Apple is limited in what it can do by the Chinese government. This is no secret.
Stop thinking China, internally, is anything like a "Western-style" free market. It's not even close.
It sometimes resembles a free market to those outside the country. But that's merely illusion created for international traders. Internally, it is very tightly government controlled. And there is no "intellectual property" at all... in fact other countries keep having to remind China -- sternly -- that it promised to honor their patent and copyright laws. (It really doesn't care and violates them willy-nilly anyway.)
Recently someone tried to make a trade with me for an expensive article, by offering in part an "old, but basically unused, looking brand new" Honda gas-powered electric generator. Honda makes good generators, so I was tempted by the offer (he originally offered it in lieu of $800, the rest in cash). I looked up the item online. And you can google it yourself. "Honda EM-3500-GX generator".
There are lots of them around. And they sure as hell look like Hondas. But I tried to find a manual online (because I wanted to know if it was electric or manual start), and I found nothing. Very strange.
I called Honda, and yes, it's a cheaply-made Chinese knockoff, made to look like Honda. This is not illegal, INSIDE China. And if you think the Chinese government doesn't know about it, you are very sadly mistaken. It really doesn't care. It's still foreign $$.
But it *IS* illegal, according to international trade rules, and even some which China agreed to.
They cheat. Every chance they get. And they laugh at foreigners who get cheated.
I envision the day when your phone is your primary computing device, and something like a tablet will really just be a portable screen that you cable to your phone. With Bluetooth-or-something-like-it keyboard and mouse.
I don't think that day is far off.
With 2+ GHz Octacore processors, and on-board 4k video processors (already present in some phones), we're getting into desktop range. Right now.
So you'll just have an accessory kit you take with you to somewhere you want to do computing tasks, consisting of tablet-like screen, keyboard, and mouse. And probably a USB plug-in power supply, to supplement the batteries, if you're in for a long session.
My current Bluetooth trackpad lasts at least two weeks on a pair of rechargeable AAs, and my keyboard lasts a good month, also on a pair of rechargeable AAs.
The screen will need to carry its own sizeable battery, or have a compartment for external rechargeables. Which is the most versatile and durable solution... who wants to tear apart their monitor to replace Li-ion batteries? Allowing them to be replaceable, standard batteries allows for newer, better batteries to come on the market, and your hardware lasts longer, so it's better bang for the buck.
The part you're missing is the part where government compels you to testify against yourself. Which is exactly what giving them a password is doing.
That's why we have a 5th Amendment. And yes, such cases have been tried here in the US. You may not be compelled to reveal a password, even at the border or in a court of law.
But you do need to INVOKE your 5th Amendment rights. Some stupid court somewhere decided it wasn't automatic.
This "Global Warming Will Be The Downfall Of Capitalism" nonsense has been around for a long time. Decades.
There is a very strong correlation between how strongly one believes in Anthropogenic Global Warming and political ideology.
I used to get a lot of chuckles when I'd see the warming alarmists saying "there's a correlation between deniers and right-wing politics!"
When they so obviously did not understand that necessarily means there is also a correlation between believers and left-wing politics.
I'm just plain tired of hearing it. This "capitalism is against the environment" crap is nothing more than that: crap.
Tell me: why is the United States the only country asked which did NOT agree to the Paris Accord, yet it is also the only country of all of them to reduce CO2 emissions?
Most states do not require a 4473 for private transfer. If you live in one of those states, private transfer is fine...
... provided that you did not manufacture it for that purpose. That's what ATF says.
But in those asshole states that do require a 4473 for private transfer, the part that will stick you isn't the part about whether you are buyer or seller (this is according to ATF... they don't care if you give it away or sell it as long as you didn't make it for that purpose). The part that gets you is the serial number. It has to go on the form but there isn't any.
Only if you made it for the purpose of giving it to your son.
If you made it for yourself, kept it around and maybe shot it once in a while, and later decided to give it to your son, that's okay.
And it doesn't matter, federally, whether you give it to someone or sell it.
But if you live in one of those few asshole states that requires a background check and serial number even for private transfers, you're pretty much stuck. In practice, you can't even give it away.
It's illegal to make a gun for the purpose of selling it unless you're licensed. However, it's perfectly legal to make one for yourself and later sell it, though the burden of proof will be on you to show that you didn't make it specifically for resale.
There is a very big caveat to this.
You can make a gun, and you can transfer it to another person later, but it is illegal to make it for the purpose of transferring it to someone else.
In other words, you cannot set out to make one to give to Uncle Bob for his birthday. And it doesn't matter whether you sell it or not. You just can't make it for that purpose.
Man, young people these days are so ignorant of history. It's really pretty concerning to those who aren't.
There is a REASON people don't want a "universal ID". And it has to do with something called "1984"
But it's not limited to 1984. Our parents (if you're older) and grandparents, and great-grandparents fought tooth and nail against any kind of Federal ID.
It's actually kind of common to think that people in the past were less sophisticated than you are, and therefore not quite as bright. In simpler terms, many people seem to fall into the trap of thinking people generations ago as not ignorant (compared to today's knowledge), but actually stupid.
That's a mistaken viewpoint.
There is a reason Social Security was never allowed to pass, unless it was promised that the Social Security number would NEVER be a "federal ID".
And the promise was made, and Social Security passed.
And years later, the government made SSN a valid ID for national credit companies. In other words: betrayal of their promise.
Better wake up, people. I984 is looking you in the face. Right now. If you don't see those encroachments coming down on you, in the name of "convenience", you're just naive.
As it turns out, we already have laws about this, which aren't being enforced. Thought they're Congressional legislation, not Constitutional principles.
Here's what the law basically says. I'm paraphrasing:
A company that hosts online user-generated content (Facebook, Twitter, etc., yes?) is protected from liability from that content, as long as the content is end-user-controlled.
HOWEVER... if the hosting company controls that content, i.e. censors it or otherwise restricts what that content may be, then the company assumes liability for that content.
Another way to put it is: when they suspend accounts over speech they find objectionable, they are accepting liability for all the other content that remains.
There is legal precedent for this and in fact it's pretty clear in the law. They are protected if they take down illegal content, but not content they just don't like.
Very little today is actually new. There is new technology, but the things we do with it (mostly make, talk, and travel) haven't changed at all, in principle.
I am amused by the similar argument that the 2nd Amendment is only about muskets.
There are two serious problems with that notion:
First, fully-automatic weapons had been invented and built before the Constitution was drafted, and we have historical documents proving the founders new about that.
Second, they don't get to have it both ways. If the 2nd Amendment is only about muskets, then the 1st Amendment is only about parchment paper and carrier pigeons.
Hypocrisy will get them nowhere. As much as they have persisted in thinking it will.
I don't have a problem with calculators (I use the HP Prime, for example), but one should know how the calculations work before being given the shortcut.
Among those things is a shallow gravity well, which makes it ideal for both constructing and launching deep space vehicles.
They're far too big and expensive when launched from Earth. And construction in microgravity is painfully slow and arduous.
Consider the moon landings. It took the Saturn V to get there. But only a couple of small rocket engines (one on the lander, one on the command module) to bring them all the way back.
Granted, they didn't bring everything back. But the disparity is still rather extreme.
Slashdot Mirror
Linux is a big black eye for this whole idea.
Not only has it thrived for decades, a great many people have found ways to make money from it. And Linus Torvalds is hardly poor.
If you ain't makin' money, You're Doing It Wrong.
And other people have already proved that.
This is a non-issue, raised by people who don't think they "got their share".
Apple is limited in what it can do by the Chinese government. This is no secret.
Stop thinking China, internally, is anything like a "Western-style" free market. It's not even close.
It sometimes resembles a free market to those outside the country. But that's merely illusion created for international traders. Internally, it is very tightly government controlled. And there is no "intellectual property" at all... in fact other countries keep having to remind China -- sternly -- that it promised to honor their patent and copyright laws. (It really doesn't care and violates them willy-nilly anyway.)
Recently someone tried to make a trade with me for an expensive article, by offering in part an "old, but basically unused, looking brand new" Honda gas-powered electric generator. Honda makes good generators, so I was tempted by the offer (he originally offered it in lieu of $800, the rest in cash). I looked up the item online. And you can google it yourself. "Honda EM-3500-GX generator".
There are lots of them around. And they sure as hell look like Hondas. But I tried to find a manual online (because I wanted to know if it was electric or manual start), and I found nothing. Very strange.
I called Honda, and yes, it's a cheaply-made Chinese knockoff, made to look like Honda. This is not illegal, INSIDE China. And if you think the Chinese government doesn't know about it, you are very sadly mistaken. It really doesn't care. It's still foreign $$.
But it *IS* illegal, according to international trade rules, and even some which China agreed to.
They cheat. Every chance they get. And they laugh at foreigners who get cheated.
I'd like to see phones with Google's default surveillance installed similarly banned from military use.
That's utter bullshit.
Native spyware was found by the US government in multiple brands of Chinese smartphones. The brands included OnePlus, Xiaomi, and ZTE.
I had a ZTE and I can attest, in my (and others') attempt to root it, it was found to be solidly locked down so the spyware could not be uninstalled.
Certain models of ZTE, and OnePlus, and Xiaomi "call home" which happens to be in China, and report on your activities. (Hey... Google does it too.)
The affected models were banned for use by military. And existing ones replaced.
But... it is also true that certain American telecom equipment has "back doors". This is not disputed. It has been known since at least 1993.
I envision the day when your phone is your primary computing device, and something like a tablet will really just be a portable screen that you cable to your phone. With Bluetooth-or-something-like-it keyboard and mouse.
I don't think that day is far off. With 2+ GHz Octacore processors, and on-board 4k video processors (already present in some phones), we're getting into desktop range. Right now.
So you'll just have an accessory kit you take with you to somewhere you want to do computing tasks, consisting of tablet-like screen, keyboard, and mouse. And probably a USB plug-in power supply, to supplement the batteries, if you're in for a long session.
My current Bluetooth trackpad lasts at least two weeks on a pair of rechargeable AAs, and my keyboard lasts a good month, also on a pair of rechargeable AAs.
The screen will need to carry its own sizeable battery, or have a compartment for external rechargeables. Which is the most versatile and durable solution... who wants to tear apart their monitor to replace Li-ion batteries? Allowing them to be replaceable, standard batteries allows for newer, better batteries to come on the market, and your hardware lasts longer, so it's better bang for the buck.
I like better bang for the buck.
Depends on what you mean by "superior".
Fischer Teknik is actually used by universities to build working prototypes of machines.
Legos (even the "Technic" variety" really aren't up to the task.
Another advantage was that very few parts had sharp corners.
Actually valley fever came from the Central Valley, thus its name.
:o)
So Fresno won't fix that.
But I agree with you about the rest.
The part you're missing is the part where government compels you to testify against yourself. Which is exactly what giving them a password is doing.
That's why we have a 5th Amendment. And yes, such cases have been tried here in the US. You may not be compelled to reveal a password, even at the border or in a court of law.
But you do need to INVOKE your 5th Amendment rights. Some stupid court somewhere decided it wasn't automatic.
Not in the United States.
It falls under the 5th Amendment.
A vastly superior set of modeling blocks and systems were made by Fischer Teknik (as as far as I know still are).
Usable by kids (small parts, but Lego has them too), they are much more structurally sound and even worthy of small-scale engineering projects.
Lego beat them out in popularity, but that's sad, in the same way that VHS beating out BetaMax was sad. In each case the latter was far superior.
This "Global Warming Will Be The Downfall Of Capitalism" nonsense has been around for a long time. Decades.
There is a very strong correlation between how strongly one believes in Anthropogenic Global Warming and political ideology.
I used to get a lot of chuckles when I'd see the warming alarmists saying "there's a correlation between deniers and right-wing politics!"
When they so obviously did not understand that necessarily means there is also a correlation between believers and left-wing politics.
I'm just plain tired of hearing it. This "capitalism is against the environment" crap is nothing more than that: crap.
Tell me: why is the United States the only country asked which did NOT agree to the Paris Accord, yet it is also the only country of all of them to reduce CO2 emissions?
Chew on that one for a while.
There are several things you're missing here.
... provided that you did not manufacture it for that purpose. That's what ATF says.
Most states do not require a 4473 for private transfer. If you live in one of those states, private transfer is fine...
But in those asshole states that do require a 4473 for private transfer, the part that will stick you isn't the part about whether you are buyer or seller (this is according to ATF... they don't care if you give it away or sell it as long as you didn't make it for that purpose). The part that gets you is the serial number. It has to go on the form but there isn't any.
Only if you made it for the purpose of giving it to your son.
If you made it for yourself, kept it around and maybe shot it once in a while, and later decided to give it to your son, that's okay.
And it doesn't matter, federally, whether you give it to someone or sell it.
But if you live in one of those few asshole states that requires a background check and serial number even for private transfers, you're pretty much stuck. In practice, you can't even give it away.
It's illegal to make a gun for the purpose of selling it unless you're licensed. However, it's perfectly legal to make one for yourself and later sell it, though the burden of proof will be on you to show that you didn't make it specifically for resale.
There is a very big caveat to this.
You can make a gun, and you can transfer it to another person later, but it is illegal to make it for the purpose of transferring it to someone else.
In other words, you cannot set out to make one to give to Uncle Bob for his birthday. And it doesn't matter whether you sell it or not. You just can't make it for that purpose.
Man, young people these days are so ignorant of history. It's really pretty concerning to those who aren't.
There is a REASON people don't want a "universal ID". And it has to do with something called "1984"
But it's not limited to 1984. Our parents (if you're older) and grandparents, and great-grandparents fought tooth and nail against any kind of Federal ID.
It's actually kind of common to think that people in the past were less sophisticated than you are, and therefore not quite as bright. In simpler terms, many people seem to fall into the trap of thinking people generations ago as not ignorant (compared to today's knowledge), but actually stupid.
That's a mistaken viewpoint.
There is a reason Social Security was never allowed to pass, unless it was promised that the Social Security number would NEVER be a "federal ID".
And the promise was made, and Social Security passed.
And years later, the government made SSN a valid ID for national credit companies. In other words: betrayal of their promise.
Better wake up, people. I984 is looking you in the face. Right now. If you don't see those encroachments coming down on you, in the name of "convenience", you're just naive.
I suppose I should add that of course the story is about land VALUE disappearing out of fear, not land actually disappearing.
It's a scare story. Nothing more.
Al Gore and many others are still enjoying their multi-million beachfront homes.
Not only that, but in Florida, for example, especially around the Miami area, it's land subsidence, not water rise, that is causing problems.
Somebody might have considered that when you build on land that was previously not much more than swamp, there might be reason it was swamp.
In any case: the Maldives aren't sinking, their land area is actually increasing. Same with just about every other island you can name.
There may be a few exceptions, but they are damned few.
But I do understand real estate prices dropping; that always happens when people are afraid of imaginary disasters.
The fact that prices are dropping out of fear has zero to do with any science, and it sure as hell isn't confirmation of science.
As it turns out, we already have laws about this, which aren't being enforced. Thought they're Congressional legislation, not Constitutional principles.
Here's what the law basically says. I'm paraphrasing:
A company that hosts online user-generated content (Facebook, Twitter, etc., yes?) is protected from liability from that content, as long as the content is end-user-controlled.
HOWEVER... if the hosting company controls that content, i.e. censors it or otherwise restricts what that content may be, then the company assumes liability for that content.
Another way to put it is: when they suspend accounts over speech they find objectionable, they are accepting liability for all the other content that remains.
There is legal precedent for this and in fact it's pretty clear in the law. They are protected if they take down illegal content, but not content they just don't like.
This is going to end up being a real shitshow.
Exactly.
Thanks for straightening this person out.
Very little today is actually new. There is new technology, but the things we do with it (mostly make, talk, and travel) haven't changed at all, in principle.
I am amused by the similar argument that the 2nd Amendment is only about muskets.
There are two serious problems with that notion:
First, fully-automatic weapons had been invented and built before the Constitution was drafted, and we have historical documents proving the founders new about that.
Second, they don't get to have it both ways. If the 2nd Amendment is only about muskets, then the 1st Amendment is only about parchment paper and carrier pigeons.
Hypocrisy will get them nowhere. As much as they have persisted in thinking it will.
It was good to have them.
Using them meant you knew how they worked.
I don't have a problem with calculators (I use the HP Prime, for example), but one should know how the calculations work before being given the shortcut.
In fewer words:
Duh.
The moon has a lot going for it.
Among those things is a shallow gravity well, which makes it ideal for both constructing and launching deep space vehicles.
They're far too big and expensive when launched from Earth. And construction in microgravity is painfully slow and arduous.
Consider the moon landings. It took the Saturn V to get there. But only a couple of small rocket engines (one on the lander, one on the command module) to bring them all the way back.
Granted, they didn't bring everything back. But the disparity is still rather extreme.
No.
Wind and other events (particularly extreme weather events) are caused by energy differentials, not the total amount of energy.
Which is why it amuses me that these are likely some of the same people who say global warming will cause more extreme weather events.
Very probably not.
Everybody seems to be forgetting that Google has that email, too, whether you delete it or not.