Remember when MacBook keyboards were actually repairable? A few seconds without tools and anyone could swap it out.
Now they're fused into the "top case" which is effectively half of the computer chassis... also with the battery epoxied in. So you're faced with a lengthy full-disassembly repair plus a very expensive part for any exhausted battery or bad keyboard. You know, TWO OF THE MOST COMMON PARTS YOU NEED TO REPLACE ON A LAPTOP.
Not to mention that the new keyboards are shit... no key travel whatsoever, it's like pounding your fingers against solid brick. But apparently such a "courageous" move to a shit keyboard was NECESSARY because "OMG THINNER!". Because apparently everyone cares that their laptop is 0.01oz lighter at the expense of usability, practicality, battery life, performance... and pay no attention to the 10oz of adapters you need to carry around now because you lost all your ports, which cost $30-60/ea and get lost frequently (Apple thanks you for your continued patronage every month).
"As a security measure, merchants who require the CVV2 for "card not present" payment card transactions are required by the card issuer not to store the CVV2 once the individual transaction is authorized.[6] This way, if a database of transactions is compromised, the CVV2 is not included, and the stolen card numbers are less useful. Virtual terminals and payment gateways do not store the CVV2 code, therefore employees and customer service representatives with access to these web-based payment interfaces who otherwise have access to complete card numbers, expiration dates, and other information still lack the CVV2 code.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) also prohibits the storage of CSC (and other sensitive authorisation data) post transaction authorisation. This applies globally to anyone who stores, processes or transmits card holder data.[7] "
So, considering that, what happens now? Pizza Hut should have their merchant license revoked and no longer accept credit card payments.
When they stop removing as much as they add month to month, maybe I'll start caring about Netflix. Until then, I'll stick with Plex. Stuff doesn't disappear there unless I want it to go away.
You'd think Netflix has a limited number of hard drives or something and has to shuffle things around to manage space (I know it's a licensing thing, but it's still bullshit).
I know it's going to be pointless debating anyone online/here about this, but I just wanted to drop some points for thought.
Not all liberals are anti-gun. This liberal owns several. But that's because I also own fire-extinguishers, and not because I'm trying to play fireman/cop. I own them because I recognize and accept that it's my personal responsibility to control an immediate emergency as best I can until the pros arrive. Which can be 30-45 mins in rural areas. I hope I never have to use either.
I also recognize that I have a 1-in 110,000 chance of dying in a mass shooting, as terrible and sad as events like this are. Meanwhile I have a 1-in-113 chance of dying in a car accident. So I try to live my life with some perspective and control my fear/paranoia.
Unlike 1971, in 2017 digital signals degrade instantly from great to nonexistent, whereas in 1971 with analog systems and rabbit ears you could get a descent signal and watch through the occasional bit of static, since analog signals degrade gracefully.
This, basically.
Before, we could've gotten 6 channels watchably well. Now we don't even get one (it sort of comes in, sometimes, but it's one of the crap stations vs. one of the big ones you actually want)..
Got tired of paying Dish $85/yr for a diminishing line-up of channels of diminishing quality. Was $40/mo when I started with them 15+ years ago or so. Back then "Discovery" actually had science, "History Channel" actually had history and "The Learning Channel" actually taught you things. Now they're all different versions of shitty reality TV channels. Got rid of Dish this year.
We can pay our ISP about $16/mo. for locals over the internet connection watched via Roku. Same channels we rightfully should be able to get for free (but can't). It really sucks.
Figured it was only a matter of time before we got a post from someone in the smug, elitist urban reality distortion bubble. So many people, living so close and up in each others' shit, but no one gives a flying fuck about each other, let alone all those non-people who don't live in their precious cities which is the only place any civilized human would think to live. So rural peoples' problems don't count because they don't really exist.
We own outright and no HOA, but it doesn't matter what size antenna we put up: digital signals don't make it here. Trees, hills, and distance work against us. You wouldn't think it looking around, but the one digital channel that does come in poorly sometimes isn't even worth watching.
It's an unrepairable atrocity. If I wanted such a piece of shit, I'd already be buying one of the other epoxied-shut phones. Or an iBendOver iPhone.
Sorry... screens break, USB ports wear out and batteries need to be replaced long before I feel like being extorted out the cost of a whole new phone. If I can't easily do those two things, I'm not buying your shit.
I used to use Gnome back when it was powerful, customization, intuitive and easy to use. In other words, back when it didn't suck and before it jumped the shark. When the Gnome devs lost their collective minds I switched to Xfce and have been on that ever since. However, I miss the days when Gnome was great and would love to see the project actually listen to its users and steer itself back onto the track of sanity.
It makes me sad, reading the comments here, to realize we're still eons away from that ever happening. With Gnome continuing its campaign of being a dumbed-down exercise in frustration, and KDE being a visual clusterfuck, it's no wonder that Linux continues to struggle to get traction.
Congratulations, Apple. You discovered... er, "invented" the OLED display for everyone. Welcome to 7 years ago. Every Android phone I've ever had has had an OLED display, which is so ridiculously better than LCD I could never go back now.
Enjoy paying 2X more for a phone that now doesn't even have one fucking button. But then again, Apple lost its way regarding usability and an intuitive UI many years ago.
"...since most of its features can be performed by the URL address bar."
Does that include the feature of being able to quickly go in and rip out Yahoo (default) and Bing as search providers? Otherwise they're just making this necessary first step an even bigger PITA than it already is.
You know, maybe if Firefox wants to gain its users back it should stop alienating them by giving them a royal "fuck you" as it continues its downhill spiral to be as shitty as Chrome is. If I wanted to use something that looked and behaved like Chrome, I'd fucking use Chrome already.
Well, looks like people are getting their money's worth for Google Drive.
Remember: if something is free, you're not the customer... you're the product. Google doesn't give a flying fuck about you and your files beyond their ability to mine them for data that they can monetize by selling your privacy away to the highest bidder. They don't care if you lose data... tomorrow there'll be a 1000 new people to take your place even if you actually follow through with your empty threat to boycott them forever more.
The "cloud" is a joke. All it is is you storing YOUR files on someone ELSE'S computers... someone else who doesn't have one one-millionth of the vested interest in your files that you do, even if you DO opt for one of the pay cloud services. If your data is important to you, why would you pay a premium for some stranger who couldn't care less about your files to take ownership and responsibility for their care? Either step up and take responsibility for your own shit, or stop whining.
Your experience with Palm was late and limited, then. Most Palm devices did not have a keyboard. They originated as an almost exclusively (resistive) touchscreen device, with a few dedicated hardware buttons. It was much later, after a few generations, that a few oddball special models were released with physical keyboards to compete with Blackberry. I owned many Palm models over the years, from mono to color, but never one with a keyboard.
What made Palm great was:
- battery life - simplicity and speed of use - the number of available apps
There were pretty high-tech things you could do with them at the time, too. They had a built-in IR blaster and you could get apps that turned your Palm into a dynamic touchscreen universal remote. And back in the day, I'd read and respond to emails offline. After queueing up a bunch, I'd then sync which would establish a bluetooth connection to my dumb flip phone (in my pocket or belt clip... didn't even have to take it out) and initiate a dial-up internet connection to my ISP, upload my outgoing emails, download new emails, then disconnect. The fact that someone could do this blew peoples' minds. I later got the SD-wifi card, and the fact that someone could have a tiny handheld device that could connect to wifi and get internet access was surreal to most people at the time.
Google doesn't make the hardware, just the software. It's up to the phone manufacturers and carriers to get the updates out. But also remember that Android is for the people who aren't ready to spend $800/phone every 2 years like iPhone users... this budget crowd holds onto their devices for a long time, so many of these phones in use aren't even capable of meeting the minimum requirements of the latest OS.
The only thing that Google could do would be to force this massive and considerably different new OS version on all hardware despite the hardware capabilities, and regardless of what the hardware manufacturers or users want. That worked out really well for Microsoft and Windows 10.
So, assuming you're not yet another iPhone-fanboy Apple disciple here to troll anything about Google, do tell us: what's your genius solution given the different realities of Android and the inherent restrictions? Since you in all your endless wisdom must have already "figured out how to make this work".
Browser-specific? What is this, the 1990s and Microsoft? I don't use Chrome.
And tied to a specific device, which has to be operational? One of the reasons we love and use Hangouts is because it works no matter what the state of your other device(s) is. Sometimes phones break or become inoperable. The fact that I can still hop in a web browser (ANY web browser) and still access my text messages (Google Voice) and IMs is a lifesaver.
This is boneheaded, and makes Allo even more DOA than it was before.
Since font shapes cannot be copyrighted, they will have a tough time proving that their own ttf file (which can be copyrighted) was used unlawfully..
I know that RTFA isn't popular on/. but come on. It says right there that the designer did pay for a license for the font, but it wasn't one that permitted commercial usage.
Agreed. In fact we went as far as buying an HP office-class multi-function color unit with duplex and RJ45 for $250 open box, with new toner. The thing is wonderful, and we don't even have to go to the drug store for basic color printing, although I still will for color photos destined for framing (or send it out for professional printing, which runs me about $30/print for highest-quality archival printing, cheap for something you intend to spend even more than that on the frame and keep forever).
No, it does not "trump all other factors". I don't care if every install of Chrome got you $10. Chrome is blatant spyware, and "factually" slows down your computer. I know many previous Chrome fans who've ditched it and gone back to Firefox for this very reason (an issue on both MacOS and Windows).
Gmail, Google, Hangouts, Calendar, Contacts, and so on all work 100% perfectly fine in Firefox. But without giving away your soul by letting Google know every click on every site.
What I'd really like is for all the Google service sites to STFU and remember when I say I don't want Chrome. Every fucking page for every fucking site has some sort of pop-up box, banner, or somesuch that uses Microsoft tacticts to suggest that somehow this web service will work better in Chrome than some other web-compliant browser like the one I'm already using (Firefox). If closing/dismissing/saying "NO" would silence them for good that'd be one thing, but they won't fucking go away. They keep coming back.
Sorry, Google, but the dozen or so background processes Chrome launches that arrogantly assume that you're doing nothing else with your computer and Chrome therefore has implicit permission to own every all RAM and CPU 100%, crowding out everything else with they sheer quantity of the number of spawned threads has resulted in you being banned from my systems. Go the fuck away and leave me alone and stop trying to take over the world, assholes.
What Macbook is easier to repair? They glue in the batteries, the screens are glued in, they use pentalobe security screws, they use non standard connections for ssd's. They intentionally make your device harder to maintain.
In general, yes, but when you DO need to replace the entire motherboard, it's easier to access in a MacBook. In the Dells it's usually a few layers down. Or if you need to replace the entire display (always the case in a Mac, although usually not the case in a Dell) it's easier to get the entire display removed on a MacBook.
Don't get me wrong: I lambast Apple regularly about their hardware (and software) decisions and find them to be extremely anti-consumer. I advise everyone I know and my clients to NOT buy MacBooks. But on a couple items they are admittedly easier. On the vast majority, however, you are right: they are unnecessarily evil.
Now, on an iMac, I can't think of a single thing that is designed in a sensible, sane, pro-consumer, pro-repair method. That line can go to hell.
IP67/68 water resistance pretty much requires a sealed device, and sealing smartphones pretty much guarantees they are irreparable. Sealing with adhesives, thermal or other, denies the average consumer a means to disassemble the phone just to change the battery.
/me looks at his IP67-rated Galaxy S5
/me pops off the back cover and removes battery.
The whole "we need to glue these things down to make them thing/waterproof/solid-feeling/etc" is just bullshit.
Not meant to be snarky, but genuinely curious: I don't do scientific publishing so I recognize that I'm out of my league but what sorts of things do you do in MS Office that can't be done in LibreOffice?
Sorry, Netflix... but your greedy paranoia doesn't win above my need and right to use my purchased device how I wish, access all my files and data, back up my files, reinstate missing features that the carrier decided to cripple out, uninstall malicious and undesirable bloatware, install updated firmware when my carrier/mfr decides to abandon the model, and so on.
Slashdot Mirror
Remember when MacBook keyboards were actually repairable? A few seconds without tools and anyone could swap it out.
Now they're fused into the "top case" which is effectively half of the computer chassis... also with the battery epoxied in. So you're faced with a lengthy full-disassembly repair plus a very expensive part for any exhausted battery or bad keyboard. You know, TWO OF THE MOST COMMON PARTS YOU NEED TO REPLACE ON A LAPTOP.
Not to mention that the new keyboards are shit... no key travel whatsoever, it's like pounding your fingers against solid brick. But apparently such a "courageous" move to a shit keyboard was NECESSARY because "OMG THINNER!". Because apparently everyone cares that their laptop is 0.01oz lighter at the expense of usability, practicality, battery life, performance... and pay no attention to the 10oz of adapters you need to carry around now because you lost all your ports, which cost $30-60/ea and get lost frequently (Apple thanks you for your continued patronage every month).
From Wikipedia:
"As a security measure, merchants who require the CVV2 for "card not present" payment card transactions are required by the card issuer not to store the CVV2 once the individual transaction is authorized.[6] This way, if a database of transactions is compromised, the CVV2 is not included, and the stolen card numbers are less useful. Virtual terminals and payment gateways do not store the CVV2 code, therefore employees and customer service representatives with access to these web-based payment interfaces who otherwise have access to complete card numbers, expiration dates, and other information still lack the CVV2 code.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) also prohibits the storage of CSC (and other sensitive authorisation data) post transaction authorisation. This applies globally to anyone who stores, processes or transmits card holder data.[7] "
So, considering that, what happens now? Pizza Hut should have their merchant license revoked and no longer accept credit card payments.
When they stop removing as much as they add month to month, maybe I'll start caring about Netflix. Until then, I'll stick with Plex. Stuff doesn't disappear there unless I want it to go away.
You'd think Netflix has a limited number of hard drives or something and has to shuffle things around to manage space (I know it's a licensing thing, but it's still bullshit).
I know it's going to be pointless debating anyone online/here about this, but I just wanted to drop some points for thought.
Not all liberals are anti-gun. This liberal owns several. But that's because I also own fire-extinguishers, and not because I'm trying to play fireman/cop. I own them because I recognize and accept that it's my personal responsibility to control an immediate emergency as best I can until the pros arrive. Which can be 30-45 mins in rural areas. I hope I never have to use either.
I also recognize that I have a 1-in 110,000 chance of dying in a mass shooting, as terrible and sad as events like this are. Meanwhile I have a 1-in-113 chance of dying in a car accident. So I try to live my life with some perspective and control my fear/paranoia.
Unlike 1971, in 2017 digital signals degrade instantly from great to nonexistent, whereas in 1971 with analog systems and rabbit ears you could get a descent signal and watch through the occasional bit of static, since analog signals degrade gracefully.
This, basically.
Before, we could've gotten 6 channels watchably well. Now we don't even get one (it sort of comes in, sometimes, but it's one of the crap stations vs. one of the big ones you actually want)..
Got tired of paying Dish $85/yr for a diminishing line-up of channels of diminishing quality. Was $40/mo when I started with them 15+ years ago or so. Back then "Discovery" actually had science, "History Channel" actually had history and "The Learning Channel" actually taught you things. Now they're all different versions of shitty reality TV channels. Got rid of Dish this year.
We can pay our ISP about $16/mo. for locals over the internet connection watched via Roku. Same channels we rightfully should be able to get for free (but can't). It really sucks.
Figured it was only a matter of time before we got a post from someone in the smug, elitist urban reality distortion bubble. So many people, living so close and up in each others' shit, but no one gives a flying fuck about each other, let alone all those non-people who don't live in their precious cities which is the only place any civilized human would think to live. So rural peoples' problems don't count because they don't really exist.
We own outright and no HOA, but it doesn't matter what size antenna we put up: digital signals don't make it here. Trees, hills, and distance work against us. You wouldn't think it looking around, but the one digital channel that does come in poorly sometimes isn't even worth watching.
It's an unrepairable atrocity. If I wanted such a piece of shit, I'd already be buying one of the other epoxied-shut phones. Or an iBendOver iPhone.
Sorry... screens break, USB ports wear out and batteries need to be replaced long before I feel like being extorted out the cost of a whole new phone. If I can't easily do those two things, I'm not buying your shit.
Anyone who thought that CCleaner was "security software" has no business using it, let alone submitting an article to Slashdot about it.
It's a junk/orphan file cleanup utility. Not "security software". Not antivirus or anti-malware. Where do these idiots come from reporting this shit?
I used to use Gnome back when it was powerful, customization, intuitive and easy to use. In other words, back when it didn't suck and before it jumped the shark. When the Gnome devs lost their collective minds I switched to Xfce and have been on that ever since. However, I miss the days when Gnome was great and would love to see the project actually listen to its users and steer itself back onto the track of sanity.
It makes me sad, reading the comments here, to realize we're still eons away from that ever happening. With Gnome continuing its campaign of being a dumbed-down exercise in frustration, and KDE being a visual clusterfuck, it's no wonder that Linux continues to struggle to get traction.
Congratulations, Apple. You discovered... er, "invented" the OLED display for everyone. Welcome to 7 years ago. Every Android phone I've ever had has had an OLED display, which is so ridiculously better than LCD I could never go back now.
Enjoy paying 2X more for a phone that now doesn't even have one fucking button. But then again, Apple lost its way regarding usability and an intuitive UI many years ago.
"...since most of its features can be performed by the URL address bar."
Does that include the feature of being able to quickly go in and rip out Yahoo (default) and Bing as search providers? Otherwise they're just making this necessary first step an even bigger PITA than it already is.
You know, maybe if Firefox wants to gain its users back it should stop alienating them by giving them a royal "fuck you" as it continues its downhill spiral to be as shitty as Chrome is. If I wanted to use something that looked and behaved like Chrome, I'd fucking use Chrome already.
Well, looks like people are getting their money's worth for Google Drive.
Remember: if something is free, you're not the customer... you're the product. Google doesn't give a flying fuck about you and your files beyond their ability to mine them for data that they can monetize by selling your privacy away to the highest bidder. They don't care if you lose data... tomorrow there'll be a 1000 new people to take your place even if you actually follow through with your empty threat to boycott them forever more.
The "cloud" is a joke. All it is is you storing YOUR files on someone ELSE'S computers... someone else who doesn't have one one-millionth of the vested interest in your files that you do, even if you DO opt for one of the pay cloud services. If your data is important to you, why would you pay a premium for some stranger who couldn't care less about your files to take ownership and responsibility for their care? Either step up and take responsibility for your own shit, or stop whining.
What made Palm great was a usable keyboard.
Your experience with Palm was late and limited, then. Most Palm devices did not have a keyboard. They originated as an almost exclusively (resistive) touchscreen device, with a few dedicated hardware buttons. It was much later, after a few generations, that a few oddball special models were released with physical keyboards to compete with Blackberry. I owned many Palm models over the years, from mono to color, but never one with a keyboard.
What made Palm great was:
- battery life
- simplicity and speed of use
- the number of available apps
There were pretty high-tech things you could do with them at the time, too. They had a built-in IR blaster and you could get apps that turned your Palm into a dynamic touchscreen universal remote. And back in the day, I'd read and respond to emails offline. After queueing up a bunch, I'd then sync which would establish a bluetooth connection to my dumb flip phone (in my pocket or belt clip... didn't even have to take it out) and initiate a dial-up internet connection to my ISP, upload my outgoing emails, download new emails, then disconnect. The fact that someone could do this blew peoples' minds. I later got the SD-wifi card, and the fact that someone could have a tiny handheld device that could connect to wifi and get internet access was surreal to most people at the time.
Google doesn't make the hardware, just the software. It's up to the phone manufacturers and carriers to get the updates out. But also remember that Android is for the people who aren't ready to spend $800/phone every 2 years like iPhone users... this budget crowd holds onto their devices for a long time, so many of these phones in use aren't even capable of meeting the minimum requirements of the latest OS.
The only thing that Google could do would be to force this massive and considerably different new OS version on all hardware despite the hardware capabilities, and regardless of what the hardware manufacturers or users want. That worked out really well for Microsoft and Windows 10.
So, assuming you're not yet another iPhone-fanboy Apple disciple here to troll anything about Google, do tell us: what's your genius solution given the different realities of Android and the inherent restrictions? Since you in all your endless wisdom must have already "figured out how to make this work".
Browser-specific? What is this, the 1990s and Microsoft? I don't use Chrome.
And tied to a specific device, which has to be operational? One of the reasons we love and use Hangouts is because it works no matter what the state of your other device(s) is. Sometimes phones break or become inoperable. The fact that I can still hop in a web browser (ANY web browser) and still access my text messages (Google Voice) and IMs is a lifesaver.
This is boneheaded, and makes Allo even more DOA than it was before.
Since font shapes cannot be copyrighted, they will have a tough time proving that their own ttf file (which can be copyrighted) was used unlawfully. .
I know that RTFA isn't popular on /. but come on. It says right there that the designer did pay for a license for the font, but it wasn't one that permitted commercial usage.
If you were using a VPN, how did you get one of the notices/warnings?
Agreed. In fact we went as far as buying an HP office-class multi-function color unit with duplex and RJ45 for $250 open box, with new toner. The thing is wonderful, and we don't even have to go to the drug store for basic color printing, although I still will for color photos destined for framing (or send it out for professional printing, which runs me about $30/print for highest-quality archival printing, cheap for something you intend to spend even more than that on the frame and keep forever).
No, it does not "trump all other factors". I don't care if every install of Chrome got you $10. Chrome is blatant spyware, and "factually" slows down your computer. I know many previous Chrome fans who've ditched it and gone back to Firefox for this very reason (an issue on both MacOS and Windows).
Gmail, Google, Hangouts, Calendar, Contacts, and so on all work 100% perfectly fine in Firefox. But without giving away your soul by letting Google know every click on every site.
What I'd really like is for all the Google service sites to STFU and remember when I say I don't want Chrome. Every fucking page for every fucking site has some sort of pop-up box, banner, or somesuch that uses Microsoft tacticts to suggest that somehow this web service will work better in Chrome than some other web-compliant browser like the one I'm already using (Firefox). If closing/dismissing/saying "NO" would silence them for good that'd be one thing, but they won't fucking go away. They keep coming back.
Sorry, Google, but the dozen or so background processes Chrome launches that arrogantly assume that you're doing nothing else with your computer and Chrome therefore has implicit permission to own every all RAM and CPU 100%, crowding out everything else with they sheer quantity of the number of spawned threads has resulted in you being banned from my systems. Go the fuck away and leave me alone and stop trying to take over the world, assholes.
What Macbook is easier to repair? They glue in the batteries, the screens are glued in, they use pentalobe security screws, they use non standard connections for ssd's. They intentionally make your device harder to maintain.
In general, yes, but when you DO need to replace the entire motherboard, it's easier to access in a MacBook. In the Dells it's usually a few layers down. Or if you need to replace the entire display (always the case in a Mac, although usually not the case in a Dell) it's easier to get the entire display removed on a MacBook.
Don't get me wrong: I lambast Apple regularly about their hardware (and software) decisions and find them to be extremely anti-consumer. I advise everyone I know and my clients to NOT buy MacBooks. But on a couple items they are admittedly easier. On the vast majority, however, you are right: they are unnecessarily evil.
Now, on an iMac, I can't think of a single thing that is designed in a sensible, sane, pro-consumer, pro-repair method. That line can go to hell.
IP67/68 water resistance pretty much requires a sealed device, and sealing smartphones pretty much guarantees they are irreparable. Sealing with adhesives, thermal or other, denies the average consumer a means to disassemble the phone just to change the battery.
/me looks at his IP67-rated Galaxy S5
The whole "we need to glue these things down to make them thing/waterproof/solid-feeling/etc" is just bullshit.
Not meant to be snarky, but genuinely curious: I don't do scientific publishing so I recognize that I'm out of my league but what sorts of things do you do in MS Office that can't be done in LibreOffice?
Goodby, Netflix. Hello, Plex.
Sorry, Netflix... but your greedy paranoia doesn't win above my need and right to use my purchased device how I wish, access all my files and data, back up my files, reinstate missing features that the carrier decided to cripple out, uninstall malicious and undesirable bloatware, install updated firmware when my carrier/mfr decides to abandon the model, and so on.
Plex works better anyway and on more clients.