Honestly, I'm not sure. I suspect you're right that it's a bit of overkill.. but as you say.. an extra layer of security that is simple to implement can't hurt.
Agreed. I was very skeptical of the new keyboard that they introduced with the Macbook. Then I went to the store and typed on one for a half an hour or so.. I was sold. It wasn't perfect but I really liked it.
But I continued to use my 2012 MBP keyboard and the matching aluminum desktop keyboard. Up until recently I've found them to be the best keyboards for me for all day typing (I'm a software developer).
Then I tried the 2016 MBP keyboard and it was a huge improvement over the macbook keyboard. I ended up getting one back in March, I think, and I love it. The touchbar took some getting used to but on balance I really love what it does for usability.
The escape key and function keys are mostly only useful to me in Vim and I can map the keyboard so that they always show up when I load Vim or the terminal. I do wish the escape key was in the far corner where it belongs and I *really* wish they added a taptic engine underneath it but for the most part I don't really notice the change.
Whenever I go back to an old-style Mac keyboard it's very hard for me to get used to. And god help me when I go to a more traditional long throw keyswitch keyboard. I want to smash them. Ironically the clear case Apple keyboard (the one with the white keys from ~2003) is one of the worst I've ever used.. absolutely terrible.
I've used a great many keyboards over the years (both desktop and laptop -- including an ergonomic split keyboard with buckling spring keys). The macbook pro keyboards have always led the pack for me.
The ballots we use up here (and the system we use to count and track them) are amazing.
The voter goes to a table where the ballots are handed out by elections officials. The ballot has the candidate's names in alphabetical order and a removable counterfoil that has a serial number that matches against the book that the ballot was torn from. The official puts their initials on the ballot and hands it to the voter. The voter goes behind the screen and marks the ballot and folds it. The counterfoil and initials are still visible.
The voter hands the ballot back to the offical who checks both the signature and the serial number on the counterfoil (this ensures the voter has returned the ballot they got). The counterfoil is then removed and now the ballot is completely anonymous. The voter then gets the ballot back and she places it in the ballot box in front of the official.
When it comes time to count the votes, the elections officials count all of the ballots in the presence of other non-partisan officials as well as the candidates themselves or their representatives -- a vote isn't recorded until everyone has seen and verified the ballot. Once everything is counted and verified (does the number of ballots counted match the number given out and returned by voters, etc) the tally is made on paper and the ballots themselves are sealed up and passed up the chain. They are kept for 7 days in case a recount is needed.
The great thing about this system is that it scales to any population size since the ballots are counted right there at the polling station, box by box and verified on the spot.
It's certainly not perfect and there are some opportunities for tampering but nothing even in the same universe as the kind of wide-spread hacking that can occur with electronic systems.
When did you get impression that "news" only describes things you've already heard of before?
What a strange way to define news.
Or is it the "for nerds" part that threw you off because you think that if you're not interested in it then no other so-called "nerd" might be?
Also where did you get the idea that it's not their motto anymore? "Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters" shows up quite prominently in the tab of my browser.
If a job applicant came into my office with another company's work product on their laptop (and I knew/they told me it was something they weren't supposed to have) two things would happen.. 1) I would make sure they understood that I wouldn't be hiring them because I couldn't possibly trust them not to do the same thing to me and 2) I would let management at the other company know.
What bills have been presented? Which of the bills that the commons is currently reading/debating since M103 passed (at the end of march) are the ones regarding blasphemy? Be specific.. include the numbers.
Here.. I'll help. here's the list of bills from the Liberals in the current session of parliament
Please point them out. Since they're trying to pass laws that must mean there are already bills before the commons.. right?
And you're the one telling everyone that M-103 is having a chilling effect on free speech.. prove it. Show me the debates in the commons mentioning M103 specifically and using such to bolster up an anti-free speech agenda. You're making some bold assertions as if they are facts.. I trust you have some proof.
Exactly right.. except for not at all. At least not in Canada as the person I was responding to was asserting. He was either grossly misinformed because he never read any of the legislation in question and just believed whomever was telling him what to think.. or he was flat out lying. Either way...
Trying to pass blasphemy laws? Shit son. Canada has had a law against blasphemy since 1892. And just this year the liberal govt has put forth bill C-51 which will act to repeal that law. But don't let that get in the way of a good screed.
Hopefully those who read your post will actually look to find out what M103 actually is and what it actually says rather than believing the garbage you wrote.
I defend things that work for me and the people I work for and with. If someone has an incompatible machine (it's rare that I run into someone with an android phone or a windows machine in my work.. but it happens) they can upload to dropbox, ftp, email or message me the files.. or even.. gasp.. give it to me on a USB stick. It's substandard.. but the number of people I deal with that have macs and/or iPhones/iPads is sufficiently close to 100% enough that I couldn't really care less.
There's no standard, open, non-proprietary protocol (on either Android or Windows) that I know of that does anything even close to as well or as simply or across as many different devices and OS versions as airdrop does. Nobody's even close. So it would be pretty damned silly of me to be upset at Apple for giving me exactly what I want.
What's the problem with negotiating/initiating over bluetooth and then sending the data high-speed over WiFi?
Both devices have to be newer than 2012-2013-ish vintage.. is that really a huge deal? Of the tens of people I've needed to do file transfers with while working not a single one of them had a device that wouldn't work.
No neither device needs to be connected to Apple. The connection is entirely peer to peer. I've done it between two laptops, nether of which had an external internet connection.
But most importantly.. why are you getting so riled up about this? AirDrop is an *incredible* feature. It works very reliably, can transfer huge files (multiple gigabytes in my experience) and is pretty much dead simple to use.
Seems like you just want to be upset about this for no real reason other than you want to be upset.
I agree. This is just about the only reason I turn off my wifi or bluetooth individually -- to disconnect from something. But then if I want to use AirDrop or my Pencil or some such I need to turn it back on.
The GUI is pretty clear that it's just "diconnecting" and not turning the radio off. It even says "disconnecting from..." when you tap the button. In the expanded view (long press/3D touch) it even says "disconnected" rather than "off". If you turn on airplane mode you can see what it looks like (a stroke through the icon and "off" in the expanded view)
The problem is really twofold:
1) iOS 10 was turning off the radio and there wasn't a stroke through... so it *looks* like it's behaving the old way. Education/documentation fixes this. 2) there's no way in the control center to *actually* turn off one or both of the radios without going into airplane mode. a simple three-stage toggle would solve this. Whether Apple actually cares to do this is anyone's guess.
In any case.. if someone desperately needs to turn off one or both of these radios and doesn't want airplane mode then it's hardly a giant inconvenience to just go to settings and do so.
As the GP correctly said.. you can turn both radios fully off in the settings. Your link only talks about the control centre toggles (which do behave in a new and kinda weird way in iOS 11)
There are even three ways to get to this tab overview:
1) pinch to zoom out, as you've mentioned 2) the little button in the top right of the default toolbar 3) cmd-shift-\
How much easier can it get? I get the info I need when I need it.. and when I don't need it there's no clutter.
Even if these favicons (which seem like silly noise to me.. but to each their own) were important to me.. they wouldn't be important enough to switch to Chrome. Good god. I can't even set all new tabs to show a blank page in chrome without an extension. No thanks.
Yup.. I had a similar experience with Expedia. Booked a (very expensive) room at a hotel in the south pacific. The night before our flight I decided to call the hotel to confirm something or other (probably hotel pickup). They said they had no booking for me. Someone at expedia had contacted them about the booking but never actually *made* the booking.
A couple of hours of banging my head against the expedia customer support wall and I had nothing and had to scramble to find a place for my wife and I to stay for a week during a very busy season.
It was not a pleasant experience. I've never used them since (I used to use them alot for booking flights.. this was my first time using them for accommodations). I've also stopped friends and family from using them when they mention it.
Mainly I like the OS. I like the GUI more than what Windows and Linux has to offer. I like the UNIX underpinnings.
I like that I can (almost) seamlessly integrate a Mac workstation into a Linux environment with shared scripts and file system paths.
I like the focus on lightness and size for my laptops while still giving me more than enough performance when I'm on the road. I travel alot.. every half pound helps when I'm on the road.
I like how it handles quicktime media (a standard in the visual effects industry) better than Linux or Windows.
I like how well (though not perfectly) integrated the various devices and services are.
I like the company's attention to environmental and human issues -- they're no even in the same universe as perfect but I don't see anyone else doing better for my money.
Personally I love the new keyboard on the Macbook Pro and I don't miss the physical function keys.. the touchbar is really great. Though I would have preferred that there was a haptic feedback like on the touchpad.
I like not being abandoned by a carrier or phone manufacturer for OS and security updates.
All around, for my needs and my money, they're just better. Not for everyone obviously.. but there's nothing that they're currently doing or not doing that would cause me to switch at this point. One day maybe.. but I would be giving up quite alot.
Why is a third party monitor having problems a big blow to apple? Why would mac users need an apple approved monitor? I've been using macs for the better part of 15 years and I don't recall ever using an apple branded monitor let alone some mythical "apple approved" one.
My bank had an NFC phone app before Apple Pay was released, so if you need that level of security it is already there. Also the bank covers the loss of contactless transaction, so even if someone takes your card you're covered. Also you have the choice of the free card, or the app, or both. Apple offers no such choice.
How so? I have a card and I have my iPhone. I can use either.
As for security.. someone can steal my card and I have to deal with everything that goes along with that. Someone could even still clone the mag stripe or write down the number and CVV code from the back. My phone gives out none of that. Sadly we are not in a world where I can leave my (ridiculously insecure) credit cards at home. But I hope we get there soon.
From a Ux perspective it's an extra step which is considered worse
How so? It's not an extra step. I hold my phone up to the reader with my thumb already in the right place and it authorizes. I don't even need to unlock the phone.. I just hold it to the reader, it shows my cards and if my thumb is in the right place.. presto.. payment authorized. no extra steps or apps needed.
Contactless goes through leather so it's exactly the same effort to swipe (actually easier when you don't have to scan your fingerprint)
I have four different contactless cards to choose from (Debit, Credit, Work Canadian dollars credit, Work US Dollars Credit). Mostly I use my debit but I use all of the others frequently (multiple times a week) so I can't just hold up my wallet and hope for the best (or assume my phone case.. which I dont even have.. will have the right card). Also the work cards are from different banks than my personal ones so having to use different apps from different banks would be a pain.
And see above. The only reason the fingerprint would be extra labour is if the phone (either software or hardware) is badly designed. How exactly do your NFC payment app and/or fingerprint reader work that using your fingerprint is an extra step?
nothing Apple is doing is new
That is almost always the case. What is generally true, however, is that they find a way to do it *better*.
Actually. I'm in Canada so we were in much the same boat as you. though I travel extensively and often in the US and I am constantly dumbfounded at how... primitive.. the system is.
That said.. Apple pay is just another level of security. Contactless cards can be used by anyone who has the card (up to a per-transaction limit of $100 at most places, if I'm not mistaken). With Apple pay I still need to use my fingerprint to authorize which is nice. I also find it easier than rifling through my wallet to find the card I want whereas I always have my phone closer to hand than my wallet and I can very easily choose the proper card right on the phone. Certainly it's not as huge a difference for those of us in the 21st century of payment systems but for me, in daily use, it's a non-zero improvement.
It's been a while since I looked at the specifications but I'm pretty sure that with Apple Pay the actual card number is replaced with a device-unique token so that the merchant never sees or transmits your actual card number. I don't think that's the case with contactless cards (but I'm not certain about that last bit).
Slashdot Mirror
Honestly, I'm not sure. I suspect you're right that it's a bit of overkill.. but as you say.. an extra layer of security that is simple to implement can't hurt.
Agreed. I was very skeptical of the new keyboard that they introduced with the Macbook. Then I went to the store and typed on one for a half an hour or so.. I was sold. It wasn't perfect but I really liked it.
But I continued to use my 2012 MBP keyboard and the matching aluminum desktop keyboard. Up until recently I've found them to be the best keyboards for me for all day typing (I'm a software developer).
Then I tried the 2016 MBP keyboard and it was a huge improvement over the macbook keyboard. I ended up getting one back in March, I think, and I love it. The touchbar took some getting used to but on balance I really love what it does for usability.
The escape key and function keys are mostly only useful to me in Vim and I can map the keyboard so that they always show up when I load Vim or the terminal. I do wish the escape key was in the far corner where it belongs and I *really* wish they added a taptic engine underneath it but for the most part I don't really notice the change.
Whenever I go back to an old-style Mac keyboard it's very hard for me to get used to. And god help me when I go to a more traditional long throw keyswitch keyboard. I want to smash them. Ironically the clear case Apple keyboard (the one with the white keys from ~2003) is one of the worst I've ever used.. absolutely terrible.
I've used a great many keyboards over the years (both desktop and laptop -- including an ergonomic split keyboard with buckling spring keys). The macbook pro keyboards have always led the pack for me.
The ballots we use up here (and the system we use to count and track them) are amazing.
The voter goes to a table where the ballots are handed out by elections officials. The ballot has the candidate's names in alphabetical order and a removable counterfoil that has a serial number that matches against the book that the ballot was torn from. The official puts their initials on the ballot and hands it to the voter. The voter goes behind the screen and marks the ballot and folds it. The counterfoil and initials are still visible.
The voter hands the ballot back to the offical who checks both the signature and the serial number on the counterfoil (this ensures the voter has returned the ballot they got). The counterfoil is then removed and now the ballot is completely anonymous. The voter then gets the ballot back and she places it in the ballot box in front of the official.
When it comes time to count the votes, the elections officials count all of the ballots in the presence of other non-partisan officials as well as the candidates themselves or their representatives -- a vote isn't recorded until everyone has seen and verified the ballot. Once everything is counted and verified (does the number of ballots counted match the number given out and returned by voters, etc) the tally is made on paper and the ballots themselves are sealed up and passed up the chain. They are kept for 7 days in case a recount is needed.
The great thing about this system is that it scales to any population size since the ballots are counted right there at the polling station, box by box and verified on the spot.
It's certainly not perfect and there are some opportunities for tampering but nothing even in the same universe as the kind of wide-spread hacking that can occur with electronic systems.
more detail:
http://www.elections.ca/conten...
http://www.elections.ca/conten...
When did you get impression that "news" only describes things you've already heard of before?
What a strange way to define news.
Or is it the "for nerds" part that threw you off because you think that if you're not interested in it then no other so-called "nerd" might be?
Also where did you get the idea that it's not their motto anymore? "Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters" shows up quite prominently in the tab of my browser.
If a job applicant came into my office with another company's work product on their laptop (and I knew/they told me it was something they weren't supposed to have) two things would happen.. 1) I would make sure they understood that I wouldn't be hiring them because I couldn't possibly trust them not to do the same thing to me and 2) I would let management at the other company know.
What bills have been presented? Which of the bills that the commons is currently reading/debating since M103 passed (at the end of march) are the ones regarding blasphemy? Be specific.. include the numbers.
Here.. I'll help. here's the list of bills from the Liberals in the current session of parliament
https://www.parl.ca/LegisInfo/...
Please point them out. Since they're trying to pass laws that must mean there are already bills before the commons.. right?
And you're the one telling everyone that M-103 is having a chilling effect on free speech.. prove it. Show me the debates in the commons mentioning M103 specifically and using such to bolster up an anti-free speech agenda. You're making some bold assertions as if they are facts.. I trust you have some proof.
Exactly right.. except for not at all. At least not in Canada as the person I was responding to was asserting. He was either grossly misinformed because he never read any of the legislation in question and just believed whomever was telling him what to think.. or he was flat out lying. Either way...
Trying to pass blasphemy laws? Shit son. Canada has had a law against blasphemy since 1892. And just this year the liberal govt has put forth bill C-51 which will act to repeal that law. But don't let that get in the way of a good screed.
Hopefully those who read your post will actually look to find out what M103 actually is and what it actually says rather than believing the garbage you wrote.
Ahhh.. now we get to the heart of the matter.
I defend things that work for me and the people I work for and with. If someone has an incompatible machine (it's rare that I run into someone with an android phone or a windows machine in my work.. but it happens) they can upload to dropbox, ftp, email or message me the files.. or even.. gasp.. give it to me on a USB stick. It's substandard.. but the number of people I deal with that have macs and/or iPhones/iPads is sufficiently close to 100% enough that I couldn't really care less.
There's no standard, open, non-proprietary protocol (on either Android or Windows) that I know of that does anything even close to as well or as simply or across as many different devices and OS versions as airdrop does. Nobody's even close. So it would be pretty damned silly of me to be upset at Apple for giving me exactly what I want.
Purposefully shitty? Haha.. that's rich.
Jesus.. it can't be simpler. Turn on Airdrop.. select a file or files.. share.. select recipient.. recipient accepts.
You want it to magically teleport when you just think of the file? What less shitty alternative are you proposing? Be specific.
What's the problem with negotiating/initiating over bluetooth and then sending the data high-speed over WiFi?
Both devices have to be newer than 2012-2013-ish vintage.. is that really a huge deal? Of the tens of people I've needed to do file transfers with while working not a single one of them had a device that wouldn't work.
No neither device needs to be connected to Apple. The connection is entirely peer to peer. I've done it between two laptops, nether of which had an external internet connection.
But most importantly.. why are you getting so riled up about this? AirDrop is an *incredible* feature. It works very reliably, can transfer huge files (multiple gigabytes in my experience) and is pretty much dead simple to use.
Seems like you just want to be upset about this for no real reason other than you want to be upset.
You do you.
I agree. This is just about the only reason I turn off my wifi or bluetooth individually -- to disconnect from something. But then if I want to use AirDrop or my Pencil or some such I need to turn it back on.
The GUI is pretty clear that it's just "diconnecting" and not turning the radio off. It even says "disconnecting from..." when you tap the button. In the expanded view (long press/3D touch) it even says "disconnected" rather than "off". If you turn on airplane mode you can see what it looks like (a stroke through the icon and "off" in the expanded view)
The problem is really twofold:
1) iOS 10 was turning off the radio and there wasn't a stroke through... so it *looks* like it's behaving the old way. Education/documentation fixes this.
2) there's no way in the control center to *actually* turn off one or both of the radios without going into airplane mode. a simple three-stage toggle would solve this. Whether Apple actually cares to do this is anyone's guess.
In any case.. if someone desperately needs to turn off one or both of these radios and doesn't want airplane mode then it's hardly a giant inconvenience to just go to settings and do so.
Just the usual tempest in a teapot.
Sadly (for you), you're the one who's deuded.
As the GP correctly said.. you can turn both radios fully off in the settings. Your link only talks about the control centre toggles (which do behave in a new and kinda weird way in iOS 11)
Having a device that actually gets timely updates is what's actually not lookin' too bad right now.
And as a point of reference.. this vulnerability was patched in iOS before Apple released the first phone without a standard headophone jack.
Though even if that *weren't* the case.. one can still plug in normal headphones..
They did explain their terms. Literally in the first line of the summary.
From TFS:
Google has taken the wraps off its answer to Apple's ARKit -- a new augmented reality development platform called "ARCore."
Emphasis mine.
Agreed completely.
There are even three ways to get to this tab overview:
1) pinch to zoom out, as you've mentioned
2) the little button in the top right of the default toolbar
3) cmd-shift-\
How much easier can it get? I get the info I need when I need it.. and when I don't need it there's no clutter.
Even if these favicons (which seem like silly noise to me.. but to each their own) were important to me.. they wouldn't be important enough to switch to Chrome. Good god. I can't even set all new tabs to show a blank page in chrome without an extension. No thanks.
The big difference post-'03 is they started 'Disneyfying' themselves, theme parks everywhere...
There are only 6 legoland theme parks.. and 4 of them were built before '03. The remaining two opened in '11 and just '17.
Yup.. I had a similar experience with Expedia. Booked a (very expensive) room at a hotel in the south pacific. The night before our flight I decided to call the hotel to confirm something or other (probably hotel pickup). They said they had no booking for me. Someone at expedia had contacted them about the booking but never actually *made* the booking.
A couple of hours of banging my head against the expedia customer support wall and I had nothing and had to scramble to find a place for my wife and I to stay for a week during a very busy season.
It was not a pleasant experience. I've never used them since (I used to use them alot for booking flights.. this was my first time using them for accommodations). I've also stopped friends and family from using them when they mention it.
A garbage company all around.
Mainly I like the OS. I like the GUI more than what Windows and Linux has to offer. I like the UNIX underpinnings.
I like that I can (almost) seamlessly integrate a Mac workstation into a Linux environment with shared scripts and file system paths.
I like the focus on lightness and size for my laptops while still giving me more than enough performance when I'm on the road. I travel alot.. every half pound helps when I'm on the road.
I like how it handles quicktime media (a standard in the visual effects industry) better than Linux or Windows.
I like how well (though not perfectly) integrated the various devices and services are.
I like the company's attention to environmental and human issues -- they're no even in the same universe as perfect but I don't see anyone else doing better for my money.
Personally I love the new keyboard on the Macbook Pro and I don't miss the physical function keys.. the touchbar is really great. Though I would have preferred that there was a haptic feedback like on the touchpad.
I like not being abandoned by a carrier or phone manufacturer for OS and security updates.
All around, for my needs and my money, they're just better. Not for everyone obviously.. but there's nothing that they're currently doing or not doing that would cause me to switch at this point. One day maybe.. but I would be giving up quite alot.
This is not some mythical "apple approved" display. It never was. It's just a 3rd party monitor that apple sells.
You can get monitors for macs from any number of vendors.
The FCC is interested in the emission of interference, not being affected by it.
Why is a third party monitor having problems a big blow to apple? Why would mac users need an apple approved monitor? I've been using macs for the better part of 15 years and I don't recall ever using an apple branded monitor let alone some mythical "apple approved" one.
How so? I have a card and I have my iPhone. I can use either.
As for security.. someone can steal my card and I have to deal with everything that goes along with that. Someone could even still clone the mag stripe or write down the number and CVV code from the back. My phone gives out none of that. Sadly we are not in a world where I can leave my (ridiculously insecure) credit cards at home. But I hope we get there soon.
How so? It's not an extra step. I hold my phone up to the reader with my thumb already in the right place and it authorizes. I don't even need to unlock the phone.. I just hold it to the reader, it shows my cards and if my thumb is in the right place.. presto.. payment authorized. no extra steps or apps needed.
I have four different contactless cards to choose from (Debit, Credit, Work Canadian dollars credit, Work US Dollars Credit). Mostly I use my debit but I use all of the others frequently (multiple times a week) so I can't just hold up my wallet and hope for the best (or assume my phone case.. which I dont even have.. will have the right card). Also the work cards are from different banks than my personal ones so having to use different apps from different banks would be a pain.
And see above. The only reason the fingerprint would be extra labour is if the phone (either software or hardware) is badly designed. How exactly do your NFC payment app and/or fingerprint reader work that using your fingerprint is an extra step?
That is almost always the case. What is generally true, however, is that they find a way to do it *better*.
Actually. I'm in Canada so we were in much the same boat as you. though I travel extensively and often in the US and I am constantly dumbfounded at how... primitive.. the system is.
That said.. Apple pay is just another level of security. Contactless cards can be used by anyone who has the card (up to a per-transaction limit of $100 at most places, if I'm not mistaken). With Apple pay I still need to use my fingerprint to authorize which is nice. I also find it easier than rifling through my wallet to find the card I want whereas I always have my phone closer to hand than my wallet and I can very easily choose the proper card right on the phone. Certainly it's not as huge a difference for those of us in the 21st century of payment systems but for me, in daily use, it's a non-zero improvement.
It's been a while since I looked at the specifications but I'm pretty sure that with Apple Pay the actual card number is replaced with a device-unique token so that the merchant never sees or transmits your actual card number. I don't think that's the case with contactless cards (but I'm not certain about that last bit).