Tag: APPLE

TECHNOLOGY: The demise of Blu-Rays and DVDs allows real time “book burnings”

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https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2024/01/05/nolte-best-buy-end-sales-blu-rays-dvds/

Nolte: Best Buy to End Sales of Blu-Rays and DVDs
John Nolte 5 Jan 2024

  • Best Buy will stop selling physical media this year, according to numerous reports.

*** begin quote ***

“The move away from physical media has been attributed to the changing habits of [stupid] consumers, who increasingly prefer streaming and digital downloads over traditional physical formats,” per the report. “This trend has been evident over the last decade as DVD and Blu-ray sales have experienced a significant decline.”

*** and ***

What’s the matter with you people?

This is our art! And you’re going to leave it in the hands of left-wing multinational corporations like Disney, Apple, and Amazon?

Hey, it’s no skin off my nose. I got mine, and I’m going to keep right on getting mine. But if you have a movie or book or TV show or video game you love, you are facing a future where it will either get disappeared, be censored, or made available only through a monthly subscription service.

I refuse to live in that future.

*** end quote ***

I learned this lesson when all my books on cassette were made obsolete and I was urged to rebut the same content on CDs.  I griped to anyone who listen and fell on the deaf ears  of all the politicians and bureaucrats. I refused to buy it all again. 

Then the car makers dropped the cassette players.  And, I was really screwed.  So I used drive with a portable cassette player in my truck and my car.  Finally the tapes began to wear out and I just gave up.

I still hate the Gooferment politicians and bureaucrats for “copyright” law that makes me “license” content that I “buy”.   

Sorry, but I’m not buying into the whole scam.

Like “lifetime guarantees”, the value of a dollar, and “jumbo shrimp”, I can recognize a scam from a long way off and here comes the next one.  Before long, every streaming “service” will force you to pay for everything al la carte IN ADDITION TO a low monthly “membership fee”.  

Argh!

And the rubes aka “We, The Sheeple” will hail “progress”.   Not me.

—30—

RANT: Tesla and other EV’s should be considered a national disgrace

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11668015/Devastating-photos-cobalt-mines-Democratic-Republic-Congo-power-Apple-Tesla-more.html

The shaming images that show where our iPhones, laptops and Tesla cars REALLY come from: The truth about the Congolese mines where kids are paid $2-a-day to dig for cobalt

  •     Images from the Shabara mine and others in the Democratic Republic of Congo show young children mining  
  •     They dig for cobalt, the chemical element that is used in almost every tech product on the market today 
  •     Apple, Tesla, Samsung and Microsoft are the other end of the complex supply chain  

By Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Published: 08:24 EST, 30 January 2023 | Updated: 09:14 EST, 30 January 2023

*** begin quote ***

For years, big tech companies like Apple and Tesla have assured the customers of their glossy stores and showrooms that all their goods are ethically sourced and sold. 

But a new series of images taken from inside mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 90 percent of the world’s cobalt is mined and used to make the batteries that power our tech-led lives, raise uncomfortable questions. 

Cobalt is the chemical element found in almost every tech gadget that uses a lithium-powered battery on the market today – a smartphone, tablet or laptop requires a few grams of it, while an electric vehicle requires 10kg.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but this is a national disgrace.  And, all EV’s should be scorned.

I’m speechless.

—30—

TECHNOLOGY: Add your COVID vaccination … but should you? (IMHO NO!)

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https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4034897/posts

You can add your COVID vaccination certificate to the Apple Wallet… but should you?
TNW ^ | 2/2 | Callum Booth
Posted on 2/2/2022, 5:01:47 PM by nickcarraway

*** begin quote ***

Spoiler: Yeah, why not?

The modern world hurts my brain. Let’s take the news that Apple enables users to store their COVID vaccination certificates in the Wallet and Health apps as an example.

When I first heard about it, I was pumped. Flashing my QR code to enter a restaurant or grab a coffee would be far simpler if it sat in my Apple Wallet. Friends, the time I’d save!

But, of course, the world had something to say about that.

We talked to 4 successful entrepreneurs This is what they wish they knew before getting started

While putting my digital certificate of vaccination in an easy-to-access place is cool… is it safe? And because I can do it, does that mean I should?

Something that seemed simple on the surface is actually a minefield. I wanted some clarity on this issue.

*** and ***

COVID vaccine certificates in the Apple Wallet app: not a huge concern To put it bluntly: there are no obvious dangers of moving your vaccine certificate to the Apple Wallet. This does come with a large caveat though, as this is only true if you tightly control what apps can access your data.

In this way, vaccination certificates differ from digital IDs. The majority of the former are digital by nature, while the most common forms of identification (driver’s licenses and passports) are paper-based. Digitizing them opens a huge and wriggling can of worms — while the vaccine pass system could actually benefit from being incorporated into the Apple Wallet.

So, there you have it! A little bit of respite before the modern world messes with our heads again.

*** end quote ***

It’s just too easy for the Gooferment make this the digital version of “show me your papers”!

It’s a BIG “NO” for me.

—30—

TECHNOLOGY: APPLE and GOOGLE with suck at tagging photos

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I like to phot everything that passes through my hands.  ID cards, letters, people, etc. etc.

From time to time I need to find the “needle in a haystack”.  Unfortunately, I can’t “tag” photos to indicate what they are and why they’d be important.

Argh!

I have to create “albums” and “folders” and what not that some developer thinks is “kool”.

Argh!

Why not tags like Twitter and Facebook?  Why reinvent the wheel?  Like labels in Gmail but not in photos.

Argh!

—30—

TECHNOLOGY: Apple frustrates the “right to repair”

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https://www.reviewgeek.com/102499/apple-prevents-iphone-13-screen-repairs-in-what-ifixit-calls-an-unprecedented-lockdown/\

Apple’s Attempt to Prevent iPhone 13 Repairs Hurts Customers and Professionals
ANDREW HEINZMAN NOV 5, 2021, 3:26 PM EDT 

*** begin quote ***

When our friends at iFixit did their first iPhone 13 teardown, they called the device “a new low” for repairability. Apple took unprecedented steps to prevent “unauthorized” iPhone 13 repairs—particularly screen replacements, which (by design) break the phone’s Face ID functionality.

Screen replacements are by far the most common phone repair procedure. They’re also fairly cheap and easy to perform, so as you can imagine, they’re the bread and butter of small repair shops. But unless Apple gives you permission to perform an iPhone 13 screen or battery swap, you will end up with broken features or a non-working phone.

And I’m not exaggerating when I say that you need Apple’s “permission” to repair the iPhone 13. Its components are serialized—meaning that parts like the display and Face ID camera can identify each other using unique serial numbers. To make one of these serialized components work with a donor part, an authorized Apple technician needs to sync each part with Apple’s cloud network and request approval from the corporation.

*** end quote ***

It seems apparent that Apple wants to control its “customers” like sheep to be shorn.

As much as I am a little L libertarian, we are stuck with the current system until “We, The Sheeple” stand up and say “NO!”.

‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: [screaming at the top of his lungs] “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” — the character Howard Beale played by Peter Finch in the movie Network (1976)

So, I hope the anti-monopoly folks take notice of this.

—30—

HARDWARE: Apple spits in the face of “right to repair”!

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https://www.reviewgeek.com/98982/ifixit-calls-the-iphone-13-a-new-low-for-repairability/

iFixit Calls the iPhone 13 “a New Low” for Repairability
ANDREW HEINZMAN @andrew_andrew__
SEP 27, 2021, 5:48 PM EDT | 1 min read

*** begin quote ***

As Right to Repair legislation garners support from both sides of the political aisle, Apple is doubling down on its anti-consumer practices. A now-complete teardown from iFixit shows that the iPhone 13 reaches “a new low” for repairability, as it’s effectively impossible to repair at home without losing key features like Face ID.

*** end quote ***

Way to lock in the consumer.

—30—

TECHNOLOGY: Podcast will disappear behind paywalls

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https://theconversation.com/apple-threatens-to-upend-podcastings-free-open-architecture-160318

The Conversation – Articles (US)

Apple threatens to upend podcasting’s free, open architecture
by John Sullivan, Professor of Media and Communication, Muhlenberg College

*** begin quote ***

A medium that exploded due to the lack of institutional gatekeepers is now seeing big tech companies act like traditional media networks, signing popular hosts and shows to exclusive contracts. Of course, other publishers like Slate and Stitcher have offered subscriptions to their shows via their own websites and mobile apps. But the m

uch larger audience share of Apple Podcasts and Spotify has much greater potential to move the podcast ecosystem in the direction of premium paid content.

This presents a potential long-term threat to the free, open architecture of podcasting, though projects like The Podcast Index are aiming to preserve the medium as platform-agnostic.

One thing is for certain: Apple and Spotify have given us a glimpse of a podcasting future where the walled gardens of platform-exclusive, premium content become the norm.

*** end quote ***

The Podcast Index are aiming to preserve the medium as platform-agnostic.

Guess that’s all that can save us from paywalls and the Apple Tax?

—30—

TECHNOLOGY: Dropping Google and returning to the “less evil” empire of Apple

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2020-Nov-11 1257

Ok, I admit that my attempt to move from Apple to Google was a complete and utter failure.

Google:

  • By killing Google Cloud Print, it made my printer “obsolete” with no alternative. (Was the final straw!)
  • Google docs and sheets are no where near as good as Microsoft Office.
  • Google’s “end of life”-ing chromebooks is inexplicable.
  • Google’s 4a offering was “unsubscribable”. (A tech giant should be able to do that!)
  • Google has no support comparable to Apple’s.
  • Google Fi’s beem a disappointment compared to Altice Mobile.

Apple

  • Has a remarkable consistency in their infrastructure.
  • While killing iTunes Apple Music, iWeb, and a parade of obsolescence, it has been as disruptive as Google’s “end of life”-ing chromebooks.

I’ll continue to watch the field, but it’s no sense wasting anymore time.

I’ll still recomend chromebooks with the caveats about printing and “end of life”-ing.

Argh!

(My apologies for the bad advice!)

—30—

CHROMEBOOK: “Planned Obsolescence” or “End Of Life”

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One of my beloved Chromebooks — ET101 Samsung — updated the Chrome OS and popped up an “End Of Life” message.

What?

It’s EOL when it dies.

Is this part of Google’s attempt to follow in Apple’s “planned obsolesce” “architecture”?

Personally, if the Chromebook is supposed to be the “toaster” appliance of the computer age, then it should old go “end of life” when it goes to chromebook heaven.  I have toasters that lasted until the lady of the house decided the exterior could no longer be clean enough.  Not my problem, but an example of “Western Electric” telephone handset engineering.  Capable of operating after a flood or a nuke.

I am very upset.

And as if to rub my nose it (i.e., EOL), google helpfully offers me a selection of upgrades.

ARGH cubed!

— 30 —

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5819169/Apple-hits-claims-designs-iPhones-fail-force-consumers-buy-new-one.

‘Planned obsolescence is the craziest thinking in the world’: Apple hits back at claims it designs iPhones to fail so consumers have to buy a new one

  • VP of marketing Greg Joswiak refuted that Apple uses ‘planned obsolescence’
  • In an interview with noted Apple blogger John Gruber, he called those claims ‘about the craziest thinking in the world’ saying the firm wouldn’t do that
  • Joswiak said Apple paid special attention to older devices with iOs 12 update
  • Comments come as Apple gave customers discounts for battery throttling
  • Apple has been charging £25 ($29) for replacements since December

By AARON BROWN and ANNIE PALMER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 19:07 EDT, 7 June 2018 | UPDATED: 19:18 EDT, 7 June 2018

* * * * *

Yeah, right.  I believe that!

–30–

TECHNOLOGY: iPhones slow down after a year

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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/12/20/16803190/iphone-slowdown-is-needed-but-also-a-problem

iPhones start slowing down after a year of use, and that’s way too soon
By Jacob Kastrenakes  Dec 20, 2017, 5:15pm EST

*** begin quote ***

But the big conspiracy has been that Apple intentionally slows down your phone every time a new one comes out, a subtle way of encouraging you to buy it. And now we know that it’s true on some level, even if you take Apple’s word and see this as about preservation and not a sales tactic, since the software update that comes out alongside every phone seems to be what introduces the throttling. Here’s how Apple puts it in its statement describing what’s going on: “Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices.”

*** end quote ***

And, this — planned obsolesence — why I am leaving the Apple family for Android and Chromebook.

# – # – # – # – # 

TECHNOLOGY: Driverless anything will dramatically disrupt the economy

Published on by reinkefj1 Comment

http://observer.com/2016/02/why-driverless-cars-will-screech-to-a-halt/

OPINION
Why Driverless Cars Will Screech to a Halt
The liability and regulatory issues involved in letting a 3000 pound death machine steer itself with no human at the controls remain huge
By Steven Hill • 02/09/16 8:42am

*** begin quote ***

Elon Musk’s Tesla recently became the latest big shot company to enter the self-driving car sweepstakes. Mr. Musk recently announced the hiring of software architecture veteran Jim Keller, who previously had played key roles at Apple and AMD, to lead its Autopilot Engineering team. Tesla’s move follows the recently announced partnership between General Motors and Lyft, in which the automaker is investing $500 million in the ridesharing company as part of a joint venture to develop self-driving cars.

*** end quote ***

I wouldn’t mind having a “driverless car”. 

I don’t think it will happen in my lifetime.

It will hugely disrupt the economy. Hard to imagine all the impacts.

Great for the senior citizens who should no longer be driving.

# – # – # – # – # 

 

Elon Musk’s Tesla recently became the latest big shot company to enter the self-driving car sweepstakes. Mr. Musk recently announced the hiring of software architecture veteran Jim Keller, who previously had played key roles at Apple and AMD, to lead its Autopilot Engineering team. Tesla’s move follows the recently announced partnership between General Motors and Lyft, in which the automaker is investing $500 million in the ridesharing company as part of a joint venture to develop self-driving cars.

SORTWARE: IOS8 HEALTH is lame

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The IOS8 upgrade carries a “HEALTH” app to the first screen.

(Even if I didn’t want it. At least “TIPS” went on the last page.)

It’s OBVIOUSLY a placeholder.

The select an emergency contact feature doesn’t work. 

And it does NOT have a provenance, versioning, or linkage to other “health” data sources.

Not Apple’s best work.

# – # – # – # – #   

Ipad1: interesting problem

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

I have never been happy with the “app store” concept. As usual, immoral, inefficient, and ineffective.

(this is, as readers of my blog will know, my standard meme for gripes. Stuff that’s immoral is always wrong. Ineffective is does it work. Inefficient is it easy and cheap.)

The “app store” concept is;

~ “immoral” in that it transfers control from the “buyer” to the “seller”

~ “ineffective” in that problems are insoluble; support is non-existent

~ “inefficient” in that it doesn’t work flawlessly

My current gripe is the GMAIL icon has disappeared from the front screen, but is running in the background. I get alert messages on new email.

Double clicking start does not show it in the task list.

A hard restart or a soft restart doesn’t recover it.

App store thinks it is installed.

Argh!

I have had problems with app store in the past that were never solved.

Argh squared!!

Loss of control of my device annoys me.

–30–

IPAD: IPAD3 no power

Published on by reinkefj2 Comments

Into the Apple store tonight for service. Luckily under contact. Argh!

There re no lights on the cable or the wart to tell you that’s failed. 

Since it powered the IPad1, I pretty sure it’s the IPAD3.

And, tell me again how much better Apple hardware is?

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Oct-23 @ 14:58  

MACBOOKAIR: Time to plan an exit

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Well, it is time to play they exit from the MCBA. Then, salvage what value I can from this trek down a technology mistake. A very expensive lesson.

So, what has to be done and what direction to take?

*Strategically, back to wintel, chrome tops, on to the cloud platform agnostic, or Linux?

* Strategically, what cloud services are impacted by platform, if any

* Strategically, where do the iPads fit in the technology plan

* Strategically, glad I didn’t lock into an iPhone. Do I need a “smartphone”. Don’t think so.

* Strategically, the mifis look smart now!

* Tactically, what about iCloud?

* Tactically, what about @me @mac

* inventory the apps on the MCBA

* what gets left on the island until the platform dies

* inventory the hardware that supports it

* what functions does it support and what’s the transition?

* What can be salvaged and sold off?

Argh, more work!

******

HARDWARE: Retina MacBook Pro demonstrates Apple wants to be an “appliance company”

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http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/cracking-open/teardown-shows-retina-macbook-pro-is-nearly-impossible-
to-upgrade-difficult-to-work-on/696?tag=nl.e101

Home / Blogs / Cracking Open
Teardown shows Retina MacBook Pro is nearly impossible to upgrade, difficult to work on
By Bill Detwiler
July 5, 2012, 10:08 PM PDT

*** begin quote ***

Missing “Pro” features

And if all this wasn’t enough, Apple also dropped two features that set the MacBook Pro apart the thinner, but less “professional” MacBook Air–an Ethernet port and optical drive.

*** end quote ***

For awhile I was an Apple fan boy. For a very very short time before that I was a Wintel fan boy. Both times I’ve quickly soured over “offerings”. 

For Wintel, it was bloatware, crapware, feature creep, automatic updates, DRM, activation. But what really put the ultimate knot in my shorts was win rot. That almost mandatory bare metal restore every six to nine months was unacceptable. 

A brief love affair with Linux, it was just too hard to install. Too many distributions to choose from. And, they really wanted you to be a hardware geek. Personally, I’m astonished that large organizations with dedicated IT staffs haven’t jumped on this as opposed to Microsoft and it’s upgrade treadmill.

That all led me to Apple. I jumped in with Mac Book Air. And, for the most part it’s served me well. Except, like Wintel, it has Mac Rot. I’ve got several problems that the Geniuses haven’t solved and requires fairly frequent reboot. A bare metal install without a Lion distribution disk scares me silly.

I don’t like the whole app store concept. 

Personal computing has morphed into being a pawn or cash cow for the big guys.

Maybe it’s time to revisit Linux.

But, I’m going to try a Chromebox first.

Maybe I’ll be a Google fan boy next. I doubt. I always seem to find the man behind the curtain.

# – # – # – # – #   

MACBOOKAIR: Finally complete the LION upgrade

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OK!

I was thanks to DRIVESLIM ($, not free) able to free enough space on the slender MACBOOKAIR which I cam McBahh1.

I was then able after 3 password resets finally get an MAC APP STORE id that would work.

I was then able to download the LION MAC OSX UPGRADE ($). That I had already paid for. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay for it again.

I was then able to perform the UPGRADE.

An hour later, while I was doing other things, McBahh1 dinged like an oven timer and it was done.

Observation: McBahh1 is now running “sprightly”. No more performance like a nursing home resident. We’ll see if any of the old problems return (i.e.: “I’m too tired to compute; I’m taking my union break for as many minutes as I feel like”; “There’s no free disk space; deal with it.”, or my perennial favorite “Year, I rebooted; what of it?”)

Casualties: NVU (free) no longer runs; I quickly found BLUE_GRIFFON (free) to replace it. 

Observation: BLUE_GRIFFON doesn’t do file transfer like NVU did. (Argh!)

New method: FILEZILLA dusted off to upload. New version of FILEZILLA installed. Works.

Casualties: MAC OSX 10.7.3 aka LION in the FINDER utility no longer displays the amount of free space. (Or it’s not obvious how to do it.)

Opinion: Well worth it. But what a hassle. Months of hassle to get to this point. Exponential number of Arghs.

# – # – # – # – #   

SERVICE: Apple APPSTORE continues to befuddle me

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Apple store asked for another reset after taking #2 to download epson ipad print (free) app. That app works beautifully. Unlike the APPSTORE app.

This is my THIRD password reset. I know I know it.

Interesting I went “up” to the APPSTORE for the free IPAD Epson utility. It challenged me for my password, I gave it, and it started to download. So, i thought: “Hey, stuff working. Let me update the 18 apps that I couldn’t do last time”. Silly rabbit.

It tells me I’ve forgotten the password I just used successfully.

Argh!

So I go thru the “i forgot my password” again. (After waiting a good 5 or 10 minutes. Reset it by incrementing the number to “3”!) Went back and retriggered the update. And, it worked.

Argh!

So here is something very funky with how Apple has the APPSTORE coded.

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #

SERVICE: FACETIME on Apple platforms is marginally better than a cellphone

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

I’ve been playing with FACETIME at the behest of a youngster related to me. Other than LUDDITE, no one I know uses it.

It presents some interesting challenges for parents and guardians.

It opens up a whole new attack surface for predators and peers. While it gives the FACETIME User the undivided attention of the person they call, it does create: (1) an uncontrolled access to the two people FACETIMEing. (2) Creates a level of intimacy that could be used to break down barriers and physical inhibitions when the two people meet. (I’m being intentionally vague so as not to give any one ideas. Adults, parent, and Guardians will know EXACTLY what I mean. (If you don’t, ask.)

Its marginally better than a cell phone because, as far as know, there’s no built-in capture or forwarding. I can think of ways to do it. Hopefully peers won’t; predators will be rigged for it.

Adults, Parents, and Guardians better have a good understanding of the technology and its implications. The children can mae it work with little or no help.

# – # – # – # – #

INTERESTING: “Hunger Games” as a little L libertarian recruiting tool

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/

Hunger Games (2012)
A strong anti Government message

I’m sure that this movie will create some budding little L libertarians. Even more so than the recent “Atlas Shrugged”. If only because the theater was packed with youngsters. Some as young as 10. So much for PG13. And, of course, the obligatory crying baby!

On technical points, while it may win Academy Awards and be a box office smash, it is NOT “GREAT”! (Although I might go see it again to capture the nuances drown out by the poor crying baby. (Wasn’t that “child abuse”? Or aggression by the parent of stealing their fellow theater goers’ expensive experience.)

I didn’t think anything was especially note worthy. In the ENTIRE movie. in general. It doesn’t have a stand.out “Gone With The Wind” type moment.

It lacks the vivid realism of that opening scene in “Saving Private Ryan”, which as much as Hollywood could, puts you on the beach with a feel for the awesome ferocity and death. Made me realize that those D-day vets were one crazy group of men. With real ‘huevos rancheros’. Lacks the pathos of Tom Hanks in “Castaway”. Fails to terrorize us like “Psycho”.

It fails to communicatethe abject desperate poverty critical to the story line. The “District 12” residents don’t look like the starving Death Camp inmates in that “Band of Brothers” segment. Or the poor in Henry Fonda’s portrayal in “Grapes of Wrath”. Look at a picture from the Depression and it communicates poverty. In fact, the “poor” from District 12 look fatter than the average Hollywood starlet or runway fashion model. Hollywood can do anorexic well; the “hungry” cast looks downright fat.

In doesn’t havean iconic line of dialogue like: George C. Scott in “Patton” telling us “to make the other poor dumb bastard die for HIS country”; Jack Nicholson as  Col. Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men shouting “You can’t handle the truth!”; Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” calmly quietly promulgating the Libertarian realization that “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”. Somehow “May the Odds be Ever in your Favor” just doesn’t do it; “May the Force Be With You” was best.

It doesn’t have the artistic beauty of “Avitar, “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon”, or “Casablanca”.

What it does have is those sometimes wordless messages to hate the elite, the Government, the System, and “the Man”.

For example, the Government doesn’t do maintenance well when Katniss Everdeen walks through the “electrified” fence. The reason there are drugs in prison is that humans are better than maze rats for finding away.

For example, the ruling class in the Capitol are effete drones living parasitically and vacariously off the suffering poor. Effie Trinket, wearing a costumer and wearing strange cosmetics, is an example of ego run amuck. Especially when she tells the condemned tributes about her inconvenience.

For example, in registering for the reaping, the clerks have all the humanity of the Post Office or the DMV. We see that repeatedly like when the trackers are inserted in the tribute’s arms —sending the message that we don’t own our own bodies.

So there’s a ton of subliminal messaging to create little L libertarians in the future.

So on that basis alone, it overcomes all its shortcomings. And revolutions don’t fail. The human spirit, like the maze rat, always gets through.

# – # – # – # – #   # – # – # – # – #

Here’s a thoughtful well-written review of the movie. As opposed to what you read above.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/movies/11303-the-hunger-games-movie-first-in-an-exciting-trilogy

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-27 @ 18:13

: the realistic real li

IPAD: IPAD3 has initialization issues

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

Can’t use my IPAD1 apple id?

(I’m not buying all the stuff over again. Starting the issues list. May have to return it.)

# – # – # – # – #

Apple id is mobile me.

It’s forcing me up to icloud.

icloud requires lion.

lion needs a lot of space.

made space

now if’s forcing me into “forgotten password”

forcing me to authenticate the id’s emil by clicking a link

now it’s still forcing “forgotten password” and not sending the link.

argh!

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-16 @ 21:39

ipad3!. May have been a mistake. All sorts of initialization issues. Apple may be overwhelmed and using “forgotten password” to throttle use.

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-16 @ 22:08

Forces verification of email address.

*** begin quote ***

Dear fjohn reinke,
You’ve entered reinkefj@reinke.cc as the contact email address for your Apple ID. To complete the process, we just need to verify that this email address belongs to you. Simply click the link below and sign in using your Apple ID and password.
Verify Now >
Wondering why you got this email?It’s sent when someone adds or changes a contact email address for an Apple ID account. If you didn’t do this, don’t worry. Your email address cannot be used as a contact address for an Apple ID without your verification.
For more information, see our frequently asked questions.
Thanks,Apple Customer Support

*** end quote ***

DO that and it forces me into password reset and never sends the email.

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-16 @ 22:11

Comparing Taylor Swift HD on IPAD1 and IPAD3 — don’t see much difference.

Trying to think of other comparisons.

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-16 @ 23:16

THE SAGA CONTINUES

from: Apple appleid@id.apple.com
to: apple@reinke.cc
date: Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 7:51 AM
subject: How to reset your Apple ID password.
mailed-by: mdn-txn-msbadger0204.apple.com

Arrived in Google mail box about 9AM. Google posts within seconds to receipt. I know I send stuff from different account into gmail account often. Sometimes Google posts it before I can ALT TAB or TAB SELECT from the sending website over to the GMAIL window. Google’s fast; I’m faulting Apple on this one. Either deliberately or not. Argh!

Finally the link comes through, password reset. I know that I didn’t “forget” any of my passwords, I use LASTPASS, a text file, and a spreadsheet. ARGH!

Now onto try to upgrade MACBOOKAIR to LION. Then I can move from MOBILEME to ICLOUD. Then, finally I can rename my apple id from the old format of a simple name to the new required format of an email address. Then I can connect the IPAD3 to my old apple id and get to try it.

(If you think this all been a big mistake, I agree. What idiot enforces a new rule (i.e., an apple id has to be an email “for security purposes”. Someone needs to explain that one to me. I’m going to bounce this off Bruce S. Maybe it’ll give him some blog fodder.)

I STILL think they deliberately did this to control load. Yeah, I’m a cynic with a tin foil hat!

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-17 @ 09:28

SAGA <synonym for excrement>

Going back to the APPSTORE on the MACBOOKAIR tells me that “too many incorrect passwords”. Forces me to say “I forgot it”. (All for MY protection, of course.) And, then if forces up something that opens NVU to edit the page. Are you kidding me?

And Apple is “user friendly”? “barbara streisand”

So, I have uninstall NVU, do this non-sense, wait for another email, buy LION, reinstall NVU, install LION. Then I can move from MOBILEME to ICLOUD. Then, finally I can rename my apple id from the old format of a simple name to the new required format of an email address. Then I can connect the IPAD3 to my old apple id and get to try it.

To quote Taylor Swift: “This is begining to look like  tragedy now.” An epic poem worthy of Homer who wrote the Odyssey!

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-17 @ 09:46

TECHNOLOGY: Push back against Apple, IBOOKS2, and IBOOKS2_AUTHOR

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-poor-get-poorer-and-the-rich-get-richer-with-apples-ipad-based-textbooks/10186

# – # – #

Here’s the strike back against Apple’s IBOOKS2.

Apple had the opportunity to break the marketplace open and whiffed.

(1) It’s IOS only and doesn’t support EPUB. In fact Apple’s format is reportedly a broken form of EPUB. Like what Microsoft does, take an open format and break it by extension.

(2) It crony capitalism as Apple enlists the Big Textbooks in locking things up by DRM.

(3) The restrictions on IBOOKS2_AUTHOR are onerous and expensive for authors.

(4) I’m no fan of Gooferment diktats, but this sure looks like an illegal tie in and restraint of trade.

What it does do is to popularize the questioning of expensive text books!

With Open Courseware and Open Text Books?

Look at all the classics in the public domain. Despite bookstores, Apple, and Amazon trying to sell them. Project Guttenberg for me.

And, with the ability to “publish” ebooks and print books cheaply, it will encourage folks to “roll their own”. Lulu print volumes under 25$ a copy and the ebook versions are basically free with no restrictions. Amazon’s Create Space is cheap; although I just saw a hint they were “revising” their offering.

It’s going to collapse the market, imho.

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TECHNOLOGY: The “iCosystem”? WTH it’s about creating “dead end” that are rich for Apple

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/07/apple-geeks-google-technology-cio-network-ipad_3.html

Andrew McAfee is a principal research scientist at the MIT Center for Digital Business.

*** begin quote ***

I hope the vitriol and alarmism around the iCosystem dies down, because it’s not doing much good. Maybe Barry Goldwater was right that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. But crying wolf surely is.

*** end quote ***

I could care less about the “iCosystem”. If Apple can con folks into paying a health markup for some dumbed down hardware / software platform, more power to them. (Happened to be at the Apple store yesterday, saw a lot of playing but not a lot of buying. Saw quite a few monitors being exchanged. Saw a lot of bitching about hardwre problems. Including me, with a defective Time Capsule. Saw two purchases. One cash and one credit card. Have to do a lot better to pay the rent, I suspect.) While if given one, I certainly would refuse, put it in the trash, or put it in the corner. But, why should I buy an expensive dead end on the Information Super Highway. It has just enough “features” to fool the technological illiterate into buying it. First, which model do you buy. Cheap “small” wifi or expensive “big” talker? You don’t get the ubiquity of the cloud without getting the talker. With only wifi, then the device is shown to be an “island” as one struggles to find free wifi. Not very “ubiquitous”. And, like a coffin, the “closed” nature of the beast starts to give you claustrophobia. Buy the WSJ, buy more apps, buy games, buy, buy, buy. Bye bye wallet. And, what do you have after all these “purchases” (Oh, I should say “licenses”!) when you can “lose” your access to what you think you bought. We haven’t heard that screaming yet. But sooner or later it’ll come. Nope, it’s a dead end. Designed to allow the old media to pretend to have adapted. imho

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NOTRECOMMENDED: Apple and MOBILEME

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

GAVE THIS FEEDBACK TO APPLE. LET’S SEE WHO CARES. (My guess: No one.)

I have an obviously complex sync problem. The answer I’ve been given is move to a new account. The reason I went to mac was the reinstall blues with windoze. Seems like the same problem here. I’ve rated MAC as “Not Recommended” on my blog FWIW. And that won’t change as long as sync is broken.

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HARDWARE: APPLE TIME CAPSULE died. Some backup!

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

APPLE TIME CAPSULE died. Some backup!

According to the Apple website, it’s out of warranty.

I’ll take it into the Apple store and see what they say.

Argh!

I’d have expected it to outlive the MacBookAir that I bought at the same time.

Did I say “Argh!”?

I see a “NOTRECOMMENDED” coming up.

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