$5 per month for unlimited sounds pretty good, actually.
I currently backup to a network drive and periodically sync that to an offline drive.
How long do they maintain backups? Can I store other things (not just their backups)? For example, can I use my current software and just point it at BlackBlaze?
And if you pop for a year, it's $50, and $95 for 2 years, which works out to a measly $3.95/mo for UNLIMITED storage! I am not sure about data retention. I assume it is perpetual. They advertise on their site that you can even retrieve VERSIONS of Files for up to 30 days, which is kind of cool (like a temporary Time Machine thing!). Plus there is a mobile app to access files on iOS or Android. And a Web Client for remote access, too. So, in a way, you could certainly use that as a type of "Cloud Storage". Just save the file Locally, and have BackBlaze (which runs CONTINUOUSLY) "back it up" to its Server. Then use the web/mobile portal to Retrieve the file. And if you have your computer with you; then BackBlaze IS backing it up, regardless. Don't have to be hooked to your TM Drive (it will "catch up" when you get back home). Oh, and BackBlaze DOES include External USB (don't know about TB)-connected drives in its Backups. But I don't think it will include a Networked NAS (see Cloud Storage, below).
They also have a Free Trial.
Plus, if you're in a hurry, they can send you your Backup on a USB Stick or HDD for faster Restore.
One other thing: Their "Personal Backup" product is understandably (at that price) geared toward SINGLE Macs/PCs. There are other vendors that allow you to Backup multiple desktop and mobile clients on the same network; but those aren't nearly as inexpensive if you start getting above a few hundred GB. BackBlaze also has a "Business Backup" that allows centralized Administration/Provisioning of multiple devices; but I didn't look into the pricing. But a glance at their website makes it look like the pricing is the same as the Personal Backup; but with the addition of centralized Administration. Plus, I don't think they do any mobile-device backups. They also advertise "30-day rollback" of all backed-up machines and FREE loaner "Restore" Drive service (the Personal Backup charges $ to send you your Backup on physical media.
And while BackBlaze Backup isn't a "Cloud Drive" (I don't think), they have a companion product, "B2 Cloud Storage", that is.
Of course while Apple continues to charge outrageous prices for larger SSDs , people will opt for smaller cheaper machines. This encourages users to pay a few $$ a month for larger iCloud Storage
I wouldn't use iCloud for Backup of a Mac with lots o' storage (I would personally use a local Time Machine drive IN ADDITION TO a $5/mo UNLIMITED BackBlaze account as a redundant, always available everwhere/everywhen OFFSITE backup for a Mac); but for sharing photos, media files, and other stuff (including auto-backup of your iOS devices), $10/mo for 2 TB that you can share with your family (only $3/mo for 200 GB shareable) is not onerous at all.
Sure sure... it couldn't possibly be that Apple has consistently sand bagged their projections every quarter. They had a miss on the raw # of iPhones sold so your little theory is kind of a giant ball of BS.
Oh, you mean like Slamdung (or was it Macroshaft?) that counted units they force-fed to their Distribution channel (and still sitting there on their shelves) as "Sales"?
Apples strategy of constantly improving even old devices is finally starting to pay off as after several years users are bound to update anyway, so if you keep them happy that whole time they will naturally move on to another Apple product.
it's a spot where the screen area is intruded on by non-screen stuff. The most famous, I think, if not the first was the apple iphone X, which has a notch in the top of the display area to hold the selfie camera and probably some other stuff. App developers have to know about it so they don't try to use pixels that aren't there for anything important, so it's effectively a feature they have to support.
We no longer have a usable desktop operating system! The Windows OS is spyware. Linux as a desktop operating system has gotten worse every year, not better. Why? Those who develop Linux desktop systems insist on doing their own thing. They don't cooperate.
AMAZING QUOTE from this story of 2 years ago: The number of Linux distributions is declining. "In 2011, the Distrowatch database of active Linux distributions peaked at 323. Currently, however, it lists only 285."
Meanwhile, out here in the real world, macOS chugs along, privacy-focused, nary a subscription plan in sight...
285 different ways to do one thing!!! "Only" 285? Quote from a Slashdot comment: "You know Linux Desktop is a junk OS from the fact an app may require version 2.5 of a library and another one might require no more than 2.4, and Desktop Linux offers no way around the problem."
Linux has VERY poor documentation. A friend of mine said this perhaps 20 years ago: "It's free but you will spend at least a week getting it to work." So, Linux is NOT free.
Oh, you mean like Windows has done for DECADES with DirectX?
Windows (desktop) allows OpenGL and more recently Vulkan in addition to DirectX.
Lazy Developers, that don't know how to code using a standard Model-View-Controller method, are the ones that will continue to have "porting" problems, you mean...
Maintaining both an OpenGL view and a DirectX view is expensive. So instead, developers targeting Windows and something else (where "something else" isn't Xbox) maintain only one: OpenGL. The added wrinkle here is that maintaining both an OpenGL or Vulkan view and a Metal view is also expensive.
Maintaining OpenGL across platforms is no picnic, either. Quit making excuses.
Whatever they were already using, nobody was screaming for a change, especially not a proprietary lock-in change. Lets not make stupid mistakes because of being in a rush over a fictitious deadline. But you know perfectly well that Apple concocted the Metal scheme in hopes of creating lock in, and not because of any timing thing. Instead, they succeeded at creating a lock-out scheme as any fool could have predicted.
I note that IOS game revenue is now behind Android, just one more number that Apple cultists used to love trotting out and can't any more. What's the next fallback? Apple makes more profit on games than anybody? Until that isn't true either.
So I have to have my files in two different encodings? Hi res for home, and low res for mobile? Really? That's what you consider "it just works"? Why not make iOS support high resolution files? Why not support AptX (which includes low latency, so you don't get 60+ msec of latency when watching movies) on iOS, since macOS supports AptX? Oh - that's right, Apple didn't use the CSR chipsets in the iPhone...
iTunes will export low-bitrate copies of your tracks to your mobile device. They have done that for years, now.
I can't find anything to support a latency of 60ms + on iOS. That much delay would also be VERY visible to almost everybody.
iOS does not suppotr Aptx/AptxHD nor does it support LDAC. Android supports both. You can play high res (24/96 or higher) and DSD on Android - not on iOS. Apple doesn't really care about high quality audio for portable applications...
I am a BIG fan of high bitrate/bit-depth audio at home. I have a medium-sized DVD-A collection and an Oppo DVD/DVD-A Player to play them on. So, suffice it to say that I understand the advantages of high-fidelity digital audio recording and playback.
HOWEVER, there is not ONE human being on this planet, and quite frankly, few DOGS, that can distinguish a Meridian Lossless 24/96 playback in a MOBILE setting from anything over a 160 kB/sec AAC-encoded version. And MOST people, including "golden ears" types, cannot even distinguish 128 k AAC from non-encoded PCM or even analog, in an A/B/X listening test. It's been proven time and again.
So, Apple's decision to not LICENSE AptX for iOS is a QUITE reasonable one.
And how in the ever loving hell could they NOT throw in the ability for face scans to be done properly in any orientation?
It comes down to the physical placement of the sensor.
Think about it. Without some sort of super-fancy pan/tilt mechanism built into the FaceID Illuminator AND camera, it really isn't practical, especially for the Illuminator.
And can you imagine the increase in acquisition/identification time as the device has to "hunt-around" for your face?
Wireless headphones have to be charged every night. I don't want another thing to charge, and I don't buy expensive electronics with disposiblity built in. I have a family with lots of devices and we have enough to charge already.
So, statistically, one more device shouldn't impact your routine much at all.
In a meeting? So while everyone is filing in and finding a seat I'm supposed to be fiddling with a plug? I'm really tired of this "fuck you, you can make your life more complicated for the sake of technology" mantra. Technology is supposed to make our lives simpler, ESPECIALLY Apple. That's why they get paid the big bucks, after all.
And WE'RE all tired of you manufacturing improbable scenarios (need GPS for a RUN?!? Puh-lease!) in a desparate attempt to find problems where none ACTUALLY exist.
A lot of people (myself included) like to plug in if they are sitting at a desk, period. Why take the chance of running out of battery later in the day? Maybe you're going to go home and go for a run and you need almost a full charge to run the GPS. Also, I listen to audio books at night.. So when to charge then?
So, throw a lightning to 3.5 mm adapter in your desk and one in your backpack, and you should be good to go.
> i quantifiably listen to less music now that apple has done this.
I listen to just as much. Because, y'know I have an Android tablet with a headphone jack. Super handy for coming into the office loaded up with tunes and just plugging a line in cable into and hitting play. Can't do that with any non-headphone jack device.
Right. Because the world has not yet invented Bluetooth headphones and speakers.
Slashdot Mirror
$5 per month for unlimited sounds pretty good, actually.
I currently backup to a network drive and periodically sync that to an offline drive.
How long do they maintain backups? Can I store other things (not just their backups)? For example, can I use my current software and just point it at BlackBlaze?
And if you pop for a year, it's $50, and $95 for 2 years, which works out to a measly $3.95/mo for UNLIMITED storage!
I am not sure about data retention. I assume it is perpetual. They advertise on their site that you can even retrieve VERSIONS of Files for up to 30 days, which is kind of cool (like a temporary Time Machine thing!). Plus there is a mobile app to access files on iOS or Android. And a Web Client for remote access, too. So, in a way, you could certainly use that as a type of "Cloud Storage". Just save the file Locally, and have BackBlaze (which runs CONTINUOUSLY) "back it up" to its Server. Then use the web/mobile portal to Retrieve the file. And if you have your computer with you; then BackBlaze IS backing it up, regardless. Don't have to be hooked to your TM Drive (it will "catch up" when you get back home). Oh, and BackBlaze DOES include External USB (don't know about TB)-connected drives in its Backups. But I don't think it will include a Networked NAS (see Cloud Storage, below).
They also have a Free Trial.
Plus, if you're in a hurry, they can send you your Backup on a USB Stick or HDD for faster Restore.
One other thing: Their "Personal Backup" product is understandably (at that price) geared toward SINGLE Macs/PCs. There are other vendors that allow you to Backup multiple desktop and mobile clients on the same network; but those aren't nearly as inexpensive if you start getting above a few hundred GB. BackBlaze also has a "Business Backup" that allows centralized Administration/Provisioning of multiple devices; but I didn't look into the pricing. But a glance at their website makes it look like the pricing is the same as the Personal Backup; but with the addition of centralized Administration. Plus, I don't think they do any mobile-device backups. They also advertise "30-day rollback" of all backed-up machines and FREE loaner "Restore" Drive service (the Personal Backup charges $ to send you your Backup on physical media.
And while BackBlaze Backup isn't a "Cloud Drive" (I don't think), they have a companion product, "B2 Cloud Storage", that is.
Here's the site:
https://www.backblaze.com/
IIRC, Devs. were QUITE whining about the state of OpenGL on Apple's platforms.
Entirely Apple's doing, a transparently obvious of the whole sleazy plan.
Yeah, they had this plan in motion for YEARS. Riiiight.
Apparently, Apple's intentionally broken OpenGL support
you'd better wrap another layer on that tinfoil hat.
You do realize you are an idiot, right?
will be fixed by MoltenVK. MoltenVK is the new reality that means no developer needs to waste resources on Metal to target Mac. Initial Vulkan Performance On macOS With Dota 2 Is Looking Very Good
For once we agree!
So everyone needs to just STFU.
Of course while Apple continues to charge outrageous prices for larger SSDs , people will opt for smaller cheaper machines.
This encourages users to pay a few $$ a month for larger iCloud Storage
I wouldn't use iCloud for Backup of a Mac with lots o' storage (I would personally use a local Time Machine drive IN ADDITION TO a $5/mo UNLIMITED BackBlaze account as a redundant, always available everwhere/everywhen OFFSITE backup for a Mac); but for sharing photos, media files, and other stuff (including auto-backup of your iOS devices), $10/mo for 2 TB that you can share with your family (only $3/mo for 200 GB shareable) is not onerous at all.
Never give a sucker an even break. If people will pay the huge margins, let them.
It would be impossible for Apple to gain the majority market share. They can ONLY succeed as a minority player.
Nearly 600 Million ACTIVE Users and over a BILLION ACTIVE devices is a pretty damned big "minority".
I'm never wrong. I've been shorting AAPL since 1993. When it goes to zero I'm gonna be the biggest winner.
Too bad the Earth will have crashed into the Sun by then...
Sure sure... it couldn't possibly be that Apple has consistently sand bagged their projections every quarter. They had a miss on the raw # of iPhones sold so your little theory is kind of a giant ball of BS.
Oh, you mean like Slamdung (or was it Macroshaft?) that counted units they force-fed to their Distribution channel (and still sitting there on their shelves) as "Sales"?
Sorry, Apple don't play those games, homey.
Apples strategy of constantly improving even old devices is finally starting to pay off as after several years users are bound to update anyway, so if you keep them happy that whole time they will naturally move on to another Apple product.
Or, as the Slashtards spin it: Vendor Lock-in.
(rolls eyes)
I report not giving a fuck.
And yet you felt compelled to waste all our time and bandwidth with your useless comment.
it's a spot where the screen area is intruded on by non-screen stuff. The most famous, I think, if not the first was the apple iphone X, which has a notch in the top of the display area to hold the selfie camera and probably some other stuff. App developers have to know about it so they don't try to use pixels that aren't there for anything important, so it's effectively a feature they have to support.
FaceID camera and Illuminator.
People are getting tired of their hardware, and they know it.
Yeah, they're really getting tired, alright.
Liar.
https://bgr.com/2018/07/25/app...
apple would much rather sell you two overpriced phones instead of just one. This doesn't fit with their corporate philosophy.
You mean this doesn't fit with your Hater narrative.
Endless stories about Apple supporting features everyone else has offered for years....are Apple customers ever pleasantly surprised?
Yes they are.
Everytime they use their iPhone and iPad, and everytime they use their Mac.
We no longer have a usable desktop operating system! The Windows OS is spyware. Linux as a desktop operating system has gotten worse every year, not better. Why? Those who develop Linux desktop systems insist on doing their own thing. They don't cooperate.
AMAZING QUOTE from this story of 2 years ago: The number of Linux distributions is declining. "In 2011, the Distrowatch database of active Linux distributions peaked at 323. Currently, however, it lists only 285."
Meanwhile, out here in the real world, macOS chugs along, privacy-focused, nary a subscription plan in sight...
285 different ways to do one thing!!! "Only" 285? Quote from a Slashdot comment: "You know Linux Desktop is a junk OS from the fact an app may require version 2.5 of a library and another one might require no more than 2.4, and Desktop Linux offers no way around the problem."
Linux has VERY poor documentation. A friend of mine said this perhaps 20 years ago: "It's free but you will spend at least a week getting it to work." So, Linux is NOT free.
Here you go. AAC is simply a different codec running on the SBC channel of Bluetooth audio. Latency up to several hundred milliseconds.
AAC does NOT run on SBC. SBC is it's own thing, just like AAC and AptX.
You're an idiot if you don't see that that "article" is deliberately vague.
Oh, you mean like Windows has done for DECADES with DirectX?
Windows (desktop) allows OpenGL and more recently Vulkan in addition to DirectX.
Lazy Developers, that don't know how to code using a standard Model-View-Controller method, are the ones that will continue to have "porting" problems, you mean...
Maintaining both an OpenGL view and a DirectX view is expensive. So instead, developers targeting Windows and something else (where "something else" isn't Xbox) maintain only one: OpenGL. The added wrinkle here is that maintaining both an OpenGL or Vulkan view and a Metal view is also expensive.
Maintaining OpenGL across platforms is no picnic, either. Quit making excuses.
Whatever they were already using, nobody was screaming for a change, especially not a proprietary lock-in change. Lets not make stupid mistakes because of being in a rush over a fictitious deadline. But you know perfectly well that Apple concocted the Metal scheme in hopes of creating lock in, and not because of any timing thing. Instead, they succeeded at creating a lock-out scheme as any fool could have predicted.
I note that IOS game revenue is now behind Android, just one more number that Apple cultists used to love trotting out and can't any more. What's the next fallback? Apple makes more profit on games than anybody? Until that isn't true either.
Give it a rest, willya?
Whatever they were already using, nobody was screaming for a change
IIRC, Devs. were QUITE whining about the state of OpenGL on Apple's platforms.
So I have to have my files in two different encodings? Hi res for home, and low res for mobile? Really? That's what you consider "it just works"? Why not make iOS support high resolution files? Why not support AptX (which includes low latency, so you don't get 60+ msec of latency when watching movies) on iOS, since macOS supports AptX? Oh - that's right, Apple didn't use the CSR chipsets in the iPhone...
iTunes will export low-bitrate copies of your tracks to your mobile device. They have done that for years, now.
I can't find anything to support a latency of 60ms + on iOS. That much delay would also be VERY visible to almost everybody.
iOS does not suppotr Aptx/AptxHD nor does it support LDAC. Android supports both. You can play high res (24/96 or higher) and DSD on Android - not on iOS. Apple doesn't really care about high quality audio for portable applications...
I am a BIG fan of high bitrate/bit-depth audio at home. I have a medium-sized DVD-A collection and an Oppo DVD/DVD-A Player to play them on. So, suffice it to say that I understand the advantages of high-fidelity digital audio recording and playback.
HOWEVER, there is not ONE human being on this planet, and quite frankly, few DOGS, that can distinguish a Meridian Lossless 24/96 playback in a MOBILE setting from anything over a 160 kB/sec AAC-encoded version. And MOST people, including "golden ears" types, cannot even distinguish 128 k AAC from non-encoded PCM or even analog, in an A/B/X listening test. It's been proven time and again.
So, Apple's decision to not LICENSE AptX for iOS is a QUITE reasonable one.
And how in the ever loving hell could they NOT throw in the ability for face scans to be done properly in any orientation?
It comes down to the physical placement of the sensor.
Think about it. Without some sort of super-fancy pan/tilt mechanism built into the FaceID Illuminator AND camera, it really isn't practical, especially for the Illuminator.
And can you imagine the increase in acquisition/identification time as the device has to "hunt-around" for your face?
No thanks.
I'm pretty sure wearing headphones while cycling is illegal almost everywhere.
What? They don't allow deaf people to cycle?
What's the difference? At least my state has consistently come to that common-sense conclusion.
Wireless headphones have to be charged every night. I don't want another thing to charge, and I don't buy expensive electronics with disposiblity built in. I have a family with lots of devices and we have enough to charge already.
So, statistically, one more device shouldn't impact your routine much at all.
In a meeting? So while everyone is filing in and finding a seat I'm supposed to be fiddling with a plug? I'm really tired of this "fuck you, you can make your life more complicated for the sake of technology" mantra. Technology is supposed to make our lives simpler, ESPECIALLY Apple. That's why they get paid the big bucks, after all.
And WE'RE all tired of you manufacturing improbable scenarios (need GPS for a RUN?!? Puh-lease!) in a desparate attempt to find problems where none ACTUALLY exist.
A lot of people (myself included) like to plug in if they are sitting at a desk, period. Why take the chance of running out of battery later in the day? Maybe you're going to go home and go for a run and you need almost a full charge to run the GPS. Also, I listen to audio books at night.. So when to charge then?
So, throw a lightning to 3.5 mm adapter in your desk and one in your backpack, and you should be good to go.
First world problems.
> i quantifiably listen to less music now that apple has done this.
I listen to just as much. Because, y'know I have an Android tablet with a headphone jack. Super handy for coming into the office loaded up with tunes and just plugging a line in cable into and hitting play. Can't do that with any non-headphone jack device.
Right. Because the world has not yet invented Bluetooth headphones and speakers.
Riiiight.