wall Street was expecting in both profit and iPhone sales. Then, just one day later, tragedy struck Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters when one of the company's employees was found dead in a conference room on campus.

http://bgr.com/2016/04/29/apple-suicide-cupertino-campus-recap/

Just like MS, Apple stole their entire UI idea from Palo Alto.

Nope. They PAID for that, then took it FAR beyond what Xerox PARC even ENVISIONED.

They have stolen countless software app ideas over the years from devs.

And if you have written more than 10 lines of code in your life, so have you, me, and EVERY other Developer. Next!

Ipod. Stolen. Then refined with a better interface.

So NOT "Stolen". Refined. So, as another Poster said, Porsche "stole" the CAR from "Ford", right?

Ipad. Stolen. Then reality distortion field'ed into being 'revolutionary'.

Stolen? From WHAT, exactly??? Those POS "Slabs" that ran Windows for about 45 minutes and weight 10 pounds? See Porsche, above.

Iphoney. Stolen. Then reality distortion field'ed into being 'revolutionary'.

Again, Really? Who STOLE from WHO, again?

MB Air. Stolen. Then reality distortion field'ed into being 'revolutionary'.

Stolen? Again, from WHO? If you count "Netbooks" as "Prior Art" for the MBA, you might as well count the horse and buggy "prior art" for the Tesla.

Apple TC. Stolen. Then reality distortion field'ed into being 'revolutionary'.

TC? Time Capsule? How does that even make the list? It is nothing more than an obvious marriage of a WiFi Router and a Hard Drive for Time Machine Backups of several machines in the same household. But it isn't "Stolen".

Apple Watch. Stolen. Then they tried but failed to make it into being 'revolutionary'.

Everybody and his dog was more or less simultaneously working on Smart Watches. Apple's is cooler than most, because of the infrastructure it shares. But I don't think that anyone particularly "Stole" stuff from anyone else. There are only so many ways to do a SmartWatch. That's why they are ALL so similar. But seriously, STOLE???

Apple has many businesses still growing - if you thought of any one product Apple makes a business, it would generally be growing more than most companies around.

The AppleWatch for example, was estimated to have sold more than twice the units of the first iPhone - and sales in the first twelve months brought in $1.5 billion more than Rolex.

Apple's music and video sales are constantly growing. Apple Mac sales still see a healthy growth every quarter. Apple's services growth is greater than Google at this point, and because services are tied to hardware which Apple has so much of in the field, there's no reason to think service growth will slow.

Even the iPhone is still growing more than not.

Sometimes what the "law of large numbers" means is that if you are large enough, you win.

TBH, both the Nexus S and the Nexus 4 were supported for less than just the production run of any iPhone since at least the iPhone 3G, much less it's total support period. Perhaps there's a reason 75% of teens next phone will be an iPhone? But it is not just teens. The common complaint there is Android and its support model, or lack thereof.

TBH, both the Nexus S and the Nexus 4 were supported for less than just the production run of any iPhone since at least the iPhone 3G, much less it's total support period. Perhaps there's a reason 75% of teens next phone will be an iPhone? But it is not just teens. The common complaint there is Android and its support model, or lack thereof.

Adoption of XBox Ones was rather slow

Similar rate to the PS4 just lower number due to the foreign market favoring Japanese products over American.
Reference: http://bgr.com/2015/02/18/ps4-...

with the stupid mandatory Kinect feature, and the "must phone-home" feature

For most buyers it was a bonus, not a downfall. I can't find the numbers but they got tones more female users than PS4. The main reason was the dance games available at release. WII obviously has the biggest female fan base.

The "must phone home was" more a /. complaint than a main stream complaint. Don't take me wrong, it did become concern for all because the tech users screamed loud enough to the media. It's important to note that the perception of phone home was never removed as most people I know to this point still think its part of the product. I'd argue that a cell phone is far worst than any game console one can plug in his house but to each his own fears.

They kept the X360s going to keep their revenue-stream going.

That's all it is. They kept publishers happy, their clients and their stock holders. It was a common sense decision considering the major R&D cost were behind them and the engineering and maintenance team striped down to bare minimum.

My links were unfortunately deleted from my post above, but here:
http://arstechnica.com/informa...
https://bgr.com/2016/02/10/win...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/go...
https://theintercept.com/2015/...

There are many commercial entities that would be overjoyed to finance Tesla some billions based on the outstanding pre-order book.

And even more commercial entities that would be overjoyed if Tesla crashed and burned.

Analysts are falling over themselves trying to paint Tesla in a bad light. Usually this is done by "black-box analytics" without taking the context into account. We're seeing this in the original article: massive public demand is bad for Tesla because it will hurt them in the long run.

For example, Tesla has had little or no profit for the last couple of quarters because they're putting everything into the gigafactory. Looked at as a black box, Tesla is a company with little or no revenue.

...but this doesn't account for the gigafactory, or that Tesla will pretty-much corner the market in cars *and* lithium batteries in a couple of years.

The price point of Tesla is all over the map, analysts put it anywhere from $100 to $1900 .

It's insane. There's a subtext among certain analysts and pundits that they are *only* dissing Tesla because they want to bolster their GM stock. Then there's the analysts and pundits who put sterile figures into an algorithm and come up with a "buy", "sell", or "hold" outcome and then justify that outcome (any outcome, it doesn't matter) from whatever is going on at the time.

There's literally(*) no source of reliable information about stocks that a common person can access.

So far as I can tell, the best you can hope for is to have an engineer's understanding of the context and make an educated guess. Company is working on an implantable insulin delivery device? If you think the concept is feasible, it's probably a good bet. Can a company makes a razor that cuts hair with a laser? Probably not a good bet.

Reading analysts predictions about stocks is worthless. You can get just as good information by plotting a stocks' astrology chart.

(*) I'm using the term "literal" by it's dictionary definition.

That's the same argument that any company at all could make to sell a new model. All the Apple bashers manage to miss this point completely. New versions of hardware and software = better security (most times). Bug fixes, zero-day resolutions, new ideas in hardware like secure enclave, shit gets better as people have ideas on how to secure stuff better.

But lets just pretend that Apple is the only company that ever wants to sell new models of stuff, and is also the only company that ever improves their stuff. Lets also pretend that Apple actually doesn't want to protect your privacy, that they haven't improved their security before this was ever even an issue.

Also lets continue to pretend that Apple was the company that brought this up publically, and not the FBI. The FBI definitely didn't make this case public, hoping that public opinion would make Apple buckle, after Apple filed a motion to keep it quiet and between the courts and the FBI/Apple.

http://bgr.com/2016/02/19/appl...

I'm sure you'll say that bgr.com isn't a good source, that's fine. The NY Times is the quote they use in that article.

Feel free to hate on Apple all you want, but feel free to go fuck yourself too.

"Are they hitting a wall of unmanageable complexity?" No, my view is that Microsoft has hit a wall built of many years of technically incompetent top management.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was called "Monkey Boy". The January 16, 2013 issue of BusinessWeek magazine has a large photo of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (now replaced by Satya Nadella) with the headline calling him "Monkey Boy". See the BusinessWeek cover in this article: Steve Ballmer Is No Longer A Monkey Boy, Says Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The BusinessWeek cover says "No More" and "Mr.", but that doesn't take much away from the fact that the magazine called Ballmer "Monkey Boy" -- on its cover.

Worst CEO in the United States: Quote from an article in Forbes Magazine about Steve Ballmer: "Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today."

Another quote: "The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value -- and jobs." (May 12, 2012)

Who would want to work for "Monkey Boy"? Microsoft is apparently not able to hire socially competent people. Apparently Satya Nadella was chosen because he was the least annoying person. However, he does not seem to me to be the kind of person who can handle the enormous conflicts inside Microsoft.

This is my guess: Someone at Microsoft said, "Google and Facebook are collecting data about customers and selling it; let's do that also." So Windows 8 was designed to try to sell "Apps", as though Windows was a particularly trashy cell phone operating system. I was shocked when I first saw the Windows 8.1 GUI. Utterly incompetent. Now Windows 10 is apparently trying to imitate Google Android, which has become more and more invasive.

People who have work to do have already learned the GUIs they need. Even if the design is imperfect, that's what they know. They don't want wild changes.

It's scary. In the last few months, Windows 10 has been shown again and again to be sloppily designed and implemented, as well as being spyware.

Judging from comments on Slashdot, people try to find some technical reason for Microsoft's policies. They apparently have difficulty imagining that Microsoft managers are as incompetent as they are.

Some links:

Windows 8: NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered (Aug. 22, 2013)

Windows: NSA "backdoor" mandates lead to a computer-security FREAK show Quote: "Microsoft Windows OS vulnerable to hackers, thanks to National Security Agency requirements." (March 6, 2015)

Windows: NSA Built Back Door In All Windows Software by 1999 (June 7, 2013)

Windows 10, Microsoft hiding what it is doing: Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Quote: "Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way." (Aug 21, 2015)

Windows 10, Microsoft takes even more control: Windows 10 is spying on almost everything you do -- here's how to opt out (July 31, 2015) But, of course, Microsoft can change the spyware to a

I know you can get a barebones XBOne for $300 or so, but for around $400 you can build a gaming PC that will outperform it and be capable of so much more. Here are a few links I found after just a quick Google:
http://www.toptengamer.com/top...
http://gamingbolt.com/how-to-m...
http://www.cheatsheet.com/tech...
http://bgr.com/2014/09/11/chea...

It appears to me that Microsoft is selling itself to secret U.S. government agencies. Who tried to kill the excellent TrueCrypt? The old original TrueCrypt web site pushes people toward a Microsoft product.

Can Microsoft be trusted? Here are some articles:

Windows 8: NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered (Aug. 22, 2013)

Windows: NSA "backdoor" mandates lead to a computer-security FREAK show Quote: "Microsoft Windows OS vulnerable to hackers, thanks to National Security Agency requirements." (March 6, 2015)

Windows: NSA Built Back Door In All Windows Software by 1999 (June 7, 2013)

Windows 10, Microsoft hiding what it is doing: Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Quote: "Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way." (Aug 21, 2015)

Windows 10, Microsoft takes even more control: Windows 10 is spying on almost everything you do -- here's how to opt out But, of course, Microsoft can change the spyware to avoid blocking. (July 31, 2015)

Microsoft can't be trusted: How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again? (June 17, 2013)

Microsoft releases EXTREMELY buggy software: Microsoft Kills Many Critical Flaws, Some 0-Days, Un-Trusts One Wildcard Cert It is likely that there are many bugs Microsoft hasn't yet found. Are Microsoft products intentionally made insecure? (December 9, 2015)

You said, 'You obviously have no idea what the word "spyware" means.'

You obviously haven't been reading the many, many, many stories. Here are links to just 7 of the stories about insecurity and links to 2 stories about bad management:

Windows 8: NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered (Aug. 22, 2013)

Windows: NSA "backdoor" mandates lead to a computer-security FREAK show Quote: "Microsoft Windows OS vulnerable to hackers, thanks to National Security Agency requirements." (March 6, 2015)

Windows: NSA Built Back Door In All Windows Software by 1999 (June 7, 2013)

Windows 10, Microsoft hiding what it is doing: Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way. (Aug 21, 2015)

Windows 10, Microsoft takes even more control: Windows 10 is spying on almost everything you do -- here's how to opt out (July 31, 2015) But, of course, Microsoft can change the spyware to avoid blocking.

Microsoft can't be trusted: How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again? (June 17, 2013)

Microsoft releases EXTREMELY buggy software: Microsoft Kills Many Critical Flaws, Some 0-Days, Un-Trusts One Wildcard Cert (December 9, 2015) It is likely that there are many bugs Microsoft hasn't yet found.

Badly managed companies don't produce good products:

Microsoft has extremely bad management: The January 16, 2013 issue of BusinessWeek magazine has a large photo of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (now replaced) with the headline calling him "Monkey Boy". See the BusinessWeek cover in this article: Steve Ballmer Is No Longer A Monkey Boy, Says Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The BusinessWeek cover says "No More" and "Mr.", but that doesn't take much away from the fact that the magazine called Ballmer Monkey Boy -- on its cover.

Worst CEO in the United States: Quote from an article in Forbes Magazine about Steve Ballmer: "Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today."

Another quote: "The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value -- and jobs." (May 12, 2012)

The FBI made this issue public.
Trying to make Apple look like the bad guy, to generate public sympathy.

It can already spy on you out of the box.

On 10 November 2014, Skype scored 1 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. Skype received a point for encryption during transit but lost points because communications are not encrypted with a key the provider doesn't have access to (i.e. the communications are not end-to-end encrypted)

Chinese, Russian and United States law enforcement agencies have the ability to eavesdrop on Skype conversations, as well as have access to Skype users geographic locations. This ability was deliberately added by Microsoft after they purchased Skype in 2011.

TL;DR = Skype is a privacy clusterfuck. It is already well and thoroughly backdoored. Adding another back door is akin to adding a second screen door to your submarine.

ahem... http://www.ibtimes.com/apple-r... http://bgr.com/2014/06/13/ipho... http://bgr.com/2015/06/03/appl...

ahem... http://www.ibtimes.com/apple-r... http://bgr.com/2014/06/13/ipho... http://bgr.com/2015/06/03/appl...

http://bgr.com/2016/02/01/pors...

Thank you for your support of teachers. I've already reported and weighed in a few times about this subject, and I'd like to just expand on a few of your points.

Unfortunately, money speaks, and superintendents listen. When someone walks into a sup's office and says, "I'd like to donate $50,000 to the district to buy more technology," who would say no? And, on a national scale, if Zuck & Gates walk into the president's office to say, "We'd like to donate $1,000,000 to get more school districts to code," do you think Obama would be any different?

I do wish that we would just let labor markets let supply and demand naturally encourage or discourage people from entering and leaving the profession, as it happened a decade ago. While Microsoft claims that we aren't supplying enough computer programmers to meet demand, the BLS begs to differ. Salaries have grown at 1.5% annually between 2004-2012, barely keeping up with inflation. All the while, we continue to bring in more H1B visa applicants. If these companies -really- want more programmers, all they need to do is raise salaries. It sounds like they have plenty to spare. Not to mention repatriating all that money would go a long ways in increasing tax revenues to help states pay for their K-12 institutions.

this article says Samsung TV's are doing the same thing as LG; https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/02/samsung_televis.html

another article said Vizio TV's do the same thing. http://bgr.com/2015/11/10/vizio-smart-tv-spying/

It's standard for everything, every bit of data, everything your TV does to enable your viewing habits and usage to be monitored and recorded without your consent or knowledge.

It's like Google's and cellphones and telephone and internet. you cannot stop them from doing it unless you cut the Internet cord entirely.

The internet is dangerous because it's being used as a feed into your home and life any time you use it.

That's odd... actual benchmarks seem to disagree with you - iPhones are significantly faster than anything else out there:

http://cdn.bgr.com/2015/09/iph...
http://cdn.bgr.com/2015/09/iph...
http://blogs-images.forbes.com...
http://images.anandtech.com/gr...
http://images.anandtech.com/gr...

That's odd... actual benchmarks seem to disagree with you - iPhones are significantly faster than anything else out there:

http://cdn.bgr.com/2015/09/iph...
http://cdn.bgr.com/2015/09/iph...
http://blogs-images.forbes.com...
http://images.anandtech.com/gr...
http://images.anandtech.com/gr...

For those who don't know, Samsung marketed this digital picture frame in 2006, long before the iPad was even a rumor, and even pre-dating the iPhone. Notice how the front looks identical to the later Samsung tablets, just with bigger bezels and no button. And it contains all of the distinctive elements of the original iPad that Apple sued over except the home button - flat, rounded corners, black bezels with white/silver edges. As if Apple simply ripped off Samsung's design, then turned around and sued Samsung for ripping them off.

The argument against that version of history has always been that the back of the picture frame looks nothing like the back of the iPad. Well, now we have this image of the back of an early iPad prototype, lending support to the theory that Apple used Samsung's picture frame as a starting point for their iPad design.

This is an interesting way for Microsoft to throw away bags of money for nothing. PC sales are declining for a reason. It's interesting to see how they've become exactly like IBM.

"PC" (Wintel PC) sales have been declining. For a reason (actually several).

However, Mac sales have been advancing at substantial rate. In fact, Apple is the only PC Manufacturer to see an increase in sales, year-over-year.

And you can't say it's Mac fanbois; because a sizeable chunk were formerly Wintel owners, or how else could you achieve such impressive market expansion relative to the "Windows" PC market?

How do I inform Verizon and Motorola that I won't buy an android phone from them EVER AGAIN until they start supporting their products with security patches?

Adults vote with their feet.

Join the mass-exodus away from Android and toward iOS that is already well under way in Asia.

They even made it easy for you...

>In Geekbench, the iPhone 6s Plus performed second only to Samsung's newest Galaxy models

So it came in second! Yay!

I'm not sure where you got your figures (since there is no citation, Yay!); but this article claims that the iPhone 6s "Obliterates" the competition. And the GeekBench 3 scores in that article would tend to support that claim.

I got my figures from the article. I see a headline proclaiming product A to be the best and I scroll down and the first figures I find are of product B being better.

4996, 4952, 4824 and 4799 are all bigger numbers than 4379, yet they put the 4379 first in the chart, whereas all the other entries in that chart are ranked by geekbench score. This was not an objective exposition of the data. Tufte would been spinning in his grave if he was dead.

>In Geekbench, the iPhone 6s Plus performed second only to Samsung's newest Galaxy models

So it came in second! Yay!

I'm not sure where you got your figures (since there is no citation, Yay!); but this article claims that the iPhone 6s "Obliterates" the competition. And the GeekBench 3 scores in that article would tend to support that claim.

"The PC has stopped being the primary computing device of most people meaning that if they don't make it big on the mobile front they'll be irrelevant in the long run."

Agreed. But I think Microsoft will not "make it big" with mobile software.

Products that face low sales because of abuse and foolishness:

Windows: If you have Windows 7, why get a new version? At some point the version you have is enough. Apparently there aren't any new features in Windows 10 that are attractive to customers. Apparently the new features in Windows 10 are all anti-customer.

Google is becoming more and more abusive: F.T.C. Is Said to Investigate Claims That Google Used Android to Promote Its Products.

Apple iPhones: What will the future iPhone 7 have that the iPhone 6 doesn't have? Digital Turnip Twaddling? At some point people will stop rushing to buy new iPhones.

Apple watches? Now that Steve Jobs is dead, Apple no longer releases easy-to-use products. Apple now does the Microsoft thing and releases buggy products that it slowly fixes. Articles:

Verdict: "... there's a learning curve you have to overcome..."

Seven problems facing the Apple Watch

Apple Watch: Issues We Know Of And Possible Fixes.

Opinion: One month later, fixing 15 early Apple Watch problems seems straightforward

These 8 problems with the Apple Watch are 'infuriating'

9 of the biggest complaints about the Apple Watch so far

8 Infuriating Problems With The Apple Watch

Android isn't actually profitable. At least, if you're talking about the smartphone segment, Apple takes 93% of all profits. Samsung only takes roughly 9%. Do you know why those numbers don't add up to 100%? Simple: other smartphone vendors make nothing or lose money on their devices.

The critical and classic mistake so many Android fanboys make: they think market share matters. Business is about money and profit. Right now, virtually the entire smartphone business worldwide, belongs to Apple because they earn the overwhelming majority of the profit.

Source: http://bgr.com/2015/02/09/appl...