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In its continuous pursuit to create smaller, more compact devices, Apple has shown interest in creating headphone jacks for iPods and iPhones that will take up even less space inside a device.
There's one standard in the iPod, the headphone jack. It makes it possible to buy replacements in a pinch for a dollar. You can plug them into any car stereo with the jack. You can buy cheap cables to hook them to your home stereo.
Apple wants a cut of each of those -- your headphones, your car stereo, your home theater. Tell them no.
EDIT: Or I'm wrong. This is just the way the current jacks are held within the iPod.
posted by ruffin
at 9/23/2010 02:09:00 PM
โI feel like he was the first person, or one of the first people, to start thinking outside the box with his whole Transcendentalism and, like, God and nature and all that,โ Ms. Lieberg [one of the new caretakers of the RWE house] said. โSo we were like, O.K., heโs cool, nonconformist. And we like that.โ
Ms. Lieberg obviously needs to [re?]read Wealth and Power. And then she should check out the parts of Emerson's journal where he opens the graves of his son and first wife to see how they're doing, just to understand the man a little better. And I'm pretty sure RWE's not being metaphorical.
Grave viewing aside, Emerson's theories are nonconformist largely in the way America is nonconformist. Which is to say, if you live in the US today, Ralph's often more party line than not. It's no mistake that he pops up on 11th grade reading lists, the last gasp of propaganda from the high school before the citizens-to-be catch senioritis. Lieberg seems to have picked up on that message almost perfectly.
This week, the New York Times reported that Russian authorities were searching the offices and seizing the computers of public interest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) disfavored by the government, under the guise of enforcing Microsoft copyrights.
This is why you only use Linux in your NGO and announce to the government ahead of time. I wonder if there's any such thing as probable cause here. Was there a reason to expect that the versions of Windows, etc weren't legit?
WinZip in the 90s and early 2000s would probably have been an even better cover.
Microsoft's reply is, for me, honestly, unexpected.
To prevent non-government organizations from falling victim to nefarious actions taken in the guise of anti-piracy enforcement, Microsoft will create a new unilateral software license for NGOs that will ensure they have free, legal copies of our products.
Consumer Reports also took issue with the change in available cases. During the free case program, seven cases, 'including some from third-party manufacturers,' were offered. Users who contact AppleCare after Sept. 30 will only have Apple's own Bumper case available to them.
...
Despite the lack of recommendation, the organization still ranked the iPhone as the best smartphone available, giving it the 'highest rated' score.
(Note: I did read CR's blog post)
1.) If Apple's own bumper fixes the problem, why are we upset about the lack of choice with cases? 2.) If this is the best smartphone out there, why are they harping on a single compromise?
Look, the post is about hits to CR, plain and simple. How many times have I been to a CR blog in the past year? Maybe 3. How many times to look at something iPhone 4 related? Probably 2 of those 3.
Personally, my interactions with CR are usually limited to going to the public library before buying a major appliance or car. I kind of enjoy the old school nature of the search, and I'm not paying for biannual access if I've already paid (via taxes) to take a look.
posted by ruffin
at 9/14/2010 08:18:00 AM
If readings are taken often enough, you could create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of a child's school day โ one that's easy to imagine being misused, particularly as the chips substitute for direct adult monitoring and judgment.
In general, I'm a pretty big fan of the EFF and their pro-privacy stances. Here, I'm not so sure. As I anecdotally experience my community, we're expected to hound kids in ways that nobody considered thirty years ago. I used to wander around on my bike for miles, play at the creek and in the woods, and travel to places I would have never visited if my parents had always been able to keep me within earshot.
Could RFID tracking bring back some of the possibilities for developing a sense of independence in our kids? I mean, honestly, who cares if folk know where I am at all times? I remember joining Peek Maps, which kept a constantly updated map with my [Peek's] location on it at all times. Honestly, who is going to misuse that? People ready to rob my house, sure. People who want to run me off the road, as if I were as important as a 00 agent. Cheating spouses. Honestly? Come on, whose life is that dramatic, and what are the chances that the number of people influenced by these crimes would rise with instant, free geolocation of everyone?
And, naturally, that's not what's going on here. The students' location isn't known to everyone (which could be worse in some ways), and, in theory, harder to exploit. Who cares? Now I'm concerned here that the gov't would label some kids as those whose behaviors require the tags and tracking, as the EFF story suggests here. But rather than worrying about who is ADHD, I'd rather get them all tagged than just a select few.
I'm still convinced that in 100 years, we'll feel naked if our location isn't available to all of our friends, and occasionally compromised and given to those we don't know so well. Oh noes! They know where I've used my credit card! They know the websites I've visited! OnStar is following my car, even when I don't pay the subscription fee!
The NAI Opt-out Tool was developed in conjunction with our members for the express purpose of allowing consumers to 'opt out' of the behavioral advertising delivered by our member companies. ... The NAI has adopted a policy that all NAI member companies set a minimum lifespan of five years for their opt out cookies.
You can also find out more about what each company thinks you like by following the links in this WSJ story. Strangely, Google told me that the only interest it related to be via cookie was country music. All I can figure is I bagged that looking at Taylor Swift's fake rap, Thug Story. Predictable, but pretty funny, even if Chris Robinson doesn't care for her. At all. Pretty flimsy connection in any event. If you want me to spend money, you'd be better off pimping rare Crowes songs.
The Opt-Out tool is interesting. I wonder how well it works. I'd say I wonder if I didn't want targeted commercials, but if all Google knows about me after all of my surfing is that I viewed a Taylor Swift video, well, I'm not sure why anyone's making a big deal about this stuff. Seriously -- Apple, Redskins, Black Crowes, etc seem like obvious, behavior based interests any human watching me would have figured out pretty quickly.
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