No. There are different laws for video vs audio, as well as based on jurisdiction.
For example, I recall one story where a landlord installed spycams in an tenants apartment and recorded her, but he wasn't convicted because he only recorded video [if he had audio, then he would have been].
Some jurisdictions require both parties to consent to recording audio, some just one party. I would guess most places have video without audio generally is permissible in public places, but IANAL.
IANAL either; but I happen to know just a little on this subject, and this is one of the few places in the U.S. where the police could possibly get a lawsuit like this to "fly".
Unfortunately, New Hampshire happens to be one of only TWELVE states in the USA that require BOTH PARTIES to consent to recording.
One good thing: Even if you live in one of those states, calling INTERstate is covered by Federal law, which is ONE-PARTY to consent (that is to say, "you").
Oh dear....I think it’s time you and your little friends do your playing in the walled garden from now on...
...But at least, in our Walled Garden, we'll have time to PLAY, rather than having to forever stand waiting at the gate, sword in hand, to defend ourselves against the Orcs of the Internet.
Although it was only for jailbroken phones, and it wasnt malicious code, apple still got it first.
Ok, that's one. And exploiting a LONG-PATCHED vulnerability.
Now, find 20 more iOS examples, and we'll talk.
BTW, that's all that have been FOUND on the Android Marketplace; not HARDLY how many are likely to have actually been PUBLISHED there. And then there's all the OTHER sites selling Android malw... er, Apps...
I agree that with freedom comes responsibility; but this proves without question that it has NOTHING to do with WHERE an Android user actually DOWNLOADS an app from; but rather, Android's fundamentally broken marketing model: That users are smart enough to manage their own security in the face of ever-more-clever publishers of malicious applications; and that simply asking a user to review and decide on what constitutes "reasonable" permissions ONLY ONCE, DURING INSTALL TIME, is in ANY way sufficient for the AVERAGE (non-slashdot-reading) owner of an Android device.
BTW, I would LOVE to know how many bona fide "geeks" got bitten by one or more of these apps. I would bet real money that the number is not zero. Now what?
I'm really not trying to incite flames; but Google, and Android fans, HAVE to admit at this point that there is mounting evidence that the Wild West approach to App availability in the Mobile market simply doesn't work for MOST humans, period.
And once that one, now plainly dubious, "advantage" is gone with Android over iOS, then what, besides yet another race to the bottom level of quality and price, does the platform have to offer for MOST humans?
Remember, Android did NOT get popular because of the ability to download anything from anywhere (requiring the user to JAILBREAK their ANDROID device in most cases!); but primarily because people WANTED an IPHONE, but either a) Hated Apple on "religious" grounds; b) Were locked into a Carrier by contract or coverage area; or, c) Couldn't afford an IPHONE.
Question: Why is it taking 3+ hours to do a simple wipe and reinstall? You just wipe the machine, put in a pre built OS install CD/DVD with all the patches already done, put in the key on first boot, install the apps from the local server or via flash drive, done. Maybe an hour and a half tops.
Using a combination of WSUS Offline (which you can tell to include MS Office updates along with MS Essentials AV) and Ninite I can whip off a dozen boxes or more a day easy and spend less time per box than I do trying to figure where I sat my Coke down. Just a little preparation goes a long way friend.
As for TFA, welcome to the game Android users! Anything that becomes popular WILL become a target for malware as long as they can use social engineering, because it is just so damned easy to do as in TFA. I mean 50k infections and they didn't even have to write the app, just attach their malware to an existing app and upload? How easy can you get!
So welcome to the game Android users, where you have to watch out and worry about malware just like us Windows users. The donuts are over in the back, right next to the Apple users who are currently sulking after finding out shiny plastic and aluminum doesn't stop bugs. Look on the bright side, it just means you're popular now! Hell the Linux guys would kill to be that popular on the desktop! So enjoy the coffee it's fresh, meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Um, you leave us Apple users out of this. This was ANDROID. A-N-D-R-O-I-D, not APPLE, A-P-P-L-E.
Oh, and note that, just like that OTHER malware-infested platform (Windows), the ONLY way forward seems to be either to throw perfectly good hardware away (think of the planet!); OR to "Wipe and Reload" (It so SIMPLE! It's Easy! It's FUN!).
And, just like with Windows, the Androids will be out in force, blaming the USERS for taking advantage of the ONLY "advantage" to Android: The ability to download any dodgy app you want.
But notice, the apps weren't on some dark, dank dark alley of the internet; they were on GOOGLE's OWN APP STORE! The MOTHERSHIP.
No, this is more like we'll be seeing Google announcing their new "Curated" App Store in 3... 2... 1...
Because nothing says "Cheap and crappy" like a custom SoC with a Billion dollars in R&D costs.
That there is typical fanboi. Because they spent a billion dollars on it it must be better. Like because some idiot spends more an an ipod than they would on an equivalent iriver, the lower specs of the ipod are somehow magically better? If they spent so much on it, it kind of shows they are idiots, but thankfully there are enough idiots out there who will buy the crap.
My comment had nothing to do with how MUCH they spent; but rather that that they spent ANY money on CUSTOM silicon, instead of using some POS Atom or some other, less optimized, bog-standard microcontroller like others have done with their Tablet and other "mobile" offerings. And it is precisely because of Apple's investment in the A4 custom SoC that the current crop of iOS devices are able to whip all over the performance and battery life specs of the competition. The money wasn't spent on "teh shiny", it was spent on "teh SPECS". What is "cheap and crappy" is what EVERYONE else is doing in response to the iPad; that is, rushing some half-baked, inferior (the displays alone! UGH!) product out (or, in other words, every single Android tablet released after the iPad), in a (really) pathetic attempt to play "catch up" with Apple's success.
I wouldn't call Macbook Pros a triumph of industrial design
You are entitled to your incorrect opinion, of course.;-)
, they're ok, but "triumph" is a bit over the top... and for what you get, they are too expensive. The windows tax is bad enough, the apple tax is ridiculous.
I have no problem with polycarbonate cases. I am more concerned about how well the machines are assembled and how much freedom I have to do what I want with them... right down to ordering them with my choice of OS and partitioning.
Ok, you DO realize that, since OS X comes pre-installed on every single Apple computer, the OS is, for all intents and purposes, FREE (as in beer), and yet, there is still nothing stopping you from wiping (or just simply re-partitioning) the HD (don't even have to lose what you have already in most cases), and installing Linux, and/or Windows in a multi-boot configuration, or, if you want concurrent operation of multiple OSes, through one of the hypervisor-based virtualization products available.
A complex/intricate design makes one tend to strip screws and leave ZIF sockets open? Sounds more like a lazy assembler to me.
More like a new employee. Those two operations were probably close enough to the final build operations that they were likely done by the same employee.
Get 100 samples and we'll talk; otherwise it's just a bad unit. Shouldn't happen; but things like a stripped screw will never be caught. The ZIF connector lock maybe should have; but like all manufacturers, I'm sure Apple only does random sampling of production units, as long as the warranty return numbers don't start climbing.
You can be sure that that article DID cause Apple to place a few trans-Pacific facetime calls (is that even possible?) with their Contract Manufacturer, and probably caused some poor QA person in the U.S. to do a complete teardown and "audit" on these units.
Blaming it on China is certainly misplacing blame. On the whole, China does a great job of manufacturing electronics (environmental and labour issues aside). Apple on the other hand... Get some 2nd rate hardware, throw it together as cheaply as possible, put it in a shiny case and whack an apple logo on it... then sell it for 50x what it's actually worth. Don't forget to make sure it only inter-operates with other overpriced crap with an apple logo on it.
Alright, slight exaggeration,
slight?
but take iPod, iPhone 4... what goes into them is really pretty cheap and crappy.
Right. Because nothing says "Cheap and crappy" like a custom SoC with a Billion dollars in R&D costs.
The laptops are ok, but there are cheaper/better alternatives provided you don't mind something that isn't shiny.
Here we go again. Lets try to compare (once more) some polycarbonate-cased shitbox Wintel laptop with the triumph of industrial design that is the current Macbook Pro line.
my biggest peeve with the Android security model from day #1 is that this kind of thing is even possible.
every Android application has to be specifically granted a set of permissions on installation, including "able to make phonecalls that cost you money", "able to access the internet", etc. the problem is that the user only ever see this list once, fleetingly, during installation, and as everyone knows, familiarity breeds contempt so after the first couple of apps, most people stop reading the list and just click "yes". even if they read the list, once it's been authorized the application can do anything on its permission list at any time, without user intervention. this opens the gate to applications that can take photos doing so silently while the screen is off, applications that can make phonecalls doing so invisibly and undetectably, applications that can use the internet and use gps phoning home at any time with your exact location, etc. it simply shouldn't be possible.
whenever an application attempts to perform a restricted task, the OS checks that it has been granted the permission to do so and either silently permits the task, or silently disallows it. that's great, but it shouldn't stop there. the first time it's attempted a dialog box should alert the user that "steamy windows is attempting to make a phone call to that can cost you money. do you want to authorize this? yes/no/ [ x ] remember my answer and don't ask me again".
clearly "steamy windows" is going to get a "no and don't let it do it in future response", whereas the user is likely to grant "mywonderSMSclient" indefinite permission.
if there's a reason why this isn't practical, i'd like to know about it.
Now, only if there were a mobile OS that was already set up that way? What would we call it?
My blackberry already asks me permission for specific actions and typed of data for apps. People rip on RIM for being old fashioned and slow to innovate and yet they are the only company with sane security and privacy management settings
People rip on RIM and Apple for being old fashioned and slow to innovate and yet they are the only company^H ies with sane security and privacy management settings."
mod parent +Infinity. So far, this is the only comment that actually addresses the issue in a sensible and realistic fashion.
Thanks! But, if it's anything like the Anti-Apple Punish-Modding I am normally subjected to (I went from Excellent to Terrible Karma, and have not been able to regain anything but to "Bad" in ONE DAY of Punish-Modding), I will be DOWNmodded and called "Troll" or "Flamebait".
But, since you liked the above post, you might check out my other comments in this thread...;-)
Who do you trust: The phone company, the phone, or the user?
If you trust the phone company, then having a cellphone contract option to limit data/text/etc. usage to some cap can mitigate the worst case bill you'll be surprised with.
If you trust the phone, then OS options to limit what an app can do can mitigate worse case damage done.
In either case, you have to trust the user to make the right choices with respect to cellphone contract or app permissions.
I think my problem is that I don't trust any of the above.
I wholeheartedly agree! Now, if only there were someone to look over and try and make sure that apps weren't malicious. Sort of a "Curator"...
Oh, wait! That sounds an awful lot like the iOS App Store, doesn't it?
And with something like 250k apps and growing, with only one or two security slipups (not one or two a month, like Android), any sane person would seem to be forced into agreeing that SOMETHING about the "Curated" App Store model MUST be working, don'tcha think?
For some strange reason you engage in the assumption that the app would function correctly absent text-sending permissions. It would not.
If Google reworked the core OS to expressly not throw an exception under insufficient permission conditions, then the app would itself check the return status and bomb out when the calls fail.
Either you accept what the app requests, or you don't install it; there's no working around that for malicious apps.
But what if say, a mobile OS could be designed such that, perhaps not on INSTALL, but rather, say, the first time a "restricted access" service (e.g., phone control, messaging, or GPS data) was requested, the user was allowed to THEN decide whether it seemed reasonable for his shoot-em-up game to have access to SMS. And then, maybe even after he granted such a permission, he could actually CHANGE HIS MIND (as humans are wont to do), wouldn't that be MUCH better than having to GUESS whether it would be reasonable for a game to be able to send an SMS, PRIOR TO EVEN RUNNING IT?!?
Now, if only such a mobile OS existed....
Oh, wait!; both of those features are already part of iOS.
They had to make at lease one nonstandard setting, download in a nonstandard way, and launch the installation in a nonstandard way
More importantly, they had to give the app permission to send texts. Very few apps need that permission.
But the REAL problem is that Android only asks ONCE, at install time, for whatever permissions it might need. So, instead of them getting an Alert saying "Hey, Hello Kitty Wallpaper Needs Permission To Send Text Messages", when they were just checking their to-do list, they MIGHT be just a LITTLE more suspicious, even if they are a noob.
I am not advocating something that asks every time an app needs to do something other than display text; but asking a non-computer-savvy person to decide on permissions at the very time that he just wants to get his new Shiny, is just asking for trouble. But anyone but the most completely arrogant (a special brand of stupidity) will probably question why their new "cooking" app suddenly wants access to your GPS, when all you did was download and launch it to find out how to cook something for dinner.
You should also be able to change your mind after granting access to a feature/service/database. At least from the Android GUI, I don't believe you can change an apps "permissions" after you decide at install time, amiriite?
Of course, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that iOS offers both of those improvements over Android...
So when exactly was the "tipping point" (whatever THAT means!)
It's where a process of change turns from a gradual mode to a very sudden one, often due to the network effect and positive feedback.
Perhaps you could read a book or something? It's available in formats other than dead tree, if that's too unhip for you.
Other than your pedantry, I note, however, that you didn't address the real questions I raised, which I will rephrase and repeat for your convenience:
1. What was the "tipping point" for USB before the iMac?
2. What innovations has Apple been falsely credited with either: a) Inventing, either alone or in partnership with others; b) Bringing into the mainstream (e.g., USB was certainly not invented by Apple; but they arguably made it virtually ubiquitous)
I await your answers to my real questions with abated breath.
Oh, and to respond to your unnecessarily snarky comment regarding "dead tree" books being "too unhip": Other than "datasheets", "whitepapers" and other "non-book-y" stuff, I have NEVER read an entire book (or even a whole chapter of a book!) in electronic format. I sit at my desk at home, hunched up like Quasimodo in front of my computer, far too much as it is; so, until I can afford something like an iPad (notice I didn't say specifically an iPad), that lets me sit back and actually RELAX while viewing it, I don't think i will be jumping on the e-book train. That, and I really happen to like "dead tree" books. May be unhip; but old habits die hard, and there's something about that pulp-y smell with paperbacks that is strangely pleasant and reassuring.
Actually I think you're less fickle and more ill-informed. I have a MBP 15" 5,1 model and it does have a nice screen, but that's about it. The backlit keyboard is useful in the dark, and the Magsafe power may help idiots who forget to unplug their laptop but it's hell if you get it around small bits of ferrous metal.
So, in like the most incredibly corner case, the MagSafe power connector might be not so wonderful; but how many people use their MacBooks in a machine shop?
Beyond that the optical drive sounds horrendous when it boots,
First, you might try a different disc; Second, exactly how often do you BOOT from your OPTICAL drive?
it overheats very easily
Do you mean "thermal overload error", or that it just gets too hot for you to wear your short-shorts with?
and to call the touchpad crap is an insult to feces everywhere.
Now I KNOW you're high; or one of those Keyboard Clit nutjobs. To me, the Trackpoint (or whatever it's called) is like having an Atari 2600 joystick mounted in the middle of my damn keyboard! Most sane people actually love Apple's trackpads. Have you ever even tried one?
Compared to a comparable $399 laptop it's the top of the world, compared to a $1500 Lenovo you wonder why they sell any of these things - and that's after Lenovo started to go downhill.
Hmmm. That's not what several Lenovo owners on here have been saying...
Hi MR AC! I really hate to use a meme, but in this case it is MOST appropriate: Correlation != Causation. If you will look at the timeline in question there is actually a very good reason why USB took off when it did and I would argue it had zipola to do with Apple.
You see MR AC, at the time USB was released we Windows users were by and large dealing with an OS known today as Win9X, aka "DOS with a pretty on top". Trouble was the pretty on top was about as stable as Charlie Sheen and USB was notorious for making it shit itself and die HARD. I'm sure you've seen the famous Gates Win98 presentation? Yeah, that was kinda what happened on a regular basis with USB, as Win9X didn't like things being plugged and unplugged like that. Now that kinda makes an interface whose big selling point was "just plug it in and go" kinda a dud when the first part gave you a 50/50 shot of BSOD and loss of your work.
So why did USB take off? Simple, MSFT killed Win9X (after releasing the disaster that was WinME...eeek!) for the vast majority of consumers (some of us were smart enough to jump to WinNT via Win2K while the consumers cursed their WinME machines) and by switching over to WinXP finally gave the masses an OS that they could actually plug USB devices into without BSODing and you'd be surprised what a difference not crashing makes!
So in conclusion MR AC, while I'm sure it gives Apple users the warm fuzzies to think they brought USB to the masses, and I will happily give them credit for Firewire, it was the death of Win9X that allowed users to migrate to the new peripheral. After all many such as myself had USB ports on our machines in 98/99 we just weren't crazy enough to actually plug anything into them. I swear Win9X could be so fussy that a USB KB or Mouse could make it go "ZOMG!" and wet itself. It was great for DOS games, everything else? Kinda not.
Are you stoned, or just stupid?
You do realize, of course, that, by the time anyone in the Windows world was the least bit interested in USB, that the iMac had already been using it (without Kernel Panics) happily since OS X 10.0.0. As I said in an earlier post, if the legacy ports hadn't started dropping off their printers and scanners, most Windows users would still be happy hooking their printers up with a big, fat Centronics connector.
It was the popularity of the iMac that caused USB to take off. Not Apple's doing; just market forces.
But it SURE wasn't Windows. Heck, even in XP, you have to be ultra-careful about whether you install a USB driver first, or plug the damn thing in first. Yeah, great support, there! I don't know if they have (finally) fixed that; but it never was a problem in OS X. If you accidently plugged the rare device that needed a custom driver in OS X before installing the software, big deal. If the device was plugged in while installing the driver, big deal.
Apple simply doesn't try to compete in the 2-inch thick, 9-pound, short-battery-life segment of the laptop market.... my first laptop was one of those 2-inch thick, 9-pound, short-battery-life beasts
Was that the Apple Powerbook 540c (2.3" thick, 7.3 lbs, not counting the power supply)?
Seems pretty accurate to me. Most new technology (eg: CPUs, GPUs, memory types, etc) are on the market for months (at least) before Apple picks them up. They tend to keep older technology around for longer, as well (eg: Mac Mini still has a Core 2 Duo).
The rare counter-examples (eg: Firewire, Mini-DP) are rarely found outside of the Mac ecosystem.
That's before even going into the technology other vendors have that they stubbornly refuse to implement. Like, say, a docking station for their ostensibly "professional" laptops.
Have you not been following along?
Look at this Overview of Thunderbolt. Think that someone won't implement a Docking Station (with a connector that doesn't fail after a few months, like the typical PC laptop's docking conns.) with an interface like that? And cooler yet, your Desktop will be able to share all those same peripherals (do you really think this isn't going in all Macs?), as long as the total count is 6 devices or less (yes, I wish it were more, too!), and the total cable length is 100 meters or less.
Intel marketing hype aside, an industry-standard, "remoting" a PCIe bus over an LVDS-like link on a laptop at 10 Gb/s is potentially a Big Deal. Because now, there really doesn't have to be any substantive difference between a peripheral (say, a 256-channel audio I/O, frinstance) in a PCI "slot" and one at the end of a Thuderbolt cable attached to a laptop.
That IS a big deal. Far bigger than USB 3, FW 3200, eSATA combined. And oh, BTW, All of that stuff CAN be done over Thunderbolt. And, according to Intel, with existing drivers (somehow!).
If this "goes" in the marketplace (gets support from third parties), far more than any other computing invention in recent memory, Thunderbolt will definitely blur the lines much further between tower and notebook. A very cool thing, if, for example, you split your embedded development work between the office and home, for example.
I have three zinos with blu-ray. I'm not sure what you're getting at.
Obsolete technology? Its called EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE. We're not buying 100 new projectors because Steve Jobs doesn't like VGA connectors.
> Only fanbois and haters try that kind of lame arguments
I must be a fanboy because I like doing embedded programming that sometimes requires a serial port. If anyone is a mindless fanboy its you.
As an embedded developer myself, I have always chafed at the lack of programming/debugging hardware tools for the Mac, due to dependence on legacy ports. However, nearly every modern debugging/programming tool is USB now; so the problem is getting much better. I also understand wanting a serial port to write diagnostic messages to, monitor a variable, etc, and the serial USB adapters are fine for that sort of thing.
Fanbois much? Apple didn't invent the organization scheme that they used on the iPod, they straight up ripped that off from Creative, who both patented and implemented it well before the iPod debut.
No, that was more like "Go away" money to Creative for Apple. Tell me, how the FUCK else are you going to arrange MUSIC rather than by Artist, Album, Song, and "Genre"? Really? How would YOU do it? How would YOU have avoided Creative's patent? How?
The rest of the things you cite are polish things, it's a bit like pointing to the warmed seats in a car and saying that you've innovated, after you ripped somebody else off for all the important bits of the car.
That's all I ever hear from the Apple-haters; "Nothing but polish. Simply good marketing, blah, blah,woof, woof." Can't you boys learn a new song? It isn't true, never been true. You're just too jealous to see that.
So? It's legitimate to point out that only very rarely is Apple first at anything, most of the time they prefer to wait for a market to be at a tipping point before releasing a product.
So when exactly was the "tipping point" (whatever THAT means!) for USB before the iMac?
There's nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just disingenuous to suggest that Apple is an innovator, it's been a good long while since they were doing much more than perfecting something that somebody else did first, which is a much easier task.
It such an easy task that no one else seems to do it first NEARLY as often as Apple.
Slashdot Mirror
No. There are different laws for video vs audio, as well as based on jurisdiction.
For example, I recall one story where a landlord installed spycams in an tenants apartment and recorded her, but he wasn't convicted because he only recorded video [if he had audio, then he would have been].
Some jurisdictions require both parties to consent to recording audio, some just one party. I would guess most places have video without audio generally is permissible in public places, but IANAL.
IANAL either; but I happen to know just a little on this subject, and this is one of the few places in the U.S. where the police could possibly get a lawsuit like this to "fly".
Unfortunately, New Hampshire happens to be one of only TWELVE states in the USA that require BOTH PARTIES to consent to recording.
One good thing: Even if you live in one of those states, calling INTERstate is covered by Federal law, which is ONE-PARTY to consent (that is to say, "you").
Oh dear....I think it’s time you and your little friends do your playing in the walled garden from now on...
...But at least, in our Walled Garden, we'll have time to PLAY, rather than having to forever stand waiting at the gate, sword in hand, to defend ourselves against the Orcs of the Internet.
before iOS gets to cocky. Can we remind people of http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/11/08/1411259/First-iPhone-Worm-Discovered-Rickrolls-Jailbroken-Phones
Although it was only for jailbroken phones, and it wasnt malicious code, apple still got it first.
Ok, that's one. And exploiting a LONG-PATCHED vulnerability.
Now, find 20 more iOS examples, and we'll talk.
BTW, that's all that have been FOUND on the Android Marketplace; not HARDLY how many are likely to have actually been PUBLISHED there. And then there's all the OTHER sites selling Android malw... er, Apps...
I agree that with freedom comes responsibility; but this proves without question that it has NOTHING to do with WHERE an Android user actually DOWNLOADS an app from; but rather, Android's fundamentally broken marketing model: That users are smart enough to manage their own security in the face of ever-more-clever publishers of malicious applications; and that simply asking a user to review and decide on what constitutes "reasonable" permissions ONLY ONCE, DURING INSTALL TIME, is in ANY way sufficient for the AVERAGE (non-slashdot-reading) owner of an Android device.
BTW, I would LOVE to know how many bona fide "geeks" got bitten by one or more of these apps. I would bet real money that the number is not zero. Now what?
I'm really not trying to incite flames; but Google, and Android fans, HAVE to admit at this point that there is mounting evidence that the Wild West approach to App availability in the Mobile market simply doesn't work for MOST humans, period.
And once that one, now plainly dubious, "advantage" is gone with Android over iOS, then what, besides yet another race to the bottom level of quality and price, does the platform have to offer for MOST humans?
Remember, Android did NOT get popular because of the ability to download anything from anywhere (requiring the user to JAILBREAK their ANDROID device in most cases!); but primarily because people WANTED an IPHONE, but either a) Hated Apple on "religious" grounds; b) Were locked into a Carrier by contract or coverage area; or, c) Couldn't afford an IPHONE.
Question: Why is it taking 3+ hours to do a simple wipe and reinstall? You just wipe the machine, put in a pre built OS install CD/DVD with all the patches already done, put in the key on first boot, install the apps from the local server or via flash drive, done. Maybe an hour and a half tops.
Using a combination of WSUS Offline (which you can tell to include MS Office updates along with MS Essentials AV) and Ninite I can whip off a dozen boxes or more a day easy and spend less time per box than I do trying to figure where I sat my Coke down. Just a little preparation goes a long way friend.
As for TFA, welcome to the game Android users! Anything that becomes popular WILL become a target for malware as long as they can use social engineering, because it is just so damned easy to do as in TFA. I mean 50k infections and they didn't even have to write the app, just attach their malware to an existing app and upload? How easy can you get!
So welcome to the game Android users, where you have to watch out and worry about malware just like us Windows users. The donuts are over in the back, right next to the Apple users who are currently sulking after finding out shiny plastic and aluminum doesn't stop bugs. Look on the bright side, it just means you're popular now! Hell the Linux guys would kill to be that popular on the desktop! So enjoy the coffee it's fresh, meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Um, you leave us Apple users out of this. This was ANDROID. A-N-D-R-O-I-D, not APPLE, A-P-P-L-E.
Oh, and note that, just like that OTHER malware-infested platform (Windows), the ONLY way forward seems to be either to throw perfectly good hardware away (think of the planet!); OR to "Wipe and Reload" (It so SIMPLE! It's Easy! It's FUN!).
And, just like with Windows, the Androids will be out in force, blaming the USERS for taking advantage of the ONLY "advantage" to Android: The ability to download any dodgy app you want.
But notice, the apps weren't on some dark, dank dark alley of the internet; they were on GOOGLE's OWN APP STORE! The MOTHERSHIP.
No, this is more like we'll be seeing Google announcing their new "Curated" App Store in 3... 2... 1...
That there is typical fanboi. Because they spent a billion dollars on it it must be better. Like because some idiot spends more an an ipod than they would on an equivalent iriver, the lower specs of the ipod are somehow magically better? If they spent so much on it, it kind of shows they are idiots, but thankfully there are enough idiots out there who will buy the crap.
My comment had nothing to do with how MUCH they spent; but rather that that they spent ANY money on CUSTOM silicon, instead of using some POS Atom or some other, less optimized, bog-standard microcontroller like others have done with their Tablet and other "mobile" offerings. And it is precisely because of Apple's investment in the A4 custom SoC that the current crop of iOS devices are able to whip all over the performance and battery life specs of the competition. The money wasn't spent on "teh shiny", it was spent on "teh SPECS". What is "cheap and crappy" is what EVERYONE else is doing in response to the iPad; that is, rushing some half-baked, inferior (the displays alone! UGH!) product out (or, in other words, every single Android tablet released after the iPad), in a (really) pathetic attempt to play "catch up" with Apple's success.
I wouldn't call Macbook Pros a triumph of industrial design
You are entitled to your incorrect opinion, of course. ;-)
, they're ok, but "triumph" is a bit over the top... and for what you get, they are too expensive. The windows tax is bad enough, the apple tax is ridiculous.
I have no problem with polycarbonate cases. I am more concerned about how well the machines are assembled and how much freedom I have to do what I want with them... right down to ordering them with my choice of OS and partitioning.
Ok, you DO realize that, since OS X comes pre-installed on every single Apple computer, the OS is, for all intents and purposes, FREE (as in beer), and yet, there is still nothing stopping you from wiping (or just simply re-partitioning) the HD (don't even have to lose what you have already in most cases), and installing Linux, and/or Windows in a multi-boot configuration, or, if you want concurrent operation of multiple OSes, through one of the hypervisor-based virtualization products available.
So, did you have a point, again?
"A fool and his money are soon parted." - Barnum
"There's a seeker born every minute." - Happy Harry Cox
So, what was your point, again?
A complex/intricate design makes one tend to strip screws and leave ZIF sockets open? Sounds more like a lazy assembler to me.
More like a new employee. Those two operations were probably close enough to the final build operations that they were likely done by the same employee.
Get 100 samples and we'll talk; otherwise it's just a bad unit. Shouldn't happen; but things like a stripped screw will never be caught. The ZIF connector lock maybe should have; but like all manufacturers, I'm sure Apple only does random sampling of production units, as long as the warranty return numbers don't start climbing.
You can be sure that that article DID cause Apple to place a few trans-Pacific facetime calls (is that even possible?) with their Contract Manufacturer, and probably caused some poor QA person in the U.S. to do a complete teardown and "audit" on these units.
Blaming it on China is certainly misplacing blame. On the whole, China does a great job of manufacturing electronics (environmental and labour issues aside). Apple on the other hand... Get some 2nd rate hardware, throw it together as cheaply as possible, put it in a shiny case and whack an apple logo on it... then sell it for 50x what it's actually worth. Don't forget to make sure it only inter-operates with other overpriced crap with an apple logo on it.
Alright, slight exaggeration,
slight?
but take iPod, iPhone 4... what goes into them is really pretty cheap and crappy.
Right. Because nothing says "Cheap and crappy" like a custom SoC with a Billion dollars in R&D costs.
The laptops are ok, but there are cheaper/better alternatives provided you don't mind something that isn't shiny.
Here we go again. Lets try to compare (once more) some polycarbonate-cased shitbox Wintel laptop with the triumph of industrial design that is the current Macbook Pro line.
Don't you boys know any nice songs?
my biggest peeve with the Android security model from day #1 is that this kind of thing is even possible.
every Android application has to be specifically granted a set of permissions on installation, including "able to make phonecalls that cost you money", "able to access the internet", etc. the problem is that the user only ever see this list once, fleetingly, during installation, and as everyone knows, familiarity breeds contempt so after the first couple of apps, most people stop reading the list and just click "yes". even if they read the list, once it's been authorized the application can do anything on its permission list at any time, without user intervention. this opens the gate to applications that can take photos doing so silently while the screen is off, applications that can make phonecalls doing so invisibly and undetectably, applications that can use the internet and use gps phoning home at any time with your exact location, etc. it simply shouldn't be possible.
whenever an application attempts to perform a restricted task, the OS checks that it has been granted the permission to do so and either silently permits the task, or silently disallows it. that's great, but it shouldn't stop there. the first time it's attempted a dialog box should alert the user that "steamy windows is attempting to make a phone call to that can cost you money. do you want to authorize this? yes/no/ [ x ] remember my answer and don't ask me again".
clearly "steamy windows" is going to get a "no and don't let it do it in future response", whereas the user is likely to grant "mywonderSMSclient" indefinite permission.
if there's a reason why this isn't practical, i'd like to know about it.
Now, only if there were a mobile OS that was already set up that way? What would we call it?
Oh, I know: iOS
My blackberry already asks me permission for specific actions and typed of data for apps. People rip on RIM for being old fashioned and slow to innovate and yet they are the only company with sane security and privacy management settings
People rip on RIM and Apple for being old fashioned and slow to innovate and yet they are the only company^H ies with sane security and privacy management settings."
There, fixed that for you.
mod parent +Infinity. So far, this is the only comment that actually addresses the issue in a sensible and realistic fashion.
Thanks! But, if it's anything like the Anti-Apple Punish-Modding I am normally subjected to (I went from Excellent to Terrible Karma, and have not been able to regain anything but to "Bad" in ONE DAY of Punish-Modding), I will be DOWNmodded and called "Troll" or "Flamebait".
;-)
But, since you liked the above post, you might check out my other comments in this thread...
Who do you trust: The phone company, the phone, or the user?
If you trust the phone company, then having a cellphone contract option to limit data/text/etc. usage to some cap can mitigate the worst case bill you'll be surprised with. If you trust the phone, then OS options to limit what an app can do can mitigate worse case damage done. In either case, you have to trust the user to make the right choices with respect to cellphone contract or app permissions.
I think my problem is that I don't trust any of the above.
I wholeheartedly agree! Now, if only there were someone to look over and try and make sure that apps weren't malicious. Sort of a "Curator"...
Oh, wait! That sounds an awful lot like the iOS App Store, doesn't it?
And with something like 250k apps and growing, with only one or two security slipups (not one or two a month, like Android), any sane person would seem to be forced into agreeing that SOMETHING about the "Curated" App Store model MUST be working, don'tcha think?
For some strange reason you engage in the assumption that the app would function correctly absent text-sending permissions. It would not.
If Google reworked the core OS to expressly not throw an exception under insufficient permission conditions, then the app would itself check the return status and bomb out when the calls fail.
Either you accept what the app requests, or you don't install it; there's no working around that for malicious apps.
But what if say, a mobile OS could be designed such that, perhaps not on INSTALL, but rather, say, the first time a "restricted access" service (e.g., phone control, messaging, or GPS data) was requested, the user was allowed to THEN decide whether it seemed reasonable for his shoot-em-up game to have access to SMS. And then, maybe even after he granted such a permission, he could actually CHANGE HIS MIND (as humans are wont to do), wouldn't that be MUCH better than having to GUESS whether it would be reasonable for a game to be able to send an SMS, PRIOR TO EVEN RUNNING IT?!?
Now, if only such a mobile OS existed....
Oh, wait!; both of those features are already part of iOS.
Pretty cool, huh?
More importantly, they had to give the app permission to send texts. Very few apps need that permission.
But the REAL problem is that Android only asks ONCE, at install time, for whatever permissions it might need. So, instead of them getting an Alert saying "Hey, Hello Kitty Wallpaper Needs Permission To Send Text Messages", when they were just checking their to-do list, they MIGHT be just a LITTLE more suspicious, even if they are a noob.
I am not advocating something that asks every time an app needs to do something other than display text; but asking a non-computer-savvy person to decide on permissions at the very time that he just wants to get his new Shiny, is just asking for trouble. But anyone but the most completely arrogant (a special brand of stupidity) will probably question why their new "cooking" app suddenly wants access to your GPS, when all you did was download and launch it to find out how to cook something for dinner.
You should also be able to change your mind after granting access to a feature/service/database. At least from the Android GUI, I don't believe you can change an apps "permissions" after you decide at install time, amiriite?
Of course, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that iOS offers both of those improvements over Android...
Just sayin'...
"Most people don't give a shit about "openness" or being able to install software from any third-party."
Perhaps not, but that is rapidly changing.
No it's not.
Sorry.
I though open-source was infinitely more secure than "Micro$oft Windoze omglolwut!". Funny I haven't heard about any viruses affecting windows phones.
That's because there isn't enough marketshare.
Sorry, couldn't resist!
It's where a process of change turns from a gradual mode to a very sudden one, often due to the network effect and positive feedback.
Perhaps you could read a book or something? It's available in formats other than dead tree, if that's too unhip for you.
Other than your pedantry, I note, however, that you didn't address the real questions I raised, which I will rephrase and repeat for your convenience: 1. What was the "tipping point" for USB before the iMac?
2. What innovations has Apple been falsely credited with either: a) Inventing, either alone or in partnership with others; b) Bringing into the mainstream (e.g., USB was certainly not invented by Apple; but they arguably made it virtually ubiquitous)
I await your answers to my real questions with abated breath.
Oh, and to respond to your unnecessarily snarky comment regarding "dead tree" books being "too unhip": Other than "datasheets", "whitepapers" and other "non-book-y" stuff, I have NEVER read an entire book (or even a whole chapter of a book!) in electronic format. I sit at my desk at home, hunched up like Quasimodo in front of my computer, far too much as it is; so, until I can afford something like an iPad (notice I didn't say specifically an iPad), that lets me sit back and actually RELAX while viewing it, I don't think i will be jumping on the e-book train. That, and I really happen to like "dead tree" books. May be unhip; but old habits die hard, and there's something about that pulp-y smell with paperbacks that is strangely pleasant and reassuring.
"Are all Linux users as stupid as you? Mac OS X is in no way Linux because it doesn't use a Linux kernel."
Technically. But I wrote "for practical purposes". Do you even know what Posix-compliant means?
And do you even know the difference between Linux (which is a Unix-LIKE OS), and Unix? I didn't think so.
See any mention of Linux here? I didn't think so.
Actually I think you're less fickle and more ill-informed. I have a MBP 15" 5,1 model and it does have a nice screen, but that's about it. The backlit keyboard is useful in the dark, and the Magsafe power may help idiots who forget to unplug their laptop but it's hell if you get it around small bits of ferrous metal.
So, in like the most incredibly corner case, the MagSafe power connector might be not so wonderful; but how many people use their MacBooks in a machine shop?
Beyond that the optical drive sounds horrendous when it boots,
First, you might try a different disc; Second, exactly how often do you BOOT from your OPTICAL drive?
it overheats very easily
Do you mean "thermal overload error", or that it just gets too hot for you to wear your short-shorts with?
and to call the touchpad crap is an insult to feces everywhere.
Now I KNOW you're high; or one of those Keyboard Clit nutjobs. To me, the Trackpoint (or whatever it's called) is like having an Atari 2600 joystick mounted in the middle of my damn keyboard! Most sane people actually love Apple's trackpads. Have you ever even tried one?
Compared to a comparable $399 laptop it's the top of the world, compared to a $1500 Lenovo you wonder why they sell any of these things - and that's after Lenovo started to go downhill.
Hmmm. That's not what several Lenovo owners on here have been saying...
Hi MR AC! I really hate to use a meme, but in this case it is MOST appropriate: Correlation != Causation. If you will look at the timeline in question there is actually a very good reason why USB took off when it did and I would argue it had zipola to do with Apple.
You see MR AC, at the time USB was released we Windows users were by and large dealing with an OS known today as Win9X, aka "DOS with a pretty on top". Trouble was the pretty on top was about as stable as Charlie Sheen and USB was notorious for making it shit itself and die HARD. I'm sure you've seen the famous Gates Win98 presentation? Yeah, that was kinda what happened on a regular basis with USB, as Win9X didn't like things being plugged and unplugged like that. Now that kinda makes an interface whose big selling point was "just plug it in and go" kinda a dud when the first part gave you a 50/50 shot of BSOD and loss of your work.
So why did USB take off? Simple, MSFT killed Win9X (after releasing the disaster that was WinME...eeek!) for the vast majority of consumers (some of us were smart enough to jump to WinNT via Win2K while the consumers cursed their WinME machines) and by switching over to WinXP finally gave the masses an OS that they could actually plug USB devices into without BSODing and you'd be surprised what a difference not crashing makes!
So in conclusion MR AC, while I'm sure it gives Apple users the warm fuzzies to think they brought USB to the masses, and I will happily give them credit for Firewire, it was the death of Win9X that allowed users to migrate to the new peripheral. After all many such as myself had USB ports on our machines in 98/99 we just weren't crazy enough to actually plug anything into them. I swear Win9X could be so fussy that a USB KB or Mouse could make it go "ZOMG!" and wet itself. It was great for DOS games, everything else? Kinda not.
Are you stoned, or just stupid?
You do realize, of course, that, by the time anyone in the Windows world was the least bit interested in USB, that the iMac had already been using it (without Kernel Panics) happily since OS X 10.0.0. As I said in an earlier post, if the legacy ports hadn't started dropping off their printers and scanners, most Windows users would still be happy hooking their printers up with a big, fat Centronics connector.
It was the popularity of the iMac that caused USB to take off. Not Apple's doing; just market forces.
But it SURE wasn't Windows. Heck, even in XP, you have to be ultra-careful about whether you install a USB driver first, or plug the damn thing in first. Yeah, great support, there! I don't know if they have (finally) fixed that; but it never was a problem in OS X. If you accidently plugged the rare device that needed a custom driver in OS X before installing the software, big deal. If the device was plugged in while installing the driver, big deal.
Not so much in Windows, eh?
Was that the Apple Powerbook 540c (2.3" thick, 7.3 lbs, not counting the power supply)?
Yes, but that was then, this is now...
So, what exactly was your point, again?
Seems pretty accurate to me. Most new technology (eg: CPUs, GPUs, memory types, etc) are on the market for months (at least) before Apple picks them up. They tend to keep older technology around for longer, as well (eg: Mac Mini still has a Core 2 Duo).
The rare counter-examples (eg: Firewire, Mini-DP) are rarely found outside of the Mac ecosystem.
That's before even going into the technology other vendors have that they stubbornly refuse to implement. Like, say, a docking station for their ostensibly "professional" laptops.
Have you not been following along?
Look at this Overview of Thunderbolt. Think that someone won't implement a Docking Station (with a connector that doesn't fail after a few months, like the typical PC laptop's docking conns.) with an interface like that? And cooler yet, your Desktop will be able to share all those same peripherals (do you really think this isn't going in all Macs?), as long as the total count is 6 devices or less (yes, I wish it were more, too!), and the total cable length is 100 meters or less.
Intel marketing hype aside, an industry-standard, "remoting" a PCIe bus over an LVDS-like link on a laptop at 10 Gb/s is potentially a Big Deal. Because now, there really doesn't have to be any substantive difference between a peripheral (say, a 256-channel audio I/O, frinstance) in a PCI "slot" and one at the end of a Thuderbolt cable attached to a laptop.
That IS a big deal. Far bigger than USB 3, FW 3200, eSATA combined. And oh, BTW, All of that stuff CAN be done over Thunderbolt. And, according to Intel, with existing drivers (somehow!). If this "goes" in the marketplace (gets support from third parties), far more than any other computing invention in recent memory, Thunderbolt will definitely blur the lines much further between tower and notebook. A very cool thing, if, for example, you split your embedded development work between the office and home, for example.
That's not fanboyism. That is fact.
I have three zinos with blu-ray. I'm not sure what you're getting at.
Obsolete technology? Its called EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE. We're not buying 100 new projectors because Steve Jobs doesn't like VGA connectors.
> Only fanbois and haters try that kind of lame arguments
I must be a fanboy because I like doing embedded programming that sometimes requires a serial port. If anyone is a mindless fanboy its you.
As an embedded developer myself, I have always chafed at the lack of programming/debugging hardware tools for the Mac, due to dependence on legacy ports. However, nearly every modern debugging/programming tool is USB now; so the problem is getting much better. I also understand wanting a serial port to write diagnostic messages to, monitor a variable, etc, and the serial USB adapters are fine for that sort of thing.
Fanbois much? Apple didn't invent the organization scheme that they used on the iPod, they straight up ripped that off from Creative, who both patented and implemented it well before the iPod debut.
No, that was more like "Go away" money to Creative for Apple. Tell me, how the FUCK else are you going to arrange MUSIC rather than by Artist, Album, Song, and "Genre"? Really? How would YOU do it? How would YOU have avoided Creative's patent? How?
The rest of the things you cite are polish things, it's a bit like pointing to the warmed seats in a car and saying that you've innovated, after you ripped somebody else off for all the important bits of the car.
That's all I ever hear from the Apple-haters; "Nothing but polish. Simply good marketing, blah, blah,woof, woof." Can't you boys learn a new song? It isn't true, never been true. You're just too jealous to see that.
So? It's legitimate to point out that only very rarely is Apple first at anything, most of the time they prefer to wait for a market to be at a tipping point before releasing a product.
So when exactly was the "tipping point" (whatever THAT means!) for USB before the iMac?
There's nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just disingenuous to suggest that Apple is an innovator, it's been a good long while since they were doing much more than perfecting something that somebody else did first, which is a much easier task.
It such an easy task that no one else seems to do it first NEARLY as often as Apple.