Too bad your conspiracy theory has a dongle-sized hole in it. Not only that, music hasn't been sold with DRM in years.
The real reason Apple ditched the headphone jack is they want to sell Bluetooth headphones. The reason everyone else ditched it is they're copying Apple (but perhaps overlooked the part about selling Bluetooth headphones).
They can pass all the legislation they want, it will NOT change reality. 'Backdooring' encryption of ANY kind RUINS it. Proper encryption CANNOT be broken easily, if it can then it's garbage.
It is absolutely fallacious to assume that when a government says it wants access to encrypted information, that the implication is encryption algorithms being re-designed with an intentional weakness.
They can simply pass a law requiring vendors of OSes with encrypted filesystems to retain a copy of the devices' unique decryption keys as part of the online OS activation process. The encryption itself is still just as secure, but now Google/Apple/Microsoft has your decryption key.
If you want to argue you have a right to strong encryption to which you hold the only key, that's the argument which needs to be made. However, take the stance of "Hah hah, the government can't do this because technical_reason$!", you better be ready for a law that says "Smartphone vendors must make encrypted user data available to law enforcement upon request. Non-compliance will result in beating with $5 wrench."
You (or one of the millions of other people out there) can offer competition in terms of better value / more open approach.
The reason this doesn't happen is because it's a shitty business plan. It's unfathomably expensive to start a broadband ISP. But hey, you've got money to burn and no clue how it could be better invested in something else, so you go ahead and do it. Now, you've launched your ISP, but you're only going to get customers if you undercut your competition. Turns out Big Ol' Crusty Cable Co. is sitting on a much bigger pile of cash then you are, and they're perfectly happy to go nuclear in the price war you started.
Meanwhile, in an alternate reality, alternate you decided starting a broadband ISP was a dumb idea, and instead launched a restaurant chain where each table has its own integrated webcam so people can share their dining experience in realtime on social media. Turns out Millennials literally eat up this combination of food and narcissism, and your restaurant is a resounding success.
End result (this reality): The consumers in the market(s) you attempted to launch your soon-to-be-failed ISP in get to enjoy some cheap rates. Temporarily. You lose lots of money and start hating life.
End result (alternate reality): You start shopping for Teslas to give as Christmas gifts.
I forgot that this site eats less-than symbols. The above should've read "Apple is also pretty much your only choice if you want a less-than 5" display without compromising horribly on the camera and CPU. Even Sony's latest so-called compact phone has fallen victim to the "bigger is better" design mentality."
The iPhone gets a lot of hate on here because it's locked down and geared towards the masses. Nevertheless, Apple is usually pretty good when it comes to OS updates, and iPhones have no carrier bloatware. The unlocked model works on all 4 carriers here in the US, whereas many other unlocked phones are limited to only GSM networks (AT&T and T-Mobile and the various virtual carriers which piggyback on their networks).
Apple is also pretty much your only choice if you want a 5" display without compromising horribly on the camera and CPU. Even Sony's latest so-called compact phone has fallen victim to the "bigger is better" design mentality.
The only reason to drop $1k on a phone is if you're too impulsive to wait for a sale. It usually isn't long before there's some sort of promotion, especially around Black Friday.
Personally, the thing that keeps me from buying a new smartphone (regardless of the cost) is that I'm still satisfied with my current phone.
Because the smartphone industry has become the fashion industry, and the masses only care about having the "latest style", not the best technology. Hence we've got phones with distorted edge displays, notches, locked bootloaders, etc... All because the masses only care about bragging on social media how they just dropped a grand on Samsung or Apple's latest polished turd.
This is why I purchased a ThinkPad P for my latest laptop. These things are not small, they are not light, they do what I need.
Thank $DEITY for the ThinkPad line. They're not thin, not light, and not pretty - but the keyboard is great and you can get ones with some serious grunt under the hood. It's a machine for getting work done.
Mac users are gonna whine because they've gotta take what Apple gives them. However, if you've got no love for MacOS, this article is full of shit. There are still great laptops out there - you're just not likely to see them at Best Buy.
Because "everything is political" and/. editors are pushing left-wing politics all the time.
This is a science and technology oriented website. The current Republican party has been pushing many anti-science and anti-environmentalism agendas. Perhaps you should stick with Faux News, if all you want to hear is how killing off the last of a species is going to create tons of jobs and put 'merica back on the path to WINNING.
I worry about the future when shallow comic characters are the pinnacle of entertainment.
Mainstream entertainment has always catered to the lowest common denominator. In ye olden days, an execution could easily draw as big of a crowd as a well-rehearsed play.
No one is stopping you from picking up a tome in your favorite esoteric genre.
Because the assumption is driver of the vehicle can hear and see everything you're doing, so you have no reasonable expectation of privacy to begin with.
In the era where "online sales will rule everything!" seems omniscient, I'm very pleased to see SOME level of creative thinking.
It's just a new spin on the "pushy salesmen" tactics. Ironically, Best Buy used to tout their non-commissioned sales associates as providing a more pleasant shopping experience, over competitors such as Circuit City, Radio Shack, Sears, and probably a few others I'm forgetting.
I'm surprised Apple bothers selling computers anymore at all. They're always stuffed in a corner in the back of the Apple Store, next to everything else that isn't a phone case.
You CANNOT have 'backdoors' in an encyption algorithm and still have effective encryption, goddamnit!
It's disingenuous to claim backdoors are the only way of allowing law enforcement to gain access to an encrypted phone. As an example, if Apple had each iPhone transmit its unique decryption key to Apple's secure iCloud servers as part of the initial activation process, complying with a court order to decrypt a phone would be no problem. The "lock" itself is still just as secure, you just are no longer the only person with the "key".
You can't fix a lack of good privacy laws with a technical solution, because literally or figuratively, the government will just bring out their $5 wrench.
the user can install play store pretty easily. wheres the fine for apple. you cant do anything not apple approved on there devices without hacking them.
I think it has something to do with marketshare in the EU. iPhones aren't quite as popular as they are in the USA.
And even here in the USA, you're allowed to be a complete anti-competitive corporate dickwad, as long as you've bought the right politicians. Apple spends a lot of money on that.
He's a cancer on our nation and needs to be REMOVED
And he will be, either by the next election or by term limits. All this talk about impeachment just adds fuel to the alt-right's fire, they're the biggest bunch of sore winners I've ever seen.
I say, grab some popcorn and watch the train wreck unfold. I'm sure Trump's supports will fucking love it when they walk into Walmart and Chinese tariffs have driven up the costs of everything.
Google has to make money out of android somehow and if they can't do it via the play store or some other method they'll simply start charging for the OS itself.
What you're saying is that if they're forced to compete fairly in the OS market, they might actually have to charge for their product (like almost every other software company)? Wow, cry me a fucking river.
Perhaps if Google wasn't dumping their shit onto the market for free, we might actually see some competition spring up.
However this forced curved thing? Nope. No more sales from me.
It's targeted at Millennials who don't remember CRTs and think all that distortion at the edges looks cool. Don't even get me started on phones with a "notch".
As for dedicated OS navigation buttons going the way of the dodo, blame Google for that. They were the one who started pushing button-less, nearly-all-screen slabs as the future of smartphone design. Pretty much, that's been Google's design language since their inception: hide the shit out of everything = clean, modern design. UIs have sucked ever since.
Minimizing casualties sounds good regardless of where we are. What the fuck are you smoking? You think it's a good idea to leave innocent children in a building with a murderer and just make a phone call and hope the police arrive before everyone is dead?
If we can't (or are unwilling to) fix the problems in society which lead to a kid blowing a fuse and shooting up their school every so often, keeping guns out of schools is the next best thing (security checkpoints, not "Gun Free Zone" signs). You think it's a good idea to leave innocent children in a building with a murderer and hope they're lucky enough to not end up as "acceptable casualties" before the good guy with a gun takes out the bad guy?
Because the security queue is at the mall right? So its a mall shooting, which makes it ok so long as its not at a school./s
Maniacs shooting up a security queue doesn't happen as often as you'd think. Always seemed like a big flaw in security theater to me, but apparently to a psychopathic murderer, it's just not as appealing as getting into a place and then killing people.
Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Fire Sticks - can be jailbroken to load additional software onto them.
It's called "sideloading" and it's an option in settings. This is changing the wallpaper on your phone level shit.
Too bad your conspiracy theory has a dongle-sized hole in it. Not only that, music hasn't been sold with DRM in years.
The real reason Apple ditched the headphone jack is they want to sell Bluetooth headphones. The reason everyone else ditched it is they're copying Apple (but perhaps overlooked the part about selling Bluetooth headphones).
They can pass all the legislation they want, it will NOT change reality. 'Backdooring' encryption of ANY kind RUINS it. Proper encryption CANNOT be broken easily, if it can then it's garbage.
It is absolutely fallacious to assume that when a government says it wants access to encrypted information, that the implication is encryption algorithms being re-designed with an intentional weakness.
They can simply pass a law requiring vendors of OSes with encrypted filesystems to retain a copy of the devices' unique decryption keys as part of the online OS activation process. The encryption itself is still just as secure, but now Google/Apple/Microsoft has your decryption key.
If you want to argue you have a right to strong encryption to which you hold the only key, that's the argument which needs to be made. However, take the stance of "Hah hah, the government can't do this because technical_reason$!", you better be ready for a law that says "Smartphone vendors must make encrypted user data available to law enforcement upon request. Non-compliance will result in beating with $5 wrench."
You (or one of the millions of other people out there) can offer competition in terms of better value / more open approach.
The reason this doesn't happen is because it's a shitty business plan. It's unfathomably expensive to start a broadband ISP. But hey, you've got money to burn and no clue how it could be better invested in something else, so you go ahead and do it. Now, you've launched your ISP, but you're only going to get customers if you undercut your competition. Turns out Big Ol' Crusty Cable Co. is sitting on a much bigger pile of cash then you are, and they're perfectly happy to go nuclear in the price war you started.
Meanwhile, in an alternate reality, alternate you decided starting a broadband ISP was a dumb idea, and instead launched a restaurant chain where each table has its own integrated webcam so people can share their dining experience in realtime on social media. Turns out Millennials literally eat up this combination of food and narcissism, and your restaurant is a resounding success.
End result (this reality): The consumers in the market(s) you attempted to launch your soon-to-be-failed ISP in get to enjoy some cheap rates. Temporarily. You lose lots of money and start hating life.
End result (alternate reality): You start shopping for Teslas to give as Christmas gifts.
I forgot that this site eats less-than symbols. The above should've read "Apple is also pretty much your only choice if you want a less-than 5" display without compromising horribly on the camera and CPU. Even Sony's latest so-called compact phone has fallen victim to the "bigger is better" design mentality."
The iPhone gets a lot of hate on here because it's locked down and geared towards the masses. Nevertheless, Apple is usually pretty good when it comes to OS updates, and iPhones have no carrier bloatware. The unlocked model works on all 4 carriers here in the US, whereas many other unlocked phones are limited to only GSM networks (AT&T and T-Mobile and the various virtual carriers which piggyback on their networks).
Apple is also pretty much your only choice if you want a 5" display without compromising horribly on the camera and CPU. Even Sony's latest so-called compact phone has fallen victim to the "bigger is better" design mentality.
The only reason to drop $1k on a phone is if you're too impulsive to wait for a sale. It usually isn't long before there's some sort of promotion, especially around Black Friday.
Personally, the thing that keeps me from buying a new smartphone (regardless of the cost) is that I'm still satisfied with my current phone.
Because the smartphone industry has become the fashion industry, and the masses only care about having the "latest style", not the best technology. Hence we've got phones with distorted edge displays, notches, locked bootloaders, etc... All because the masses only care about bragging on social media how they just dropped a grand on Samsung or Apple's latest polished turd.
This is why I purchased a ThinkPad P for my latest laptop. These things are not small, they are not light, they do what I need.
Thank $DEITY for the ThinkPad line. They're not thin, not light, and not pretty - but the keyboard is great and you can get ones with some serious grunt under the hood. It's a machine for getting work done.
Mac users are gonna whine because they've gotta take what Apple gives them. However, if you've got no love for MacOS, this article is full of shit. There are still great laptops out there - you're just not likely to see them at Best Buy.
Because "everything is political" and /. editors are pushing left-wing politics all the time.
This is a science and technology oriented website. The current Republican party has been pushing many anti-science and anti-environmentalism agendas. Perhaps you should stick with Faux News, if all you want to hear is how killing off the last of a species is going to create tons of jobs and put 'merica back on the path to WINNING.
Driving while streaming in particular is extremely dangerous.
I'm assuming if the passengers didn't notice the camera, it wasn't in any sort of location which would provide a distraction to the driver.
I worry about the future when shallow comic characters are the pinnacle of entertainment.
Mainstream entertainment has always catered to the lowest common denominator. In ye olden days, an execution could easily draw as big of a crowd as a well-rehearsed play.
No one is stopping you from picking up a tome in your favorite esoteric genre.
Why would one party consent make it legal??
Because the assumption is driver of the vehicle can hear and see everything you're doing, so you have no reasonable expectation of privacy to begin with.
In the era where "online sales will rule everything!" seems omniscient, I'm very pleased to see SOME level of creative thinking.
It's just a new spin on the "pushy salesmen" tactics. Ironically, Best Buy used to tout their non-commissioned sales associates as providing a more pleasant shopping experience, over competitors such as Circuit City, Radio Shack, Sears, and probably a few others I'm forgetting.
What do they call this? Survival Bias?
Seeing as how they've called it the "retail apocalypse", I guess that would make Best Buy a zombie.
I'm surprised Apple bothers selling computers anymore at all. They're always stuffed in a corner in the back of the Apple Store, next to everything else that isn't a phone case.
You CANNOT have 'backdoors' in an encyption algorithm and still have effective encryption, goddamnit!
It's disingenuous to claim backdoors are the only way of allowing law enforcement to gain access to an encrypted phone. As an example, if Apple had each iPhone transmit its unique decryption key to Apple's secure iCloud servers as part of the initial activation process, complying with a court order to decrypt a phone would be no problem. The "lock" itself is still just as secure, you just are no longer the only person with the "key".
You can't fix a lack of good privacy laws with a technical solution, because literally or figuratively, the government will just bring out their $5 wrench.
the user can install play store pretty easily. wheres the fine for apple. you cant do anything not apple approved on there devices without hacking them.
I think it has something to do with marketshare in the EU. iPhones aren't quite as popular as they are in the USA.
And even here in the USA, you're allowed to be a complete anti-competitive corporate dickwad, as long as you've bought the right politicians. Apple spends a lot of money on that.
He's a cancer on our nation and needs to be REMOVED
And he will be, either by the next election or by term limits. All this talk about impeachment just adds fuel to the alt-right's fire, they're the biggest bunch of sore winners I've ever seen.
I say, grab some popcorn and watch the train wreck unfold. I'm sure Trump's supports will fucking love it when they walk into Walmart and Chinese tariffs have driven up the costs of everything.
More people are afraid to speak in defense of anything Conservative.
Problem is, that word means both "resisting change" and "operating in the most efficient manner possible". It is a contradiction in itself.
Google has to make money out of android somehow and if they can't do it via the play store or some other method they'll simply start charging for the OS itself.
What you're saying is that if they're forced to compete fairly in the OS market, they might actually have to charge for their product (like almost every other software company)? Wow, cry me a fucking river.
Perhaps if Google wasn't dumping their shit onto the market for free, we might actually see some competition spring up.
However this forced curved thing? Nope. No more sales from me.
It's targeted at Millennials who don't remember CRTs and think all that distortion at the edges looks cool. Don't even get me started on phones with a "notch".
As for dedicated OS navigation buttons going the way of the dodo, blame Google for that. They were the one who started pushing button-less, nearly-all-screen slabs as the future of smartphone design. Pretty much, that's been Google's design language since their inception: hide the shit out of everything = clean, modern design. UIs have sucked ever since.
Did anyone else think they bought Califonia, at least for a millisecond?
Made sense, I figured the state was having a fire sale.
Minimizing casualties sounds good regardless of where we are. What the fuck are you smoking? You think it's a good idea to leave innocent children in a building with a murderer and just make a phone call and hope the police arrive before everyone is dead?
If we can't (or are unwilling to) fix the problems in society which lead to a kid blowing a fuse and shooting up their school every so often, keeping guns out of schools is the next best thing (security checkpoints, not "Gun Free Zone" signs). You think it's a good idea to leave innocent children in a building with a murderer and hope they're lucky enough to not end up as "acceptable casualties" before the good guy with a gun takes out the bad guy?
Because the security queue is at the mall right? So its a mall shooting, which makes it ok so long as its not at a school. /s
Maniacs shooting up a security queue doesn't happen as often as you'd think. Always seemed like a big flaw in security theater to me, but apparently to a psychopathic murderer, it's just not as appealing as getting into a place and then killing people.