Apple's goal all along was to drop DRM - they didn't want it in the first place and said so, but they had no choice if they wanted to sell music on the iTMS. The FSF were right, but it wasn't Apple's choice (well, apart from 'don't sell music, make no money on the store' and 'sell music with DRM and then prove that the store works and manoeuvre to remove it').
They also pretty much spelled out what they thought of DRM on the music tracks by making it *hilariously* trivial to get around it - the iTunes app itself burned those DRM'ed tracks to CD format so you could rerip them (or just keep them on CD) and actively encouraged you to do so when you were buying and downloading them.
Yeah, I really think they "needed convincing" to remove DRM. It wasn't Apple who needed the "DRM is bad" pep talk.
mDNS for local networks (Apple's implementation of zeroconf, which is open source and available for all major platforms)
USB on the iMac - it was the first, and soon became ubiquitous when it became just how useful a standard low data rate port could be.
standardising the dock connector on the iPod and forward: even if it is proprietary, it is standard and unchanging so third party vendors can make peripherals that use the socket, and there is a published method on how to use the various features of it (Tom Tom's dock with GPS and other gubbins, for example). Yes, you have to pay royalties to build something that uses the 30 pin connector, at least at the moment. You had to for firewire too, but that cost is now gone.
Firewire, yes, which you mentioned. The DV connection on pretty much every home camcorder onwards (at least the MiniDV revolution onwards).
mp3 was not Apple's doing - it was already the default format due to the way computer-based personal music arose, so not supporting it would have been a deathblow for the iPod before it had even begun. The iTMS (after a shaky start with m4p at the behest of the music industry, and ditched as soon as possible) now sells standard AAC files, playable by anything that supports AAC playback.
Incidentally I'm not sure what devices they sell that lock you into using other proprietary (Apple) products - the iPod/iPhone require iTunes, yes, but it is free and you don't need a Mac - you can use the Windows version. You are not forced to use the app store or the iTunes Music Store - the phone plays mp3 and AAC files from other sources. If you want apps, you are stuck (without jailbreak) bun in that case, the iPhone is not for you: buy a Nexus One.
I suppose the new Cinema display (the 24" one) that uses a MiniDisplay port requires a Mac with the same port to use, but there are third party adaptors that will allow you to use it with a DVI port. The 24" CD is really an accessory to the MacBook Pro though - if you wanted a 24" display and you didn't have a MacBook you would really not be choosing wisely.
The iMac I am using right now has a copy of XP on it for some old Windows only games, and I'm actually using a Microsoft mouse, a generic firewire external HD (with Time Machine - no need for a Time Capsule from the Apple store), two generic USB memory sticks, a generic USB hub. My 15" Powerbook dual boots Ubuntu and Leopard. I also exchanged the internal SATA hard drive in my iMac for a bigger one that I bought from an equivalent of newegg. The internal drive on the PB is big enough, but I have done several swaps of hard drives and optical drives in other Mac laptops and just use generic parts. The only properly proprietary internal part is the logic board - much the same as a PC laptop. It would be nice to upgrade the GPU in the iMac, but it is one of the compromises I made when selecting the very convenient form factor.
I don't feel especially "locked" in to anything, but perhaps I just don't tend to clash with situations where I feel that I am being hampered rather than just going on as normal. If you find that you do, then Apple probably isn't for you. It's not different to buying a hammer to change a plug. I know to some geeks, when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail, but right too for the job and all that.
You can control the power level on Apple's Airport stations, but not automatically - you have to manually adjust a slider and (I think) reboot the router for it to take effect. It is possible to dial down the level though if you don't need the full strength, and you want to make your network tougher to connect with, or your neighbour is complaining that you are melting her brain with your evil microwave signals.
It's cheaper than buying her a tinfoil hat, but much less hilarious.
I don;t need one at the moment, so probably not. If I ned one, I might just. At any rate they are not available in the UK at the moment.
You seem to be implying that "fanboys" and the "general public" will be fooled into thinking they need an iPad, regardless of any actual free thought.
Can't a successful product simply be popular? Is it not possible that it will sell well because it's actually desirable? For some reason, because Apple's goals don;t *precisely* match the needs and wants of geeks, it means that any mass success of their products must be because people are being "duped" not because the device is actually worth buying, right?
They could deal with the Mac platform being the way it is because the marketshare is small, but iPods and iPhones sold like hot cakes - it can't be because they're any good right? It must be some sort of mass deceit!
Yes, at the moment the US is backwards - since you can actually tether with the iPhone in many other places, including the UK. Actually pretty handy if you already have a 3G phone, especially if it is the traditional Apple way - slide a checkbox on your phone to say "tether", click a box in the iPad to say "tether" and that's all you need (obviously pair them via bluetooth).
Youtube serves up an H.264 version of the video to your iPhone. Not all videos are converted yet (google is massively numbercrunching behind the scenes to convert older ones). If the phone meets a video with no H.264 version it just says "cannot display movie at this time" or something like that.
You can use ClickToFlash on Safari in 10.6 to tell the Youtube site to serve the H.264 iPhone version to your browser instead of the flash version too - much nicer.
The locking to network is not Apple's beef - they don;t care one way or the other (or in fact, prefer unlocked since it means they can sell more phones). You can get your iPhone unlocked by just asking your carrier (note: does not work in USA).
The main point is that everyone knows ahead of time about the walled garden, and yet wants in anyway - only to them complain that they are in a walled garden. This is what Android is for!
You DO NOT need to jailbreak to use tethering. My un-jailbroken iPhone tethers just fine.
You also don;t hear about it in any other context because no other phone is in the same sort of position - a popular device that doesn't do quite what some geeks want, with enough following to change. There are plenty of phones that are locked up just as tightly as the iPhone, with features crippled and controlled (but mainly at the behest of the carrier, not the owner of the App store), but they don;t get much press because people don;t really care about them, or they choose a different phone.
The iPhone is the first one to come along where people still want it, and are willing to work around the restrictions that are all clearly visible before you buy it. With the availability of Android phones, the market for jailbreaking will probably decrease, since the majority seem to want what Droid has to offer - which is great, it;s just not what is offered by default with the iPhone.
Or you just ask your carrier to unlock it for you. O2 will do it for you here in the UK now that the exclusivity deal has finished.
Locked phones are not unique to to Apple.
Jailbreaking the phone to run the unsigned unlock code also doesn't make you vulnerable. Installing SSH and not changing the default password does. That is a separate thing.
I should say that since I have owned the phone I have never experienced the call dropping, regardless of whether I start in a 3G area, or an Edge one or vice versa. The fact that I live right on the fringe of a 3G area would suggest that I'd be constantly plagued by the problem if it happened. I think it is an issue with At&T if the problem is so apparent in the US, or a bad interaction between AT&T and the iPhone if it only occurs on the iPhone there - it really doesn't seem to be an issue in the UK.
I have never, ever had this problem on my iPhone, and I live in an area of the UK with mixed 3G and Edge/2G coverage - my house is in an area with no 3G, and driving a couple of miles down the road gets you into the 3G zone due to the town nearby. I have never had an issue with dropped calls due to going in and out of 3G coverage.
Whether this is due to the network (I am on O2 in the UK), or the phone I am not certain.
Put it this way, that sentence makes an assertion about what the iPhone does when it tried to fall back to Edge. My own experience is different. The truth is therefore likely somewhere in between, and the call issue may just be related to AT&T and may affect android phones in the same way.
I also think that the "who cares?" post is a little bit naive - clearly a lot of people *do* care, since they are selling iPhones hand over fist. I welcome the introduction of the Android phones - more competition will drive the market (hopefully) to be better for all consumers, but outside of the most hardcore of geeks who have some sort of axe to grind about Apple, the iPhone is still a long way from a "who cares?" device. Proponents of Android that treat the competition that way would do well to be careful (and vice versa - Droid-based phones are going to offer some serious competition to iPhone).
I'm not even American, these are my observations as a Brit who has lived in the US extensively, as well as here in the UK.
And if you think Rush has no "power" over the Repubs, where are loud denouncements by the party when he says particularly off-message (so you say) things, other than to quietly claim now and again that he doesn't speak for the party.
I'm well aware that not all Republicans watch Fox new, or follow Rush's words or beliefs, or believe that the 4 elements that make up all things are Earth, Water, Fire and Air (I know several actual real life Repubs, so I have real world experience), but Rush does represent a very large swathe of the US.
That's the problem though isn't it - the right wing shouties aren't just "individuals", they command the actions of all those repubs (including the rich ones with lots of disposable income) and can affect where the donation money goes. If they deem the Red Cross to be "unamerican", whoops, there goes all your donation from right wing, middle class white people.
They might be twisted, hopeless and incompetent individual, but don't underestimate the power placed in them by a large portion of America. They can be very dangerous and destructive.
Perhaps it is mainly in the web forms where it really slows down, but I tend not to use it for that - in the SMS interface and the facebook app it is very responsive.
It would be nice to be able to go back and correct the autocorrect if it picks the wrong word if you are going too fast - a double tap or something that could pop up a list of options, or the ability to just type the word you meant and replace it without having to delete.
As far as I know, you can't "officially" add words to the database - it just seems to learn based on the times you correct it and is more likely in future to offer words that you use when you overrule it. It also learns words and terms that you frequently capitalise, and looks up people's names from your address book as a spelling source so I guess you could use an ugly hack of adding a list of words as a contact to your address book that it would then use as a source.
I don't type in web forms very much with it at all, so I am not seeing the super slowdown - I do notice that the phone generally struggles with performance in the web browser, so I guess it is not surprising and would make the keyboard a pain to use.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple's goal all along was to drop DRM - they didn't want it in the first place and said so, but they had no choice if they wanted to sell music on the iTMS. The FSF were right, but it wasn't Apple's choice (well, apart from 'don't sell music, make no money on the store' and 'sell music with DRM and then prove that the store works and manoeuvre to remove it').
They also pretty much spelled out what they thought of DRM on the music tracks by making it *hilariously* trivial to get around it - the iTunes app itself burned those DRM'ed tracks to CD format so you could rerip them (or just keep them on CD) and actively encouraged you to do so when you were buying and downloading them.
Yeah, I really think they "needed convincing" to remove DRM. It wasn't Apple who needed the "DRM is bad" pep talk.
mDNS for local networks (Apple's implementation of zeroconf, which is open source and available for all major platforms)
USB on the iMac - it was the first, and soon became ubiquitous when it became just how useful a standard low data rate port could be.
standardising the dock connector on the iPod and forward: even if it is proprietary, it is standard and unchanging so third party vendors can make peripherals that use the socket, and there is a published method on how to use the various features of it (Tom Tom's dock with GPS and other gubbins, for example). Yes, you have to pay royalties to build something that uses the 30 pin connector, at least at the moment. You had to for firewire too, but that cost is now gone.
Firewire, yes, which you mentioned. The DV connection on pretty much every home camcorder onwards (at least the MiniDV revolution onwards).
mp3 was not Apple's doing - it was already the default format due to the way computer-based personal music arose, so not supporting it would have been a deathblow for the iPod before it had even begun. The iTMS (after a shaky start with m4p at the behest of the music industry, and ditched as soon as possible) now sells standard AAC files, playable by anything that supports AAC playback.
Incidentally I'm not sure what devices they sell that lock you into using other proprietary (Apple) products - the iPod/iPhone require iTunes, yes, but it is free and you don't need a Mac - you can use the Windows version. You are not forced to use the app store or the iTunes Music Store - the phone plays mp3 and AAC files from other sources. If you want apps, you are stuck (without jailbreak) bun in that case, the iPhone is not for you: buy a Nexus One.
I suppose the new Cinema display (the 24" one) that uses a MiniDisplay port requires a Mac with the same port to use, but there are third party adaptors that will allow you to use it with a DVI port. The 24" CD is really an accessory to the MacBook Pro though - if you wanted a 24" display and you didn't have a MacBook you would really not be choosing wisely.
The iMac I am using right now has a copy of XP on it for some old Windows only games, and I'm actually using a Microsoft mouse, a generic firewire external HD (with Time Machine - no need for a Time Capsule from the Apple store), two generic USB memory sticks, a generic USB hub. My 15" Powerbook dual boots Ubuntu and Leopard. I also exchanged the internal SATA hard drive in my iMac for a bigger one that I bought from an equivalent of newegg. The internal drive on the PB is big enough, but I have done several swaps of hard drives and optical drives in other Mac laptops and just use generic parts. The only properly proprietary internal part is the logic board - much the same as a PC laptop. It would be nice to upgrade the GPU in the iMac, but it is one of the compromises I made when selecting the very convenient form factor.
I don't feel especially "locked" in to anything, but perhaps I just don't tend to clash with situations where I feel that I am being hampered rather than just going on as normal. If you find that you do, then Apple probably isn't for you. It's not different to buying a hammer to change a plug. I know to some geeks, when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail, but right too for the job and all that.
You can control the power level on Apple's Airport stations, but not automatically - you have to manually adjust a slider and (I think) reboot the router for it to take effect. It is possible to dial down the level though if you don't need the full strength, and you want to make your network tougher to connect with, or your neighbour is complaining that you are melting her brain with your evil microwave signals.
It's cheaper than buying her a tinfoil hat, but much less hilarious.
I don;t need one at the moment, so probably not. If I ned one, I might just. At any rate they are not available in the UK at the moment.
You seem to be implying that "fanboys" and the "general public" will be fooled into thinking they need an iPad, regardless of any actual free thought.
Can't a successful product simply be popular? Is it not possible that it will sell well because it's actually desirable? For some reason, because Apple's goals don;t *precisely* match the needs and wants of geeks, it means that any mass success of their products must be because people are being "duped" not because the device is actually worth buying, right?
They could deal with the Mac platform being the way it is because the marketshare is small, but iPods and iPhones sold like hot cakes - it can't be because they're any good right? It must be some sort of mass deceit!
How do the words rotate around if you hold the book sideways, or would you ordinarily read sideways.
Well, I needed a portable music player, so I bought an iPod.
I needed a new cellular phone, and I liked the look of the iPhone over the blackberry, so I bought an iPhone.
I needed a computer and I liked the iMac's all in one design, so I bought it (and dual boot OS X and XP).
Sorry, how have I been "fooled" into "thinking I need one"?
Yes, at the moment the US is backwards - since you can actually tether with the iPhone in many other places, including the UK. Actually pretty handy if you already have a 3G phone, especially if it is the traditional Apple way - slide a checkbox on your phone to say "tether", click a box in the iPad to say "tether" and that's all you need (obviously pair them via bluetooth).
Youtube serves up an H.264 version of the video to your iPhone. Not all videos are converted yet (google is massively numbercrunching behind the scenes to convert older ones). If the phone meets a video with no H.264 version it just says "cannot display movie at this time" or something like that.
You can use ClickToFlash on Safari in 10.6 to tell the Youtube site to serve the H.264 iPhone version to your browser instead of the flash version too - much nicer.
Well, I have lived in the US for a long period too (Midwest).
But I'll raise you a ba boom ching. Please, try your waitress.
I think you have a misunderstanding of what it is like to live in Britain. Where did you get your information from? Have you actually lived here?
I'm sorry I could have sworn I was just reading slashdot, now suddenly I am reading the Daily Mail. Oh, it was just your comment.
Had me worried for a minute there.
The locking to network is not Apple's beef - they don;t care one way or the other (or in fact, prefer unlocked since it means they can sell more phones). You can get your iPhone unlocked by just asking your carrier (note: does not work in USA).
The main point is that everyone knows ahead of time about the walled garden, and yet wants in anyway - only to them complain that they are in a walled garden. This is what Android is for!
You DO NOT need to jailbreak to use tethering. My un-jailbroken iPhone tethers just fine.
You also don;t hear about it in any other context because no other phone is in the same sort of position - a popular device that doesn't do quite what some geeks want, with enough following to change. There are plenty of phones that are locked up just as tightly as the iPhone, with features crippled and controlled (but mainly at the behest of the carrier, not the owner of the App store), but they don;t get much press because people don;t really care about them, or they choose a different phone.
The iPhone is the first one to come along where people still want it, and are willing to work around the restrictions that are all clearly visible before you buy it. With the availability of Android phones, the market for jailbreaking will probably decrease, since the majority seem to want what Droid has to offer - which is great, it;s just not what is offered by default with the iPhone.
Or you just ask your carrier to unlock it for you. O2 will do it for you here in the UK now that the exclusivity deal has finished.
Locked phones are not unique to to Apple.
Jailbreaking the phone to run the unsigned unlock code also doesn't make you vulnerable. Installing SSH and not changing the default password does. That is a separate thing.
The two are *totally* unrelated. Unlocking to other networks has *nothing* to do with jailbreaking your phone.
Nor does jailbreaking itself cause you to be vulnerable - you need to also install SSH as well.
If you are installing SSH, you really ought to know what you are doing.
So, you're blaming Apple for a user's inability to think umm, I am installing SSH on my device, maybe I should not use the default root password".
Right.
Is it also Ford's fault that I can't easily get into my car because of the draconian limits on copying car keys when I lose my main and spare set?
I should say that since I have owned the phone I have never experienced the call dropping, regardless of whether I start in a 3G area, or an Edge one or vice versa. The fact that I live right on the fringe of a 3G area would suggest that I'd be constantly plagued by the problem if it happened. I think it is an issue with At&T if the problem is so apparent in the US, or a bad interaction between AT&T and the iPhone if it only occurs on the iPhone there - it really doesn't seem to be an issue in the UK.
It doesn't happen on my UK based iPhone either on O2, in the entire time I have owned it. I can only assume it's the network in the US.
I have never, ever had this problem on my iPhone, and I live in an area of the UK with mixed 3G and Edge/2G coverage - my house is in an area with no 3G, and driving a couple of miles down the road gets you into the 3G zone due to the town nearby. I have never had an issue with dropped calls due to going in and out of 3G coverage.
Whether this is due to the network (I am on O2 in the UK), or the phone I am not certain.
Put it this way, that sentence makes an assertion about what the iPhone does when it tried to fall back to Edge. My own experience is different. The truth is therefore likely somewhere in between, and the call issue may just be related to AT&T and may affect android phones in the same way.
I also think that the "who cares?" post is a little bit naive - clearly a lot of people *do* care, since they are selling iPhones hand over fist. I welcome the introduction of the Android phones - more competition will drive the market (hopefully) to be better for all consumers, but outside of the most hardcore of geeks who have some sort of axe to grind about Apple, the iPhone is still a long way from a "who cares?" device. Proponents of Android that treat the competition that way would do well to be careful (and vice versa - Droid-based phones are going to offer some serious competition to iPhone).
A small point I should make - I'm not a Dem.
I'm not even American, these are my observations as a Brit who has lived in the US extensively, as well as here in the UK.
And if you think Rush has no "power" over the Repubs, where are loud denouncements by the party when he says particularly off-message (so you say) things, other than to quietly claim now and again that he doesn't speak for the party.
I'm well aware that not all Republicans watch Fox new, or follow Rush's words or beliefs, or believe that the 4 elements that make up all things are Earth, Water, Fire and Air (I know several actual real life Repubs, so I have real world experience), but Rush does represent a very large swathe of the US.
After I've done that, you should look up "joke, sub-genre: poor taste".
That's the problem though isn't it - the right wing shouties aren't just "individuals", they command the actions of all those repubs (including the rich ones with lots of disposable income) and can affect where the donation money goes. If they deem the Red Cross to be "unamerican", whoops, there goes all your donation from right wing, middle class white people.
They might be twisted, hopeless and incompetent individual, but don't underestimate the power placed in them by a large portion of America. They can be very dangerous and destructive.
Since the families of people killed by running red lights are not buying congressmen and senators.
Perhaps it is mainly in the web forms where it really slows down, but I tend not to use it for that - in the SMS interface and the facebook app it is very responsive.
It would be nice to be able to go back and correct the autocorrect if it picks the wrong word if you are going too fast - a double tap or something that could pop up a list of options, or the ability to just type the word you meant and replace it without having to delete.
As far as I know, you can't "officially" add words to the database - it just seems to learn based on the times you correct it and is more likely in future to offer words that you use when you overrule it. It also learns words and terms that you frequently capitalise, and looks up people's names from your address book as a spelling source so I guess you could use an ugly hack of adding a list of words as a contact to your address book that it would then use as a source.
I don't type in web forms very much with it at all, so I am not seeing the super slowdown - I do notice that the phone generally struggles with performance in the web browser, so I guess it is not surprising and would make the keyboard a pain to use.
How did this get +3 informative?
How about -1 "did not read the summary and assumed it was an IC engine".