I forgot an important qualifier. The speakers perfectly fine in a quiet room, but hard to hear when watching video out in public, even in a low/moderate noise environment; or in a large open space without nearby walls to bounce the sound back. It's not the volume, because people have no problems hearing it after I tell them to cup the speaker to them, or of course holding it so the phone speaker is pointed right at them. It's 100% an issue with the sound shooting out the side instead of the front.
Doesn't matter how good the speaker is--it's still shooting sound out the side, so lots of times I try to show a video to a friend and they're left holding the speaker to their ear.
The workaround is to cup the speaker side with your hand and deflect the sound toward you, but then it really doesn't matter how good the speaker is if it's at least decent.
Apple never wrote the Maps app, they asked for it and Google did them a solid by writing it and letting them use it
That's what I thought way back when, and was surprised to hear it was indeed Apple that wrote the Google Maps app (using Google APIs, of course). I can't source my info (it's been a couple of years), can you please source yours so we have a reasonable idea who did what?
That's not an iOS app. The popup you mentioned is to save a shortcut to the webpage to the homescreen, as a web app. Basically not much better than if you'd stopped writing after "Type 'maps.google.com'".
There's no Street View. There's no compass-based orientation. That's two missing features right away compared to the old Google Maps app.
Google couldn't include turn-by-turn directions on Android phones until it had control of its own mapping database. The companies that provide databases wouldn't let Google do it, because it was a threat to their business.
Likewise, when Apple wanted to get access to the data to do its own thing with maps, Google was equally difficult.
3rd party GPS and turn-by-turn on iOS has been available for years, even before the iPhone gained built-in GPS capabilities (an external GPS antenna was supplied by the bigger GPS app providers).
Accidental spacebar presses do not invoke a "destructive" command in the file browser.
On a modern Mac OS file browser (Finder) the spacebar invokes QuickLook, on Windows (Explorer) it selects a bordered file (or does nothing). Assuming you're not in filename edit context, of course.
The other issue with just using delete on files on the Mac is, you can't count on there being a "forward delete" key since even desktop Macs ship with the smaller, non-extended keyboard.
For the same reason, there is no filesystem "Cut" command on a Mac, via menu or shortcut keys. On Windows this is of course just the first part of a file-move sequence. It's inherently non-destructive so here, at least, Apple doesn't have good reason for excluding it.
What's your issue with accidental shift key presses?
They factored that into the show. Why do you think getting from say the bridge to deck 10 would take 10 seconds in one episode, and half a minute on another?
It's like it bumps your lift's priority down and moves slower if it detects an engaging conversation going on, when the occupants aren't standing awkwardly in silence.
No. The Samsung Galaxy SIII, by itself, outsold the iPhone 4S (again, by itself) in August.
Very likely 4S sales were lower due to iPhone 5 anticipation, but it doesn't change the fact that "herd mentality" applies equally to both sides now whether you're comparing OS or the two leading handsets.
Find an address or drop a pin onto a street. If it has StreetView an orange "person" icon appears in the popup information box. Press it, it will go into Street View in landscape mode.
"Forced" doesn't mean "I had to do it because I needed the money" in China. There, as elsewhere in the Communist world, there is this thing called "brigadier movement", where students (highschool and university) and sometimes older people "volunteer" to help some sector of the economy, usually for free (awful) food and no pay.
Forget communist world, in the province of Ontario, Canada, graduating high school requires 40 hours of volunteer service. Granted there's a bit more choice of what to do than in China, but on principle I still feel it's no different than making teachers do mandatory extra-curricular activity supervision outside school hours (to prevent teachers halting EC activities as part of any work-to-rule campaign).
Why on earth did anyone expect any of this commercial was shot with an actual Lumina?
Does anyone realize how impractical this is, or even how bad it would look on your HDTV?
Nokia's only mistake here is not putting "Not actual footage. This is a simulation of actual results" disclaimer on the split screen parts.
There are digital camera ads touting their HD video capabilities, which actually say the video was shot on that camera. Perhaps some post-processing is done, but at least they used the actual product for the initial video.
As for how bad it would look on an HDTV... the specs say it shoots 1080p video at 30 fps, with a still-camera resolution of 8.7 megapixels, far greater than 1080p resolution (2.07 megapixels). There's no reason an actual stabilized video wouldn't look at least OK on an HDTV.
That said, I do think a proper disclaimer (and more attentive post-production team!) would have saved Nokia this embarrassment.
> I'd been planning on buying a can of Red Bull, sprouting wings, and flying to Holland next week
Big difference. The claim of "sprouting wings" is so over top that anybody should know that this is just an advertising slogan. Only a total moron would drink Red Bull and wait for wings to pop out.
What's even more pathetic is that it wasn't just the one idiot, he managed to afford the $700,008.50 certified cheque thanks to five other "investors"* to cover the remaining points balance. So at least 6 people were total morons who wasted a court's time and taxpayer money on this affair.
* Note that the Snopes verdict is "false", but that's for the claim that Pepsi was actually obligated to award a Harrier Jet.
But yes, let's chalk this up to a conspiracy theory by Apple perhaps bribing China Labor Watch to tarnish Samsung's good name.
If Samsung (or any company) is in violation of labour laws, who cares who brings it up? Or does it hurt that much now that the shoe being on the other foot?
The AC referenced the wrong services, but an Apple service did pre-date Live Mesh.
The MobileMe service replaced.Mac, which replaced iTools. The first version of iDisk was part of iTools, and came out January 2000 (as noted further up the second page you linked to).
The AC inadvertently mentioned a service that preceded even iTools: i-drive launched its online storage service in August 1999.
You did not suffer through the abomination that was the early Quicktime 4 player interface then.
The actual volume indicator itself did not adjust volume when clicked. Instead, the volume control was a literal on-screen wheel that had you had to click-drag the mouse to rotate. Even with today's touchscreen interfaces that would be annoying, but mousing around with that was bad beyond belief. Later versions restored the volume slider.
Sometimes holdover visual metaphors are a good idea, other times not. The QT4 player interface, and the hockey puck mouse, are just a couple of reminders that not everything Steve Jobs approved (or thought up himself) was a good idea.
I wouldn't say "most Americans". There's just a very vocal minority out there that presents itself as representing the majority.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
A recent Gallop poll asked Americans which of 3 statements they agreed with most. 46% chose strict creationism, i.e. "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years".
This excludes the "God-guided evolution" believers, who make up 32%, so 78% of Americans believe in either creationism or intelligent design.
Only 15% believed humans came from non-God-guided evolution.
Sadly, I think this shows creationists are way beyond a "vocal minority", and are at the very least a vocal plurality in the USA.
"they should be put before an expert tribunal rather than a jury that is easily swayed by schoolyard 'copycat' narratives."
Clearly, the solution is to have juries working at the patent office, scrutinizing each patent for 2-3 days, and patent examiners in the courtroom to accept/reject patent cases using the half-day or less they use now when granting patents in the first place.
3. Drivers prefer to use their dominant hand for tasks that require the most precise motor control.
That task is turning the steering wheel, surely - leaving, in the UK at least, the less dexterous (see what I did there?) hand to do the much simpler task of pushing a stick into a slot.
If you were steering with a joystick then I'd agree, but normal car steering wheels (i.e. not racing cars) aren't sensitive enough to need as much precise motor control.
Not that I'm saying this "proves" drivers sitting on left is best, since 90% of all car controls should be easy to use with either hand. The remaining 10% are touchscreen interfaces like GPS and some in-dash systems displays.
The Samsung that makes phones and the Samsung that makes components are not the same company, though they are both part of the Samsung conglomerate.
They could start using the worst parts instead of the best parts while still living up to their contractual obligations with Apple, as well as increasing the profit margins of their interactions with Apple, as well as stick it to Apple long term without hurting themselves.
I'm sure there's a pretty stringent QA process and contract for all component parts.
Apple's not able to test every single one of course, but if a certain percentage of a random sample in a batch fails, the contract would only impact Apple in availability of parts. Samsung however would take a monetary hit--even if there's no direct monetary penalty in the contract, Apple could still reject the entire batch, and Samsung either has to scrap it or sell to a less picky customer for less (assuming a component isn't unique to Apple). Samsung could theoretically keep doing this enough to actually slow availability of Apple products, but then their own reputation for quality takes a hit, they're still wasting money, and there's probably escape clauses that would allow Apple to terminate the contract early without penalty.
The other reason many conservatives distrust "compromise" is that the promises aren't kept. One of the more famous was the 1980s plan to amnesty illegal aliens while increasing enforcement to make sure the problem didn't happen again. We go the amnesty but not the enforcement. Another example from the 1980s was the budget compromises where taxes went up in exchange for future spending cuts - but the cuts never arrived.
I'm assuming this is the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986? It was passed with Democrat House majority but Republican Senate majority. Can I also assume that when the Democrats took control of both right after, that funds for this enforcement were struck from the next budget?
(Wouldn't be the first or last time... IIRC NASA was mandated to fly one more shuttle mission before they were retired, but wasn't given the budget line item to do so).
with facetime AT&T will be looking at much higher upload data rates with the potential of increased cost as they have to pay termination fees to Comcast and other network providers that will increase their costs.
No doubt. However, termination fees have nothing to do with "impact [on AT&T's] network and the overall customer experience" so they're still lying about that.
(Note that adjusting bills upward to cover termination fees is not a customer experience issue, otherwise they haven't cared about CE since forever)
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I forgot an important qualifier. The speakers perfectly fine in a quiet room, but hard to hear when watching video out in public, even in a low/moderate noise environment; or in a large open space without nearby walls to bounce the sound back. It's not the volume, because people have no problems hearing it after I tell them to cup the speaker to them, or of course holding it so the phone speaker is pointed right at them. It's 100% an issue with the sound shooting out the side instead of the front.
Doesn't matter how good the speaker is--it's still shooting sound out the side, so lots of times I try to show a video to a friend and they're left holding the speaker to their ear.
The workaround is to cup the speaker side with your hand and deflect the sound toward you, but then it really doesn't matter how good the speaker is if it's at least decent.
At the very least they could've had actual images instead of text links.
Images of QR codes for those links, that is.
Apple never wrote the Maps app, they asked for it and Google did them a solid by writing it and letting them use it
That's what I thought way back when, and was surprised to hear it was indeed Apple that wrote the Google Maps app (using Google APIs, of course). I can't source my info (it's been a couple of years), can you please source yours so we have a reasonable idea who did what?
That's not an iOS app. The popup you mentioned is to save a shortcut to the webpage to the homescreen, as a web app. Basically not much better than if you'd stopped writing after "Type 'maps.google.com'".
There's no Street View. There's no compass-based orientation. That's two missing features right away compared to the old Google Maps app.
From the GP post you quoted:
iPhone's never had turn-by-turn direction built-in
(emphasis added)
And the reason for this was licensing terms with Google which stipulated Apple could not include turn-by-turn using Google's map service:
Google couldn't include turn-by-turn directions on Android phones until it had control of its own mapping database. The companies that provide databases wouldn't let Google do it, because it was a threat to their business.
Likewise, when Apple wanted to get access to the data to do its own thing with maps, Google was equally difficult.
3rd party GPS and turn-by-turn on iOS has been available for years, even before the iPhone gained built-in GPS capabilities (an external GPS antenna was supplied by the bigger GPS app providers).
Accidental spacebar presses do not invoke a "destructive" command in the file browser.
On a modern Mac OS file browser (Finder) the spacebar invokes QuickLook, on Windows (Explorer) it selects a bordered file (or does nothing). Assuming you're not in filename edit context, of course.
The other issue with just using delete on files on the Mac is, you can't count on there being a "forward delete" key since even desktop Macs ship with the smaller, non-extended keyboard.
For the same reason, there is no filesystem "Cut" command on a Mac, via menu or shortcut keys. On Windows this is of course just the first part of a file-move sequence. It's inherently non-destructive so here, at least, Apple doesn't have good reason for excluding it.
What's your issue with accidental shift key presses?
They factored that into the show. Why do you think getting from say the bridge to deck 10 would take 10 seconds in one episode, and half a minute on another?
It's like it bumps your lift's priority down and moves slower if it detects an engaging conversation going on, when the occupants aren't standing awkwardly in silence.
Aha! Proof that Androids rely on iPhone to get stuff done!
Huh. Maybe that's what we should've done with the failed Blackberrys that work and friends both experienced--drop them on the ground from 5 feet.
Because they sure as heck weren't working properly after half a year of never being dropped...
No. The Samsung Galaxy SIII, by itself, outsold the iPhone 4S (again, by itself) in August.
Very likely 4S sales were lower due to iPhone 5 anticipation, but it doesn't change the fact that "herd mentality" applies equally to both sides now whether you're comparing OS or the two leading handsets.
Find an address or drop a pin onto a street. If it has StreetView an orange "person" icon appears in the popup information box. Press it, it will go into Street View in landscape mode.
"Forced" doesn't mean "I had to do it because I needed the money" in China. There, as elsewhere in the Communist world, there is this thing called "brigadier movement", where students (highschool and university) and sometimes older people "volunteer" to help some sector of the economy, usually for free (awful) food and no pay.
Forget communist world, in the province of Ontario, Canada, graduating high school requires 40 hours of volunteer service. Granted there's a bit more choice of what to do than in China, but on principle I still feel it's no different than making teachers do mandatory extra-curricular activity supervision outside school hours (to prevent teachers halting EC activities as part of any work-to-rule campaign).
Why on earth did anyone expect any of this commercial was shot with an actual Lumina?
Does anyone realize how impractical this is, or even how bad it would look on your HDTV?
Nokia's only mistake here is not putting "Not actual footage. This is a simulation of actual results" disclaimer on the split screen parts.
There are digital camera ads touting their HD video capabilities, which actually say the video was shot on that camera. Perhaps some post-processing is done, but at least they used the actual product for the initial video.
As for how bad it would look on an HDTV... the specs say it shoots 1080p video at 30 fps, with a still-camera resolution of 8.7 megapixels, far greater than 1080p resolution (2.07 megapixels). There's no reason an actual stabilized video wouldn't look at least OK on an HDTV.
That said, I do think a proper disclaimer (and more attentive post-production team!) would have saved Nokia this embarrassment.
> I'd been planning on buying a can of Red Bull, sprouting wings, and flying to Holland next week
Big difference. The claim of "sprouting wings" is so over top that anybody should know that this is just an advertising slogan.
Only a total moron would drink Red Bull and wait for wings to pop out.
You'd think that would be the case, but then there's this idiot who sued Pepsi for breach of contract, fraud, misleading advertising, etc, for refusing to award him a Harrier Jet which was shown in their TV ad as being available for 7,000,000 Pepsi Points. IIRC a "just kidding" disclaimer was added to the commercial after this joker tried collecting, long before the case went to court, where the judge thankfully rejected all claims.
What's even more pathetic is that it wasn't just the one idiot, he managed to afford the $700,008.50 certified cheque thanks to five other "investors"* to cover the remaining points balance. So at least 6 people were total morons who wasted a court's time and taxpayer money on this affair.
* Note that the Snopes verdict is "false", but that's for the claim that Pepsi was actually obligated to award a Harrier Jet.
Beyond Foxconn:Deplorable Working Conditions Characterize Apple’s Entire Supply Chain, released July 27, 2012.
An Investigation of Eight Samsung Factories in China: Is Samsung Infringing Upon Apple’s Patent to Bully Workers?, released September 4, 2012.
But yes, let's chalk this up to a conspiracy theory by Apple perhaps bribing China Labor Watch to tarnish Samsung's good name.
If Samsung (or any company) is in violation of labour laws, who cares who brings it up? Or does it hurt that much now that the shoe being on the other foot?
The AC referenced the wrong services, but an Apple service did pre-date Live Mesh.
The MobileMe service replaced .Mac, which replaced iTools. The first version of iDisk was part of iTools, and came out January 2000 (as noted further up the second page you linked to).
The AC inadvertently mentioned a service that preceded even iTools: i-drive launched its online storage service in August 1999.
You did not suffer through the abomination that was the early Quicktime 4 player interface then.
The actual volume indicator itself did not adjust volume when clicked. Instead, the volume control was a literal on-screen wheel that had you had to click-drag the mouse to rotate. Even with today's touchscreen interfaces that would be annoying, but mousing around with that was bad beyond belief. Later versions restored the volume slider.
Sometimes holdover visual metaphors are a good idea, other times not. The QT4 player interface, and the hockey puck mouse, are just a couple of reminders that not everything Steve Jobs approved (or thought up himself) was a good idea.
I wouldn't say "most Americans". There's just a very vocal minority out there that presents itself as representing the majority.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
A recent Gallop poll asked Americans which of 3 statements they agreed with most. 46% chose strict creationism, i.e. "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years".
This excludes the "God-guided evolution" believers, who make up 32%, so 78% of Americans believe in either creationism or intelligent design.
Only 15% believed humans came from non-God-guided evolution.
Sadly, I think this shows creationists are way beyond a "vocal minority", and are at the very least a vocal plurality in the USA.
the jury only took 2-3 days to deliberate
"they should be put before an expert tribunal rather than a jury that is easily swayed by schoolyard 'copycat' narratives."
Clearly, the solution is to have juries working at the patent office, scrutinizing each patent for 2-3 days, and patent examiners in the courtroom to accept/reject patent cases using the half-day or less they use now when granting patents in the first place.
3. Drivers prefer to use their dominant hand for tasks that require the most precise motor control.
That task is turning the steering wheel, surely - leaving, in the UK at least, the less dexterous (see what I did there?) hand to do the much simpler task of pushing a stick into a slot.
If you were steering with a joystick then I'd agree, but normal car steering wheels (i.e. not racing cars) aren't sensitive enough to need as much precise motor control.
Not that I'm saying this "proves" drivers sitting on left is best, since 90% of all car controls should be easy to use with either hand. The remaining 10% are touchscreen interfaces like GPS and some in-dash systems displays.
The Samsung that makes phones and the Samsung that makes components are not the same company, though they are both part of the Samsung conglomerate.
They could start using the worst parts instead of the best parts while still living up to their contractual obligations with Apple, as well as increasing the profit margins of their interactions with Apple, as well as stick it to Apple long term without hurting themselves.
I'm sure there's a pretty stringent QA process and contract for all component parts.
Apple's not able to test every single one of course, but if a certain percentage of a random sample in a batch fails, the contract would only impact Apple in availability of parts. Samsung however would take a monetary hit--even if there's no direct monetary penalty in the contract, Apple could still reject the entire batch, and Samsung either has to scrap it or sell to a less picky customer for less (assuming a component isn't unique to Apple). Samsung could theoretically keep doing this enough to actually slow availability of Apple products, but then their own reputation for quality takes a hit, they're still wasting money, and there's probably escape clauses that would allow Apple to terminate the contract early without penalty.
Conservatives are tired of being told that a kick in the head is a compromise because it was only one foot instead of two.
I'll give you that--conservative politicians are often more up front and tell you straight up they'll kick you in the head with both feet.
The other reason many conservatives distrust "compromise" is that the promises aren't kept. One of the more famous was the 1980s plan to amnesty illegal aliens while increasing enforcement to make sure the problem didn't happen again. We go the amnesty but not the enforcement. Another example from the 1980s was the budget compromises where taxes went up in exchange for future spending cuts - but the cuts never arrived.
I'm assuming this is the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986? It was passed with Democrat House majority but Republican Senate majority. Can I also assume that when the Democrats took control of both right after, that funds for this enforcement were struck from the next budget?
(Wouldn't be the first or last time... IIRC NASA was mandated to fly one more shuttle mission before they were retired, but wasn't given the budget line item to do so).
with facetime AT&T will be looking at much higher upload data rates with the potential of increased cost as they have to pay termination fees to Comcast and other network providers that will increase their costs.
No doubt. However, termination fees have nothing to do with "impact [on AT&T's] network and the overall customer experience" so they're still lying about that.
(Note that adjusting bills upward to cover termination fees is not a customer experience issue, otherwise they haven't cared about CE since forever)